Elsa Kopp; founder of Kopp's Frozen Custard
Hyfler/Rosner
Founder of Kopp's, 92, kept customers fed and custard flavored
By AMY RABIDEAU SILVERS
asil...@journalsentinel.com
Last Updated: June 9, 2003
In a largely vanilla world, Elsa Kopp came up with a concept as
revolutionary as it was delicious.
The founder of Kopp's Frozen Custard, she is generally credited with the
idea of offering a flavor of the day. That paved the way for the likes of
today's flavor, Snickers Chunky Cheesecake frozen custard, and Wednesday's
Pink Ribbon, the latter with ribbons of raspberry and white chocolate
chunks.
Kopp, an undisputed matriarch in the local custard business for more than 50
years, died of natural causes Sunday. She was 92.
She opened the first Kopp's Frozen Custard stand in 1950 as a way to support
her family after her husband became disabled with Parkinson's disease.
By the 1960s, she was playing with the basic custard mixes - vanilla and
chocolate and then strawberry - to create new taste treats. In the earliest
days of frozen custard, it was considered heresy to tamper with the purity
of the vanilla custard experience, son Karl Kopp said.
Elsa Kopp kept working in the family business until about 1998, coming in a
few hours at least a couple of days a week. She was still working when a
newspaper feature on frozen custard erroneously made reference to the "late"
Elsa Kopp.
"I think I'll have a little sundae today," she would say before leaving
work.
"It would be a small one," Karl said. "A little vanilla custard, a little
hot fudge. Sliced bananas and a few pecans. And a little bit of
marshmallow."
Even in her last years, as she began experiencing Alzheimer's disease, work
was still what was important to her, said daughter Elizabeth Collins.
"What work do you do?" she would ask the nursing staff.
"She was always interested in what people did," Collins said. "She had a
very, very strong work ethic."
Certainly no one would have predicted that Kopp, who had no real experience
in business, would be such a success.
She was born Elsa Moll in Munsingen, Germany, coming to the United States in
1929 when she was just 18. She traveled by boat, then by train to Milwaukee,
where an aunt she had never met lived.
"She came on her own," said her daughter. "She grew up on a farm, and she
really didn't want that life."
Kopp began work as a maid, feeling lonely and homesick until she began
taking night classes in English at Whitefish Bay High School. That helped
her meet other German immigrants and then her future husband, Karl Kopp, who
was a tool and die maker and with the Milwaukee Turners.
"After the three of us were born, my dad became ill with Parkinson's
disease," their daughter said.
Elsa Kopp next worked other jobs, including at Militzer's Bakery and
restaurant. Leon Schneider of Leon's Frozen Custard Drive-in would come in
to service the custard machine there.
"With some help from Leon Schneider, she got started in business," Collins
said.
She began Kopp's Frozen Custard Stand at 6005 W. Appleton Ave., using a
recipe tweaked the way she liked it. She later built the west side apartment
building where she raised her family and continued to live until her health
began to fail.
"I remember her working every day from 8 a.m. until after midnight, stopping
home in between to care for my father and us kids, prepare dinner, and do
the household chores," Karl said.
But, for Elsa Kopp, the business of making custard and sandwiches was as
much about feeding people as making money. The custard stand was usually
open until at least midnight, often 1 a.m. If customers knocked on the door
later, it didn't matter that the business was closed.
"She'd turn on the grill again," Karl said.
"No, he needs a little something to eat," she would tell her employees.
"We'll make it real quick. We can do that."
Dick "Mac" McGuire, who first knew Kopp while a teenage employee, laughed as
he remembered that drill.
"Give that man a burger," she would say. "He's hungry."
"I started there when I was in high school - I was about 15 - about 1964,"
he said. By then, Karl Kopp was taking over the business. Later, Elsa Kopp
wanted to be an owner again, and she and McGuire teamed up to run the
original Kopp's location, now the site of Robert's Frozen Custard.
