Milwaukee’s Treasures: Kopp’s Custard
This article is part of a three part series on Milwaukee’s treasures.
Kopp’s is a Milwaukee classic that has been serving the Wisconsonite staple of burgers and custard for almost 65 years. Kopp’s was founded by Elsa Kopp in 195o and has been serving local residents ever since.
The main items on the menu are the classic hamburger and the signature custard.
The ambience of the locations transport you back in time to a classic 50’s ice cream shop. The kitchen, countertops and fixtures are made of a shiny chrome. The employees wear 50’s style uniforms that consist of a white button down shirt accompanied by a black bowtie and white pants.
Everyday Kopp’s serves two different flavor of the day custards.
True Kopp’s fanatics will have the Kopp’s Flavor Forecast app which notifies you when your favorite flavors are being served.
Classic flavors include Never Enough Chocolate, Cookies N’ Cream, Bienenstichkuchen, Sprecher® Root Beer Float, Tiramisu, Turtle Sundae, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Apple Pie à la Mode and many more.
Is your mouth watering yet?
Kopp’s custard even has the power to bring lovers together. Take Mike and Maggi Brauer who have been married for 28 years.
I sat down with their daughter Calli, and together we conducted a phone interview with them to discuss how Kopp’s brought her parents together.
I asked them to start from the begining.
Maggi started out by saying, “Mike and I met at orientation freshman year, and we were friends all through Marquette. We were into our first or second year out of college — still friends — and we would ride bikes together. We would take a bike ride and always end up at Kopp’s”
She continued by saying that a lot of the time the flavor at Kopp’s would be cookies n’ cream which they both loved.
About three years out of college the two began dating, and when Mike proposed he did it with a bowl of Kopp’s cookies n’ cream custard.
“He was going to put the ring [in the custard] — but he was afraid that I might eat it — so it wasn’t in the ice cream. When we got married we had wedding cake, but we asked them if they could try and get Kopp’s cookies n’ cream to serve with the cake,” she said. “And they did! So we had it at our wedding.”
I then asked Maggi what cookies n’ cream means to them now?
“The kids all know that it means something, and on occasions Mike has stopped and gotten it as a surprise and brought it home.” Mike interjects to add “it always brings up conversation, it always generates memories and just seeing it on the sign is almost like it is a constant flashback.”
Maggi noted over the past 28 years there were times when cookies n’ cream was the flavor on their anniversary .
Throughout the entire conversation, it was clear that both Mike and Maggi still love each other, and that Kopp’s still means a lot to them.
Kopp’s has been a place where many first dates happen, and you never know when that first date will lead to a lifetime of happiness.
And custard.
Mike and Maggi Brauer both graduated Marquette in 1984.
They have been married for 28 years and have four children who have either attended Marquette for undergrad or graduate school.
