Whataburger facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Restaurant |
| Genre | Fast food |
| Founded | August 8, 1950 in Corpus Christi, Texas, U.S. |
| Founder | Harmon Dobson, Paul Burton |
| Headquarters |
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U.S.
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Number of locations
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1000 (2024) |
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Area served
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Texas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Kansas, Southeastern, Southwestern and Colorado. |
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Key people
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| Products | |
| Revenue |  $3.340 billion (2022) |
| Owner | BDT & MSD Partners (majority) Dobson family (minority) |
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Number of employees
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43,000 (2021) |
Whataburger is a popular American fast food restaurant chain. It started in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1950 and is now based in San Antonio, Texas. The company is famous for its delicious hamburgers.
Whataburger was founded by Harmon Dobson and Paul Burton. For many years, the Dobson family owned the company. In 2019, a company called BDT & MSD Partners bought most of Whataburger, but the Dobson family still owns a small part.
When the company changed hands in 2019, there were more than 670 Whataburger locations in Texas. There were also over 150 restaurants in other states like New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and the Southern U.S.
For a long time, Whataburger restaurants were easy to spot because of their unique orange and white striped A-frame roofs. The very first A-frame building was built in Odessa, Texas, in 1961. Even though it was seen as an important landmark, this original A-frame restaurant was taken down in 2019 and a new building was put in its place.
Whataburger's main focus is on burgers made with ground beef. Some of their famous burgers include the Whataburger, the Whataburger Jr., and the Triple Meat Whataburger. They also offer chicken options like the Whatachick'n. If you visit in the morning, you can enjoy breakfast items like biscuits, sausage, bacon, and eggs.
Contents
The Story of Whataburger
How It All Started
In 1950, Harmon Dobson and Paul Burton wanted to open a hamburger restaurant. Harmon Dobson had a big idea: he wanted to "make a better burger that took two hands to hold and tasted so good that when you took a bite you would say 'What a burger!'"
In June 1950, Dobson got the official "Whataburger" name. Two months later, in August, they opened their first restaurant. It was on Ayers Street in Corpus Christi, Texas. At first, burgers cost only 25 cents, and they also sold drinks and chips.
In 1951, Paul Burton and Harmon Dobson decided to go their separate ways. They disagreed when Dobson wanted to raise the burger price from 25 to 30 cents. Burton ended up owning the Whataburger restaurants in San Antonio, Texas. A few months later, the price went up to 35 cents.
In 1952, Dobson opened a Whataburger in Kingsville, Texas. This was the first store outside of Corpus Christi. The company kept growing, and by 1959, the first Whataburger outside of Texas opened in Pensacola, Florida.
Growth in the 1960s and 1970s
By 1960, Whataburger had restaurants in Texas, Florida, and Tennessee. Harmon Dobson loved flying, and his passion inspired the famous orange and white striped A-frame design for the restaurants. The first one was built in Odessa, Texas, in 1961.
In 1962, the menu grew to include French fries and hot pies. By 1963, Whataburger had expanded to Arizona and had a total of 26 stores. In 1965, it was estimated that they sold 15,000 burgers every day just in the Texas Coastal Bend area. In 1967, the company introduced its "Flying W" logo. By then, there were 40 Whataburger restaurants in four states.
A sad event happened on April 11, 1967, when Harmon Dobson died in an airplane crash. His wife, Grace Dobson, took over the business. In 1969, Grace became the chairman of the board.
In 1971, Whataburger opened its first restaurant with a drive-through. The next year, in 1972, the 100th Whataburger store opened its doors. In 1974, the A-frame design was updated to a "Modern A-Frame" to make room for drive-thrus and bigger dining areas.
The 1980s and 1990s
By 1980, Whataburger had opened its 300th store. In 1982, three restaurants in Corpus Christi, Texas, started staying open 24/7, all day and night. In 1983, new breakfast items were added to the menu, like Breakfast on a Bun and breakfast taquitos. The Whatachick'n sandwich also joined the menu.