In 1991, McGuire built a bigger custard stand at 18880 W. Blue Mound Road in
Brookfield, which he continues to run.
Karl Kopp is the owner at two Kopp's locations - 5373 N. Port Washington
Road, Glendale, and 7631 W. Layton Ave. - and Elsa's on the Park downtown.
One guess who was the inspiration for that last one.
Karl, known for developing his own raft of specialty flavors, long ago
created a special flavor in his mother's honor. Offered just one day a year,
it is a rather European treat, rich with hazelnut and affectionately named
Imperial Torte.
Look for it next year, and every year, on the Sunday closest to her April 18
birthday.
Kopp's husband died in 1968. Survivors include her son and daughter;
grandchildren; great-grandchildren; and other relatives. Another daughter,
Friedie Carey, died earlier.
Hoodude
wrote:
>The founder of Kopp's Frozen Custard, she is generally credited with the
>idea of offering a flavor of the day.
>Kopp, an undisputed matriarch in the local custard business for more than 50
>years, died of natural causes Sunday. She was 92.
>
>She opened the first Kopp's Frozen Custard stand in 1950
>She began Kopp's Frozen Custard Stand at 6005 W. Appleton Ave.
>In 1991, McGuire built a bigger custard stand at 18880 W. Blue Mound Road in
>Brookfield, which he continues to run.
>
>Karl Kopp is the owner at two Kopp's locations - 5373 N. Port Washington
>Road, Glendale, and 7631 W. Layton Ave. - and Elsa's on the Park downtown.
All great custard stands with good food and highly recommended for
anyone visiting Milwaukee. However, my all-time favorite Milwaukee
custard stand is 'Gilles Frozen Custard', "Milwaukee's Oldest Custard
Stand -- Since 1938!" <http://www.gillesfrozencustard.com/>.
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, Hoodude <angl...@excite.com> wrote:
> All great custard stands with good food and highly recommended for
> anyone visiting Milwaukee. However, my all-time favorite Milwaukee
> custard stand is 'Gilles Frozen Custard', "Milwaukee's Oldest
> Custard Stand -- Since 1938!" <http://www.gillesfrozencustard.com/>.
There are a number of good custard chains in the midwest. I remember
Kopp's fondly from my frequent trips to Milwaukee over twenty years
ago (I lived near Chicago). My favorite now is Ritter's, an Indiana
chain that is growing nicely through the region. Culver's is a fast
food place that features frozen custard, and they have quite a few
locations in the midwest.
I never see frozen custard places advertised prominently when I travel
to Missouri, Florida, California and the east coast. Maybe it's a
Great Lakes thing.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
***~~~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hoodude
>I miss the hamburger Kopp's serves that takes 3 hands to hold..! I
>wonder who makes the buns for Kopp's? If you ever get to Milwaukee
>again, stop at Oscar's on Highway 100 between Greenfield and National.
>There was a new one in the Wal-Mart area east of Waukesha, too (before
>I left). BEST-ever cones and burgers. <yummmm> One of the many
>things I miss about Milwaukee...
Yeah, I used to get a Kopp's double-cheeseburger, an order of fries,
and an extra thick chocolate shake and it'd fill me up big time. I
stopped in at Oscar's a few times. The place on Hwy 100 has been there
quite a few years. When it was the Red Barn (prior to Oscar's) my high
school friends and I used to race our cars to be the first one to
place our order during our lunch period. Crazy driving about ten miles
through the city just to eat lunch there.
>snoshoo <who is going to the beach..right now>
Sure, rub it in! I just got back from Iron River, Michigan where I
went to buy my MegaMillion lottery tickets for tonight's $180-million
drawing (if I'm not around much in the future it means I won!). I
tried to do some geocaching during my road trip but the skeeters were
terrible. Besides nearly hitting about eight different deer on the
roads, I saw two different snapping turtles laying eggs in the gravel
roadways. Life, and death, springs eternal. But life is much better
with mega-millions!
