[EXCLUSIVE] Whataburger Has Multiple Sites Under Review in Georgia

A Texas burger joint is eyeing expansion with Georgia on its mind.  Whataburger, established in 1950 and based in San Antonio, has more than 840 restaurants.  The majority of them, nearly 700, are in Texas. On the heels of their 2019 majority sale to BDT Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, the company is looking to accelerate their growth. Georgia and metro Atlanta are among the markets the company is actively scouting for new restaurants.   

News of the restaurant's metro Atlanta intentions will no doubt be well received by many, but perhaps most of all, the 1,000+ members of the Bring Whataburger to Atlanta Facebook page.  

For those unfamiliar with what Atlanta Magazine called the "crown jewel of Texan businesses," Whataburger is a 24-hour fast food restaurant that serves anything from assorted breakfast fare like pancakes, hashbrown sticks and taquitos, to burgers, patty melts, chicken sandwiches, malts, shakes and more.  The restaurant's breakfast menu is served daily from 11pm to 11am.

Real estate sources tell ToNeTo Atlanta that representatives of the burger chain have looked at several sites in the greater metro Atlanta area - with specific sites under review in Buford, Cumming and Peachtree City - but that no leases have been signed...yet.  The company reportedly plans to open as many as fifteen locations in Georgia over the next few years.    

Whataburger currently operates a single location in Georgia - in Thomasville - which opened in 2005.  A second Georgia location in Valdosta that opened around the same time as the Thomasville unit did not fare as well and has been closed for at least twelve years, according to online research.  Two other Whataburger locations closed in Brunswick in Glynn County in late 2011.    [Whataburger opened their first location in Atlanta, Texas in 2020.] 

Neighboring states Alabama and Florida are already home to eighteen and thirty-six Whatburger restaurants, respectively, but are slated for more in the years to come.  

Classic "A-Frame" Whataburger

In the Birmingham suburb of Homewood, for instance, construction will soon begin for a new Whataburger  on the site of a former Regions Bank.  The burger chain plans to replace the roughly 5,500 former bank building with a new roughly 3,200 square foot restaurant.  (Interestingly, it was Regions that opened a new branch in East Cobb in place of a short-lived Pollo Tropical restaurant.) 

Real estate sources tell ToNeTo Atlanta that Whataburger is in active discussions for multiple sites in Huntsville, Alabama and in several Florida cities, too.  

In a July 2020 post on their website titled "Looking Ahead to the Future," Whataburger officially announced their plans to enter both Tennessee and Kansas City with real estate sources telling ToNeTo Atlanta that the company has sites under review in both Nashville and Chattanooga, among other cities.  

The use of former bank sites could be one way in which the company penetrates Atlanta [and other] markets where many quick-serve operators are already well entrenched and quality available sites are scarce.  Several SunTrust and BB&T bank sites have already become available and more are expected to follow in the months to come as Truist Financial Corporation further reduces its duplicative branch fleet following the merger of the two banks.  Bank of America, Ameris, and Wells Fargo, among others, have also closed select branches where smaller banks and credit unions have already taken over some, but restaurant operators could also have interest.  

New Whataburger restaurant design introduced in 2020 

In their 2020 report "The QSR 50," QSR Magazine estimates that Whataburger generated about $3.2 million per unit in 2019.  Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A was the best performer among QSR peers with estimates of more than $4.5 million per unit.  Chick-fil-A operates more than 2,600 locations across 47 states and Washington D.C., while Whataburger operates about 840 restaurants across ten states.  (Shake Shack will soon open their first drive-thru unit and is not yet a true peer of the two aforementioned chains but is named in the report as generating about $4.2 million per unit.) 

Whataburger announced plans in 2020 to open 25 new restaurants in 2021.  The burger chain did not indicate where those restaurants will be but did announce that the company will begin franchising for the first time in nearly twenty years. Franchising, the company said, will allow them "to open more restaurants in more areas - more quickly and efficiently – while providing job opportunities and investing in the communities we serve." 

In 2009, Whataburger shuttered fourteen restaurants in Florida due to what it said were "low sales."  These restaurants, first opened by franchisees, had subsequently been purchased by corporate.  When Whataburger does open in Georgia it will hope to avoid issues like it experienced in Florida and also those of Del Taco, El Pollo Loco and Pollo Tropical, three fast food chains that have had challenges in their entries into the Atlanta market with the latter two having exited the market entirely.  

Where would you like to see Whataburger open in metro Atlanta?  What is your favorite quick-serve burger joint?  What quick-serve restaurant do you think has the best fries? 

Please share your thoughts below.