Campus News

By Sara Myers, Digital Media & Communications Specialist 

David M. Koch always tells his friends and anyone curious that he didn’t mean to end up in the restaurant business, he found himself there by accident. Koch obtained an accounting degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1970 and later in 1986, received his MBA at Rockford University. 

By 1992, he became CFO at the plastic manufacturing company the Nordic Group in Baraboo, Wisconsin. He was there for 10 years and through that position got to know a man named Craig Culver. Craig Culver started the now-popular restaurant Culvers in Wisconsin. 

Culver is from Sauk City, the town next door to Baraboo. Culver and Koch became friends and Koch watched as Culver’s restaurant became successful. In 1999, Koch thought starting a Culvers store in the Rockford area would be a good investment.

“I did not intend to go into the restaurant business,” Koch said. “My oldest son (David K. Koch) started the store that was on Harrison Avenue. That was in 1999. We started the business. We built the second one and the third one. Pretty soon it’s this business that’s arrived and it’s growing.”

The investment was a big success. Koch and his son own the Culvers in Rockford and Roscoe, one in Lombard, Illinois. He’s currently working on building four more Culvers in Sarasota, Florida, and Parish, Florida. In total, there will be 10 Culvers stores that the Kochs own.

Around nine years ago, he purchased Mary’s Market in Rockford. Koch had known the previous owners from doing shows and events together like the Rockford Airfest that previously happened at the Chicago Rockford International Airport. When the previous owners wanted to sell the restaurant, they immediately thought of the Koch family.

Koch also owns a small tool manufacturing company in Rockford called TECm. 

“Being a CPA, I do the business,” Koch said. “We have a little corporate headquarters on 4343 State Street next to Mary’s (Market) there. I have a small group of professionals there who really do all of the staff work there. We have 500 employees when you look at all the locations combined and they do the payroll for 500 employees every two weeks.”

Koch, who now lives in Sarasota with his wife (also an RU grad), adds that both of his sons, David and Aaron, are his business partners and managers who update him constantly on the day-to-day aspects of the stores. 

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t work that many hours anymore,” he said. “I just am involved in the key decisions. Then I still get a paycheck. The second thing is, I’m building a business to pass along to the family.” 

Koch said he’s fortunate to have a good brand like Culvers that has done well. 

“I learned from Craig Culver along the way and he started the same way, his family was always in the restaurant business,” Koch said. “He had an idea. It really didn’t go well at first, the first couple of stores just kind of bumped along. The key to business success is persistence. Now, he’s got 900 stores.”

Koch adds that his family tries to bring good products to our customers with both brands, Culvers and Mary’s Market.

“I think it’s true of anybody whatever opportunities become available to you, analyze those and take advantage,” he said. 

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This article is part of the 2023-2024 issue of Catalyst.