Hoodude
>>MegaMillion lottery tickets for tonight's $180-million
>>drawing (if I'm not around much in the future it means I won!).
>Somebody won...was it you? ;)
Regrettably, I do not suddenly have too much money and the dreaded
problems that would come with it.
>>Life, and death, springs eternal. But life is much better
>> with mega-millions!
>Are you sure? I can't imagine what I'd do with $180M -- give lots of
>$$ to everyone I care about. Buy a bigger home and hire a FT
>housekeeper, sometime cook and all-around "keeper". LOL And have 10
>cats...
Several of the things I have planned if I were to win a super-large
jackpot would be to buy a Hummer (both kinds <grin>; I mean, the early
version of the 4x4 vehicle) and rent a balcony(aka, banquette)suite at
the Royal Sonesta Hotel for Mardi Gras, invite a bunch of friends and
sycophants and laissez les bon temps roulet!
Hoodude
wrote:
>> Several of the things I have planned if I were to win a super-
>> large jackpot would be to buy a Hummer (both kinds <grin>; I
>> mean, the early version of the 4x4 vehicle) and rent a
>> balcony(aka, banquette)suite at the Royal Sonesta Hotel for Mardi
>> Gras, invite a bunch of friends and sycophants and laissez les
>> bon temps roulet!
>"laissez les bon temps roulet!" I like this part about the good
>times rolling, but not in those circumstances in that city. Why rent
>a suite when you could buy the whole hotel? I don't think much of the
>Hummer idea(s), either. To each his own, eh?
With a Royal Sonesta suite overlooking Bourbon Street we wouldn't have
to be among the throngs of people stuffed onto the street, plus, we
could throw beads down instead of up for a change.
I wouldn't care to own that hotel or any other. I have other business
dreams/plans regarding bringing culture to the culture-less
northwoods... even though you can lead a horse to water but you can't
make him drink.
A Hummer truck would be better than my diesel 4x4 Suburban for the
romping around in the woods that I already like to do. Might as well
be the big dog.
Hoodude
wrote:
>Heh..."romping around in the woods", eh? Remember to leave behind
>only your footprints. I don't think that includes "Hummer truck
>tracks".
In some areas, "leave behind only your footprints" can do more damage
to forested areas than having accessible lanes available to deal with
fires and other emergency situations. I don't mean to imply approval
of 'bushwhacking' cross-country where no one should ethically go, but,
people with motorized vehicles should be able to enjoy the wilderness
as much as "only ... footprints" people. Certainly, some areas should
remain as pristine as possible, but, not as part of a blanket policy
that governs all 'wild' places.
But that's just my opinion. Living in the northwoods provides a
different perspective than city-living bunny-hugging folks (not meant
as a personal attack at you, just a generalization).
J.D. Baldwin
> no one should ethically go, but, people with motorized vehicles
> should be able to enjoy the wilderness as much as "only
> ... footprints" people.
This is, by definition, impossible. If you're tooling through it in a
3,000-pound motor vehicle, it ain't "wilderness," at least not anymore.
Hoodude
(J.D. Baldwin) wrote:
>> I don't mean to imply approval of 'bushwhacking' cross-country where
>> no one should ethically go, but, people with motorized vehicles
>> should be able to enjoy the wilderness as much as "only
>> ... footprints" people.
>This is, by definition, impossible. If you're tooling through it in a
>3,000-pound motor vehicle, it ain't "wilderness," at least not anymore.
I don't believe that allowing unabated access by untold numbers of
hikers into a wilderness area maintains the 'wilderness' designation
either. Not everyone, whether afoot or in a vehicle, respects nature
to the utmost. The influx of a great number of hikers can also
negatively impact an area, beyond the possibility of simply leaving
their trash behind.
J.D. Baldwin
> >3,000-pound motor vehicle, it ain't "wilderness," at least not anymore.
