For over 30 years, Culver's guests have been treated to cooked-to-order food made with farm-fresh ingredients, served with a smile. The ever-expanding franchise system now numbers more than 600 family-owned and operated restaurants in 24 states. The restaurants' nationally-recognized customer service is based on small-town, Midwestern values, genuine friendliness and an unwavering commitment to quality. Signature items include the award-winning ButterBurger®, made from fresh, never frozen, beef, and Fresh Frozen Custard, including the famous Flavor of the Day program. For more information, visit www.culvers.com, www.culvers.com/facebook, www.twitter.com/culvers, https://plus.google.com/+culvers or www.instagram.com/culvers.
Situation
Seth Skogen owns and operates two South Dakota Culver’s restaurants located approximately 45 miles apart. His first store in Watertown opened in 2007, with a second successful store opening in the university town of Brookings in 2009. Each employs 35 workers, who cook the restaurant’s famous Butter Burgers to order and serve up wholesome food with friendliness.
Skogen had been mostly satisfied with the services his accountant provided, but as a busy, multi-unit restaurant operator and devoted family man, he disliked spending time at a desk opening mail, sorting bills, and generally processing back-office paperwork. He also disliked the idea of incurring the cost of an employee to take on those non-revenue-generating responsibilities. Given Wipfli’s work with other Culver’s franchises, outsourcing financial accounting to the firm seemed a very practical decision.
Strategy
With seamless expertise, Wipfli became Skogen’s paperless back office, providing a range of reliable services, from day-to-day bookkeeping to financial report preparation and more. Among Wipfli’s contributions were:
- Processing and paying vendor bills.
- Managing cash flow and keeping accounts up to date.
- Reconciling all bank and credit card accounts monthly.
- Preparing monthly financial reports and custom reports for Culver’s corporate offices.
- Providing year-end financials.
- Performing corporate tax preparation and filing.
Wipfli also performed an in-depth cost segregation study, resulting in additional accelerated depreciation deductions for Skogen’s business.
Benefits
Skogen no longer spends valuable time on bookkeeping and back-office matters. Instead he invests his management talents nurturing employees, ensuring customer satisfaction, and developing growth strategies.
Because Wipfli’s accounting services include sophisticated yet easy-to-use, Web-based tools, Skogen can easily stay on top of his restaurants’ performance, anytime and anywhere—mobility that balances his business goals and his family time.
In addition, as a result of the cost segregation study, Skogen experienced significant savings and enhanced cash flow. He also received a refund in the recent tax year, a mainly infrequent occurrence, according to Skogen.
