Top Franchise Leaders: Enrique Silva, CEO of Culver’s

In his 13 years as CEO of Checkers and Rally’s Restaurants, Inc., Enrique Silva expanded the company’s franchise system and increased the brand's value from $180 million to $525 million. With a wealth of knowledge and experience under his belt, Silva transitioned to his current position as president and CEO of Culver’s, the burger franchise brand with more than 800 restaurants and over 500 owner-operators, in early 2021.

“As we searched for Culver’s next leader, we were looking for several key characteristics — a true culture and values fit, the ability to support and expand the successful growth of our current and future franchisees and a drive to genuinely deliver on our Culver’s Mission: We genuinely care, so every guest who chooses Culver’s leaves happy,” said Culver’s co-founder Craig Culver. “We are confident that Rick can do all three and are excited to see what he brings to further accelerate Culver’s.”

While at Checkers & Rally’s, Silva developed a “family-serving-family” culture among its franchisees by creating a comprehensive support infrastructure. His accomplishments included improving unit-level operating margins by more than 300 basis points and building a world-class franchise sales strategy and unit growth process. Before his term at checker’s, Silva held several leadership roles at Burger King Corp., including president of the Latin America region, senior vice president of U.S. operations and senior vice president of franchise operations for the East Zone and Canada.

Culver’s was founded in 1984, when Craig and Lea Culver opened their first restaurant in Sauk City, Wisconsin. The restaurant quickly built a positive reputation, serving its famous ButterBurgers and frozen custard. In 1990, the brand launched its first franchised restaurant in Baraboo, WI. As the brand gained popularity and proliferated nationwide, Culver Franchising System, Inc. (CFSI) was created to provide support to the expanding franchise network.

Culver’s previous CEO was Joe Koss, who retired in 2020 after successfully leading the growing organization for 23 years.