>
> I don't believe that allowing unabated access by untold numbers of
> hikers into a wilderness area maintains the 'wilderness' designation
> either. Not everyone, whether afoot or in a vehicle, respects nature
> to the utmost. The influx of a great number of hikers can also
> negatively impact an area, beyond the possibility of simply leaving
> their trash behind.
I wouldn't try to deny categorically what you say, but I haven't
observed the effects to which you refer. I have hiked quite a few
designated wilderness areas that had no restrictions (e.g., permits
required) for entry, and they have all been pretty pristine. I don't
believe, for example, that I have ever seen a scrap of trash in
Bandelier National Monument, or Yosemite, or Anza-Borrego (except for
the shooting areas in the latter).
Hoodude
wrote:
>Irresponsible
>people cause damage whereever they go in some form or another. Other
>people can go most anywhere and not spoil it for the next person.
>Rule #1 for me is "do NOT litter". If you packed it in, pack it
>out...or at least use the garbage cans if provided.
I used to drive a vacuum 'sweeper' truck and cleaned all of the major
shopping mall parking lots in Milwaukee for years. I know quite well
what trash-strewing pigs some folks are (in subzero weather, trying to
vacuum up frozen poopy Pampers was a real treat - especially when they
got lodged in the pick-up tube and had to be extracted!) Cigarette
butts filling every concrete crack in store entryways are disgusting.
Thank god for backpack blowers ('Echo' brand used to be the best!).
I don't believe in littering, but, I wasn't a zealot about fighting or
protesting it. I simply realized that what must have seemed like a
lowly job in most people's eyes gave me considerable pleasure; because
when I left a parking lot it was a hell of a lot better looking than
when I arrived.
>(not meant as a personal attack at you, just a generalization).
>Now, now...I'm no more of a "city folk" as you are. I was born in
>northern WI in a little town and lived on a farm 5 miles from that
>town until I graduated highschool. Lived *in* Milw. for 13 years and
>ever since lived in a rural setting at various places outside the
>*city*. Now I live in a country setting on the edge of a small city.
>The road leading to my home is a country road with ditches, no curbs
>and no street lights.
I told you it wasn't personal. <grin>
>I have never hugged a bunny...do cats count? ;)
Depends on how well you train 'em.
I've hugged a bunny, but not in the holier-than-thou zealot fashion.
>... wherever there are people in
>the area. It's just disgusting. If only the broken glass were
>gemstones, we'd all be wealthy. And everything else imaginable is
>lying about, too. Some people are worse than hogs for the way they
>foul their surroundings.
At one store parking lot (on the northside of Milwaukee) that I
cleaned nightly there was a 'strikeout' batters' box painted on the
side of the building and I swear the locals used glass bottles instead
of tennis or rubber balls to play the game. The only consolation was
that in lights of the night the parking lot looked as if the pavement
were jewel encrusted (aside from the reality that ground glass has
been used as a filler in paving materials for years).
MadCow57
shopping mall parking lots in Milwaukee for years. I know quite well
Then you don't need to see what people throw into the streets in Baltimore.
After a rain, it all comes down the storm sewers and into the harbor. We've
also had large chunks of pink insulation, 55 gallons of used motor oil, and a
dead baby (at Harris Creek, next to where I live).
Hoodude
wrote:
>Oh? So you were the one...what about my red leather glove I dropped
>in the Pic-n-Sav lot on Bluemound?
Sorry, didn't do that lot. Had it been Northridge, Southridge,
Mayfair, Southgate, and numerous others in Milwaukee proper, the
machine woulda sucked it up.
>Long ago, before filters, cigarette butts just disintegrated. Now the
>d*mn things last forever and drive non-smokers nuts with their mess.
>They are some of the all-around worst kind of litter.
Also, because of the proliferation of them.
