Jeff Liegel and Chad Stevenson have built their personal lives and their business lives around family.

The two brothers have stuck close together since they were joined by tragedy more than 20 years ago. When they were children, Liegel lost a father, while Stevenson lost a mother. Their families melded together when their surviving parents met and married.

"We were kind of like the Brady Bunch," Stevenson said.

Today, Liegel, 33, and Stevenson, 30, have together become important members of the Portage business community.

The pair own part of six area Culver's restaurants including the one in Portage. They also were critical in the redevelopment of an almost forgotten west side business district and are now hoping to spur growth in the city's once-struggling industrial park by constructing a business headquarters there.

And the duo doesn't plan on resting on their laurels anytime soon.

Over the next five to 10 years, Liegel and Stevenson hope to own 15 or more Culver's.

"We are both still young and have the drive to do it," Liegel said.

Growing up working

One thing Liegel and Stevenson always have been doing is working.

Their parents taught them a solid work ethic, they said.

And for the most part, where one was working the other was as well.

As teenagers that included farm work, working at their parent's shoe store and working entry-level jobs at Culver's in Reedsburg, where they grew up.

Their parents built the Portage Culver's in the mid-1990s and transferred ownership to Liegel and Stevenson in 2000.

In 2002, they built a franchise in Columbus. Two years later, they acquired the Beaver Dam Culver's. Then, over the next five years, they acquired restaurants in Reedsburg, Waupan, Sun Prairie and even one in Kokomo, Ind.

Some are owned outright, while others have operating partners.

Most of those partners have developed professionally working for Liegel and Stevenson in their other Culver's. Developing people they know to run new franchises with them has been a key to success, they said.

"That way we know the restaurants are being run the way we think they should," Stevenson said.

Bleeding blue

The brothers said they have found the business they intend to stay in. For them, it seems to be a lifetime commitment.

"We bleed blue," Stevenson said of Culver's signature color. "We both grew up in the restaurant business - it gets in your blood."

As brothers and business partners, Liegel and Stevenson said they get along as good friends and tend to complement each other's skill sets.

"Its probably a good thing we are not blood-related because we are just different enough," Liegel said.

In their years of business together, Stevenson said he can only remember one fight - a minor one over a printer.

One of the big thrills about working with Culver's is watching people develop, they said.

"Culver's people tend to be really successful people," Liegel said.

Liegel said it is fun to watch young employees grow up and continue on in Culver's or go off and do other things.

"We love it when employees come back and tells us what they are up to," he said.

Developing Portage

While there are other higher profile developments and developers in the community, Liegel and Stevenson have managed to help foster community growth in the areas it has been most needed.

Two years ago, city officials were talking about the need to redevelop a small business district near the interstate on the corner of Highway 16 and Silver Lake Drive that had fallen on hard times.

A gas station and a fast food restaurant both went out of business there. Liegel and Stevenson as well as others helped rehab the corner site, which is now bustling with Murph's Chop Shop and a Mobil gas station.

"What they did to that end of town is tremendous," said Portage Mayor Ken Jahn.

Now the pair are helping kick-start development in the city's once-struggling business and industrial park by constructing a building to serve as a headquarters to their growing business. Part of the facility will serve as rental office and warehouse space.

As the first development in the city's industrial park, Liegel and Stevenson's business will provide the tax revenue the city needs to create infrastructure there. That in turn is expected to make it easier to sell the park to other potential suitors.

"They could have easily decided to locate someplace (closer to the other stores). So for them to pick our community is a real positive. They are making a large commitment to the city of Portage," Jahn said.

The park had sat vacant since the city purchased the land several years ago, despite much effort to land buyers. It was starting to become a financial liability for the city.

"The city is going to be happy with what they got out there," Liegel said of park's future prospects.

Giving back

Although they grew up in Reedsburg, both unequivocally call Portage their home. They said they relish spending time in the Portage Culver's and feel great about being about to help out the community in different ways.

"It is everything," Liegel said about helping local groups and people with fundraisers. "I don't think we have ever said no to anybody that has come in and asked for help with something."

The myriad of causes that have benefited from the local Culver's has ranged from individuals with extreme health-care bills, local athletic teams, the weekly summer concert series Concerts at the Portage and the River Haven Homeless Shelter, among others.

"Portage has been very good to us, we want to be good to Portage," Stevenson said.