Culver’s plans new drive-thru restaurant in Germantown

Germantown could soon get a new drive-thru burger restaurant on Mequon Road.

Dan Braatz, current owner of Culver’s in Menomonee Falls, submitted plans for a 4,403-square-foot Culver’s fast-casual restaurant at N112 W17300 Mequon Road. The one-acre site is on the northwest corner of Mequon and Division roads, on the edge of the Blackstone Creek Golf Club.

Plans feature a drive-thru, concrete patio and dining room, and are drawn with 52 parking spaces and additional drive-thru parking stalls for vehicles leaving the service window. The owner hopes to start construction after final approval and permitting. The average Culver’s restaurant takes around six months to complete after groundbreaking. No timeline has been released.

Project partners are Brookfield-based Trio Engineering, Belvidere, Illinois-based Ollmann Ernest Martin Architects, Appleton-based Springfield Sign and Mukwonago-based Campbell Construction.
The proposal is expected to go before the Germantown Plan Commission on Sept. 8.

The restaurant will be owned and operated by Dan and Alicia Braatz. The submitted site plan has space for 12 concurrent employees. The average Culver’s has 50-60 team members, most being part-time, a cover letter to the village showed. Hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.

The Culver’s menu includes butter burgers, chicken sandwiches, chicken tenders, fish, salads, soups, French fries, onion rings and cheese curds. It also offers frozen custard, shakes and malts.

Founded in 1984, Culver’s opened its first location in Sauk City. The chain operates in 25 states with more than 1,000 restaurants as of July 2025, the cover letter showed.

The franchise expects to open 55 new restaurants across the U.S. this year, including two in Wisconsin, a franchise disclosure filed with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions. There are 135 franchised restaurants in Wisconsin.

In 2023, Campbell Construction, a family company which builds franchise restaurants, announced it would build a 4,000-square-foot Culver’s restaurant in East Troy in 2024.