>> I don't believe in littering, but, I wasn't a zealot about
>> fighting or protesting it. I simply realized that what must have
>> seemed like a lowly job in most people's eyes gave me
>> considerable pleasure; because when I left a parking lot it was a
>> hell of a lot better looking than when I arrived.
>The other side of that coin is that many people freely litter because
>they know there are people whose job it is to clean up behind them.
That doesn't make their actions proper. Bastards! :)
>You had the right idea for the job you had and found satisfaction in
>doing it. All I would do is rant about the jerks who thoughtlessly
>made the mess. I used to take care of a condo swimming pool; the
>things left behind there were incredible (and unmentionable)...and I
>had to clean up the place every morning. Started out every day mad.
Condoms! One aspect I liked about the job was that I got to drive
across town and in large parking lots throughout the night. I enjoy a
city when it sleeps (and wakes) and also seeing the type of activity
that does occur in the middle of the night that most people miss:
police calls, drunken accidents, people leaving bars and late night
movies; hookers and pimps, and yes, romance, or rather just plain old
sex, in vehicles - kind of amusing to round a corner of a mall parking
lot while cleaning it and surprise sex-act participants in a location
they thought was probably discreet.
By the way, you wouldn't believe the amount of human hair that is
prevalent on large parking lots. Its there but you never notice it
until you experience getting it vacuumed up by an industrial vacuum
sweeper. I know the pavement itself isn't afflicted with alopecia.
>A cat doesn't need to be trained to enjoy being hugged. In fact, they
>seem to love and need it.
Trouble is, sometimes, nay, too often, they seem indifferent to
participating in it. A dog though requests it much more often.
>> At one store parking lot (on the northside of Milwaukee)
>I'm waiting to hear if you found my red leather glove....;'/
>(expensive devil)
If you lost it in a prelude to a near-public sexual escapade, it was
fair game. :)
>I
>> cleaned nightly there was a 'strikeout' batters' box painted on
>> the side of the building and I swear the locals used glass
>> bottles instead of tennis or rubber balls to play the game. The
>> only consolation was that in lights of the night the parking lot
>> looked as if the pavement were jewel encrusted (aside from the
>> reality that ground glass has been used as a filler in paving
>> materials for years).
>Only on the *north* side of Milwaukee...;'(
It was the worst there; one store in particular in a certain part of
town of which I don't care to identify more descriptively.
>Ground glass is equivalent to sand, isn't it?
Yes, but most folks don't realize that recycling glass by utilizing it
in paving materials is a viable process.
>For the record -- I'm not a zealot about any of this stuff. I just
>complain about people's lack of responsibility and disgregard for
>Nature and other people, but I don't join any "causes"...
"I wouldn't join any group that would have me as a member".
- Groucho Marx
Hoodude
>>>I used to drive a vacuum 'sweeper' truck and cleaned all of the major
>shopping mall parking lots in Milwaukee for years. I know quite well
>what trash-strewing pigs some folks are
>Then you don't need to see what people throw into the streets in Baltimore.
>After a rain, it all comes down the storm sewers and into the harbor. We've
>also had large chunks of pink insulation, 55 gallons of used motor oil, and a
>dead baby (at Harris Creek, next to where I live).
Baltimore and Milwaukee are relatively similar in size. In addition to
parking lot and street cleaning I also cleaned industrial areas, so I
know quite well about all types of trash and waste.
MadCow57
During WW2, the servants of a British duke used to clear the used condoms off
the street behind his London residence every morning. He said, "I don't mind
the soldiers enjoying the fruits of love, but do they have to leave the peels
behind?"
Hoodude
>>>Condoms!
That's a good one... never heard it before.
MadCow57
>During WW2, the servants of a British duke used to clear the used condoms off
>the street behind his London residence every morning. He said, "I don't mind
>the soldiers enjoying the fruits of love, but do they have to leave the peels
>behind?"
>>That's a good one... never heard it before.<< -- Hoodude
As soon as I remember which biography I read that in, I'll post it. For now,
it seems to me it might have been Lord Astor - not sure.
