Business & Tech
Culver’s Opens Today in New Lenox
The Wisconsin-based restaurant to open new location on Route 30 near Walmart.
, the Wisconsin-based fast food chain that is home to the Butter Burger, opens at 10 a.m. today at 421 E. Lincoln Highway in front of the Walmart store.
The store had its ribbon cutting last week and owner Baron Waller said he was“very excited to be opening in New Lenox. The restaurant follows White Castle as another fast food joint filling out the spots in front of Walmart.
“We looked for a great location and found it here in New Lenox,” Waller said.
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With most of the New Lenox Chamber of Commerce looking on, Mayor Tim Balderman gave Waller a token gift of appreciation and he presented Culver’s co-founder Craig Culver with a key to the village.
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The Culver’s is more than 4,200 square feet and features three large-screen HD TVs and a gas-powered fireplace that makes the main dining room look less like a fast-food restaurant and more like a coffee house.
“We’re a pretty large store,” Waller said. “The fireplace makes it a nice place for people to come and have a nice meal.”
The restaurant will also feature an outdoor patio. Culver's doesn't have a liquor license, and the patio would come with other restrictions. Its hours would be limited from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily in the summer and closing at 10 p.m. otherwise. Live music would not be allowed on the patio.
Waller, who is new to fast food after spending 16 years at IBM, said running the restaurant will be a family affair. Helping him will be his wife, Janeen, and his nephew Bryon Waller is the general manager for the restaurant.
Janeen Waller said her husband got the idea of owning a Culver’s from stopping at a location in Lansing while driving out to the southeast suburbs to visit his twin brother Byron, who has a medical practice in South Holland.
“He kept talking about it,” she said. “And, finally, after six years he acted on his dream.”
Waller said he won’t stop with the New Lenox location. “I plan to open more,” he said. “But after this one gets going.”
The restaurant has about 70 employees and will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. In the summer it will stay open until 11 p.m.
For more information on Culver’s, call 815-463-9470 or visit its website at www.culvers.com.
