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
Franchisee Gus Sundermeier recently built a Culver's in Fort Mill, South Carolina, and is looking to open a second in the Charlotte area. Running one Culver’s location and working long hours to open a second, all while managing the books, the bills, and the back office, became an overwhelming challenge for a busy entrepreneur like Sundermeier. Setbacks in construction only served to intensify the pressure. With a limited number of hours in each day and a love for the hands-on side of the business, Sundermeier began looking for a turnkey back-office solution and found it in Wipfli.
Strategy
Wipfli stepped in to take the worry out of Sundermeier’s management responsibility equation and brought timely and reliable financial accounting services to support his Culver’s franchise. Wipfli’s easy and secure Web-based accounting portal gave Sundermeier 24/7 access to his financial information, payment functions, and reports, so that while Wipfli performed all the routine accounting functions, Sundermeier need only log in and submit approvals. Among the comprehensive bookkeeping and accounting services Wipfli provided were:
- Processing and paying vendor bills.
- Payroll accounting, processing, and reporting.
- 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.
Benefits
Sundermeier no longer spends valuable time on routine bookkeeping tasks and is able instead to focus more of his energies on growing his business. With Wipfli’s reliable FAO services, he knows his back office will keep functioning at its optimum. And with Wipfli’s always-accessible portal, he receives timely financial statements and cash balance information to support a more informed decision-making process.
