Culver’s opens first West Side location

West Side residents finally have easier access to the burgers and frozen custard at Culver’s, a Wisconsin-based chain that’s popular in the suburbs but recently began popping up in Chicago’s predominantly Black and Hispanic communities.

The new Culver’s opened Monday on the site of Chicago’s new joint training center for the police and fire departments, a $170 million facility at 4433 W. Chicago Ave. in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood. The former North Lawndale resident leading efforts to introduce the family-oriented, sit-down restaurant to Chicago said it was time West Side neighborhoods got the opportunity.

“I was born and raised on the West Side, right at Independence and Polk Street,” said Baron Waller, who now runs 10 Culver’s. “So, I felt the West Side is a part of me and I believe this is a place where we can really start revitalizing the West Side.”

Waller, who opened Chicago’s first Culver’s in the Bronzeville neighborhood in 2018, said the new location now provides 75 jobs, and he worked with three mayors, starting with Rahm Emanuel, who initially proposed the Chicago Joint Public Safety Training Campus, to get it started.

“We had at least 1,500 people apply, and that shows there’s a real need for new businesses in the community,” he said. “Hopefully, others will start coming to West Humboldt Park.”

Neighborhood residents say having a new Culver’s isn’t just about jobs or economic development, it’s also about having the chance, commonplace in the suburbs or in North Side neighborhoods, to enjoy a sit-down meal with family.

“We’re trying to bring better services to our community, so we don’t have to go so far to have a family night out,” said Venus Vaughn, a West Humboldt Park resident and a coordinator of Nobel Neighbors, a community organization. “We want things to be inside our community instead of outside.”

Waller said the more than 1,000 cadets from the joint training center, along with staff and participants at the new Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago next door, provide a built-in customer base.

“We are part of the campus, and they’re all going to have to have places to eat,” he said.

Culver’s started in 1984, and now has nearly 1,000 locations across the U.S. In 2021, Waller opened a Culver’s in the Pullman neighborhood, as part of a neighborhood revitalization plan launched by nonprofit developer Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, which has brought new businesses and restaurants to the Far South Side, including Gotham Greens, Whole Foods, Amazon, Potbelly Sandwich Shop and One Eleven Food Hall.

37th Ward Ald. Emma Mitts said the new Culver’s was doing great business on Monday afternoon, and she wants to see more of that around the new training center on Chicago Avenue.

“The drive-thru was packed and the restaurant was filled,” she said. “People need to see that there, and I look at it as a real sign of hope.”

Originally Published: Nov 13, 2023 at 4:21 pm