Hoodude
wrote:
>Don't know what somebody wanted with
>one glove so why not turn it in or just leave it lie there. I came
>back shortly to search for it. Gone.
Was Michael Jackson in town that week?
>> By the way, you wouldn't believe the amount of human hair that is
>> prevalent on large parking lots. Its there but you never notice it
>> until you experience getting it vacuumed up by an industrial
>> vacuum sweeper. I know the pavement itself isn't afflicted with
>> alopecia.
>How would you know about hair in the mess of everything else? How
>about all the coins? Did you get to keep the money?
Since the machine was a huge vacuum, it sucked up everything but the
largest or more dense objects. At the end of my shift I had to clean
out the cabinet which held all the debris. Because it was an
industrial vacuuming system, the air blown into the cabinet by the
pick-up tube had to be exhausted out the top of the cabinet. The
cabinet was large enough (many cubic feet in size - I could walk
around inside it, stooping though) so that the majority of the debris
which was sucked up the tube floated to rest and piled up in the
bottom of the cabinet (the way a wet/dry workshop vacuum works). But
the hair and other light, fine, articles would collect on the
multi-square foot filtering screen (perforated sheet metal with holes,
like common pegboard) instead of being exhausted out of the cabinet.
The hair and other fine particles would collect on the cabinet's
ceiling screen and require removal by utilizing a push-broom held
upside down to brush it off.
Yes, found money was mine to keep but it didn't really add up to a
great amount. I once found something like eleven one-dollar bills
scattered about a parking lot and it was like an Easter egg hunt to
spot them so I could exit the truck to manually pick them up before
vacuuming them up (to avoid missing them when emptying the canister).
I found higher denomination bills occasionally, but not as much as I
would have liked. When I cleaned out the cabinet I would usually find
a few coins but not enough to really add up.
MadCow57
interesting). What you do is take a shoe box to the glass place and ask them
to empty their shop vac into it.
Along with all the hair, fingernails, M&Ms, and gum wrappers, you can count on
finding between $1.50 and $2.50 in change (strangely, very few nickels), and
odd stuff like earrings and gold charms.
You must rinse the broken glass in a bleach and water solution, then sort by
thickness. Stick it down with jewelry glue (dries clear - others say they do
but that's a lie). The spooky thing is that as you add pieces to fit with
already-placed pieces, they make interesting swirling patterns all on their own
- which you don't really notice until you stop and lean back to look at what
you've done. I'm sure this would be more fun if I were stoned, but I don't do
that.
Robert Feigel (aka Bob)
Thanks for that, Delores.
Our youngest daughter is a mosaic artists and this will be of great
interest to her. It's also of interest to myself as I'm about to try
using discarded (aka ruined, aka 'coasters') CD's to make what I hope
will be a sort of stained-glass-cum-mosaic. God knows I've ruined (and
continue to ruin) enough CD's in various CD burning attempts. Hold the
tinted ones up to the light and they look downright holographic and
I'll be able to cut them to interesting shapes.
ÿbob
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Harry Krause
> I've been messing with mosaics made of broken auto glass (don't laugh - it's
> interesting). What you do is take a shoe box to the glass place and ask them
> to empty their shop vac into it.
>
> Along with all the hair, fingernails, M&Ms, and gum wrappers, you can count on
> finding between $1.50 and $2.50 in change (strangely, very few nickels), and
> odd stuff like earrings and gold charms.
>
Supplementing your retirement?
* * *
email sent to etaoin...@hotmail.com will *never* get to me.
Hoodude
>Along with all the hair, fingernails, M&Ms, and gum wrappers, you can count on
>finding between $1.50 and $2.50 in change (strangely, very few nickels), and
>odd stuff like earrings and gold charms.
I noticed that in New Orleans they don't use many nickels for making
change. Seems a bit odd when you are otherwise used to utilizing them
every day.