Culver’s announced Friday that CEO and President Joe Koss will retire at the end of the year.
Koss has worked at the nearly 770-unit burger chain for 23 years. He joined Culver’s as a controller in 1997 and was promoted to CFO in 2000. He served as CFO for 16 years before becoming CEO at the beginning of 2017. He took over for Phil Keiser, who passed away from natural causes in October 2016.
The Wisconsin-based Culver’s said Koss is retiring to spend more time with family. The brand is currently seeking Koss’s replacement.
“Joe has positively impacted so many facets of our company in his time with us, especially his leadership through this unprecedented set of circumstances we’ve successfully navigated recently,” said co-founder Craig Culver in a statement. “That said, we certainly know how important family is and fully support his decision to focus there.”
In 2019, Culver’s ranked among the 30-highest grossing quick-service restaurants in America, bringing in $1.73 billion and an AUV of $2.435 million. The restaurant opened more than 40 units last year. The company noted that it’s experiencing strong same-store sales growth amid the pandemic and that it’s seeing a healthy pipeline of owner-operator interest in additional franchises.