Flavors of the day are developed by employees and approved by Karl Kopp.Įlsa’s son Karl took over operation of Kopp’s and moved it to Greenfield in the mid ’60s. The featured flavors are often related to events for that day or month. Kopp’s offers two unique flavors every day and a featured shake and sundae of the month. After this, Kopp’s began offering increasingly diverse concoctions which became their well known “flavor of the day” menu option. Initially mixed chocolate and vanilla, in the process committing what many in the early frozen custard community considered a heretical act. It paid off: within a decade, Kopp’s was a success. Elsa’s business was intended to bolster the family income after her husband developed Parkinson’s disease. Helping her was another custard icon, Leon Schneider, owner of Leon’s Frozen Custard. (now the site of the recently closed Junior’s Custard). Elsa Kopp, a German immigrant, opened her first frozen custard stand in 1951, at 6005 W. Cows in the Midwest, in the winter, shake and shiver. Because the cows in California are too hot. “You don’t get custard on the coasts like you get in the Midwest. But why? Who knows, though in a recent CBS Sunday Morning segment, Bob Uecker shares his personal Uecker-tastic theory: From there, the egg-yolk-heavy concoction (don’t call it ice cream!) was let loose upon the country via the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago.ĭecades upon decades later, Milwaukee is the unofficial frozen custard capital of the world. New York’s Coney Island in 1919 represents frozen custard patient zero, with Archie and Elton Kohr selling a whopping 18,460 cones of the stuff in their first weekend in business alone. On the road and far away from the metro Milwaukee area? You could do a lot worse than Culver’s.Īnd yet the sinfully tasty treat didn’t originate here. Milwaukee’s singular obsession with frozen custard is well documented. Only in Milwaukee, a city stuffed to the gills with custard joints, can people choose sides in the friendly frozen war. If Kopp’s isn’t your place, maybe you’re loyal to Leon’s. Its old-fashioned trappings may be nostalgic signposts for the “good old days” ( don’t say “happy” days), but take one spoonful of Kopp’s signature custard, or one bite of those big-ass butter burgers, and you’ll realize the good old days are not only yours and mine, they’re here and now. Its three locations (Greenfield, Brookfield, Glendale) are gleaming summer beacons of goodness, simplicity, and big-ass burgers. Hell, you’ll probably see similar sentiments from your Milwaukee friends, venting their frustration that they’re not at Kopp’s right now.Īh yes, Kopp’s, the self-proclaimed custard and jumbo burger “heaven,” and the Milwaukee Record-proclaimed “Cadillac of frozen desserts.” Home to the beloved “Flavor of the Day,” the trusted “Flavor Forecast,” and enough stainless steel and paper hats to reach to the moon and back. “OH GOD I LOVE KOPP’S,” they’ll undoubtedly say, jealous that the iconic Milwaukee-area custard mecca reaches no farther south than Greenfield. Here’s a fun social media experiment: Log on to ye olde Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat post a picture of yourself at Kopp’s Frozen Custard (any location will do) and watch your friends from Illinois lose their minds. Join us as we revisit beloved and well-worn local staples with fresh eyes, and explore how they might figure in the city’ s future. Mandatory Milwaukee is all about the latter. Some places come and go, while some places become icons.

Kopps flavor