In 1993, Tom Dobson, Harmon and Grace Dobson's son, became the CEO and President of the company. The menu continued to grow, offering Whatameal packages, cookies, and chicken strips. In 1995, Whataburger celebrated opening its 500th store. At that time, it was recognized as the eighth-largest hamburger chain in the United States.
On May 6, 1999, a very special Whataburger called "Whataburger by the Bay" opened in Corpus Christi. It is the largest Whataburger restaurant, covering about 6,000 square feet. This location also features a life-size bronze statue of Harmon Dobson.
Whataburger was even featured in the popular animated TV show King of the Hill, often showing a restaurant with its familiar A-frame design.
Whataburger Today
On August 8, 2000, Whataburger celebrated its 50th birthday with 575 restaurants open. In 2001, the state of Texas passed a law officially calling Whataburger a "Texas Treasure."
In 2007, the company had grown to 700 stores in ten states and was making $1 billion in sales each year. By the end of 2011, there were 728 Whataburger stores in ten states. Most of these were owned by the Dobson family, while others were owned and run by different franchise owners.
In 2019, the Dobson family sold most of their ownership in Whataburger to a company called BDT Capital Partners. The family said this sale would help Whataburger grow even more in the future. The company's main office stayed in San Antonio, Texas.
Since 2021, Whataburger has been expanding into new areas like the Midwest, opening locations around the Kansas City metropolitan area and Wichita, Kansas. In 2022, they also started opening restaurants in the Atlanta metropolitan area in Georgia.
In April 2023, the city of Flower Mound, Texas, approved plans for its first Whataburger. At that time, Flower Mound was the largest city in Texas that didn't have a Whataburger.
Whataburger Products You Can Buy
Whataburger's sauces became so popular that they started selling them in grocery stores like H-E-B in 2014. Because of this success, the company also began selling 1-pound packages of its bacon in these stores.
You can now buy Whataburger's famous condiments, like their ketchup and spicy ketchup, in squeeze bottles. They also sell jars of their picante sauce and salsa verde, along with boxed pancake mix.
Where Whataburger is Run From
Leadership and Offices
In 2022, Whataburger made over $3 billion in sales. They had more than 900 restaurants in 14 states and also sold products in grocery stores. The company employed about 50,000 people in 2022.
Whataburger is led by its President and CEO, Ed Nelson. Other important leaders include Debbie Stroud (who helps run the company's daily operations) and Rich Scheffler (who handles marketing).
In 2009, Whataburger moved its main office from Corpus Christi to a new building in San Antonio, Texas. The company chose San Antonio because it had more people who could work for them, was safer from hurricanes, and offered more affordable office space.
What-A-Burger and Other Similar Names
You might sometimes hear about another restaurant called What-A-Burger (with a hyphen). This is a separate chain of family-owned restaurants in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The first What-A-Burger opened in Virginia in 1950, around the same time the Texas Whataburger started.
For many years, the two companies didn't know about each other. But around 2002-2003, they had a legal disagreement over their similar names. In 2004, a court decided that the Texas Whataburger had the right to its name. However, the court also said that the Virginia What-A-Burger did not cause any confusion for customers. People knew that the burgers from Virginia were not from Texas.
There is also another restaurant chain in North Carolina called What-A-Burger Drive-In, which was not part of the lawsuit and also kept its name.
Sponsorships
Whataburger has supported many different music festivals. The company also sponsors sports. For example, there's the Whataburger Sports Complex in Kilgore, Texas, and they have supported the Arizona Soccer Association and David Starr Racing.
Images for kids
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Hamburger from Whataburger
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Whataburger French fries
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Whataburger Field sign in Corpus Christi, Texas
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Whataburger restaurant at night
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A Whataburger restaurant
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Whataburger in Tallahassee, Florida
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Whataburger in Irving, Texas
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See also
- Whataburger Field, home of the Corpus Christi Hooks
- List of hamburger restaurants
