[EXCLUSIVE] Atlanta Road May Soon Get a New Whataburger Restaurant

A new Whataburger restaurant is being proposed in Cobb County as the chain gets closer to its highly anticipated intown Atlanta debut.  The new Whataburger is being proposed on the south side of Atlanta Road, east of West Village Way, and northwest of Pine Street, just off I-285. 

Plans submitted to Cobb County indicate that the Texas-based burger chain is looking to build a 3,300 square foot restaurant on a vacant roughly third of an acre parcel.  The restaurant would feature a double drive-thru and be open 24 hours a day.  The chain seeks to have the property rezoned from R-20 to Planned Village Community (PVC) to accommodate their intended use.  

Atlanta-based Branch Properties, a firm virtually synonymous with primarily Publix-anchored shopping centers, was marketing the outparcel opportunity on behalf of property owner West Village Associates, LLC.

The property in question is located at an entryway to the West Village development, a project that includes apartments, townhomes, and other commercial uses.  Beside the property is a recently renovated Waffle House with Wellstar's Vinings Health Park across Atlanta Road.  

The burger chain's plans are due to be heard by the Cobb County Planning Commission on November 5 (Election Day) and by Cobb County's Board of Commissioners on November 9.  

Since entering metro Atlanta with a location in Kennesaw in late 2022, Whataburger added eleven units to metro Atlanta in 2023 including locations on Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw, Scenic Highway in Snellville, and Duval Road in Dawsonville.  The company currently has 21 restaurants open in Georgia.  

This past January, then Whataburger CEO Ed Nelson, then Chief Operating Officer and newly named CEO Debbie Stroud, along with other company executives, descended on Atlanta to celebrate the 1,000th overall Whataburger at Akers Mill Square near Cumberland Mall.  The Akers Mill Whataburger also became the first unit to carry an "Atlanta" address. (We are still waiting for someone to correctly answer our Whataburger trivia questions and win free Whataburger for a year!  See our Facebook page for details.)      

Established by Harmon Dobson in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1950, Whataburger was family-owned until 2019 when the Dobson family sold its majority stake to BDT Capital, a Chicago-based investment company.  Since the sale, the company has pushed forward with ambitious growth through both corporate and franchised restaurants.    

In partnership with franchisee Made to Order Holdings, LLC, Whataburger expects to open an additional ten Georgia restaurants in 2024.        

ToNeTo Atlanta has, in recent months, reported on several new Whataburger restaurants planned for the greater metro Atlanta area including those planned for Acworth, East Cobb, Roswell, Duluth, Grayson, Stockbridge and Oakwood.    

A previously planned location on Mansell Road near North Point Parkway in Alpharetta has been abandoned, but the company is looking to open a location on McFarland Parkway in south Forsyth, just off exit 12 of Highway 400, not far from Halcyon.    

Overall, the chain plans to have 50 Whataburger restaurants open in Georgia by 2030.  

Have you tried Whataburger at one of their existing Atlanta area restaurants?  Do you think Whataburger is better than other fast-food burger joints?  Where else in metro Atlanta would you like to see Whataburger open?   

Please share your thoughts below.