Another Whataburger is coming to SC. Here’s where
The national Whataburger chain is hoping to open a restaurant in Greenville, providing they get approval for a 24-hour drive-thru operation.
It is part of a nationwide expansion for the Texas-based chain.
The city’s Board of Zoning Appeals will consider the request at a Sept. 14 meeting.
Other South Carolina locations in the works are two in the city of Spartanburg, one in Boiling Springs, one in Duncan and one in Anderson.
The chain is not related to the Midlands-based What-A-Burger, which is locally owned.
Whataburger, the chain, is based in San Antonio, Texas, with 930 restaurants in 14 states and sales of more than $3 billion annually, according to its website.
The Greenville location is slightly less than an acre and was formerly a Title-Max office across Laurens Road from a Chick-fil-A and a Cookout in a commercial area with many other fast-food businesses and a Publix.
A document filed with Greenville’s Board of Zoning Appeals says the Laurens Road Whataburger expects to do $3.4 million in sales a year. All Whataburgers are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week except Christmas.
The chain is on an ambitious growth path, opening 15 or more locations a year and include areas outside its southern roots. In July, the company announced a location on the Las Vegas Strip. It is expected to open this fall and will represent the 15th state.
In June it opened its fifth store in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The company started in 1950 as a roadside burger stand by Harmon Dobson in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Dobson died in a private plane crash in 1967 and his wife Grace took over the company. By the time she died in 2005 at age 80, the company had grown to 600 restaurants.
The family sold its majority interest in the company In 2019 to Chicago-based investment firm BDT Capital.
The company website says to become a franchisee, a person needs $1.2 million cash, a minimum net worth of $12.5 million and commit to opening at least five locations in five years.
In Spartanburg County, a site plan approved for a Whataburger on W.O. Ezell Boulevard is a former Wagreen’s drug store in an area with lots of restaurants and stores. The other city location is on East Main, but has not yet been approved by the city. Another location is in fast-growing Boiling Springs, across from a Quick Trip on Highway 8.
The fourth location is in Duncan in a former Bank of America building.
The plan, which needs to be reviewed by the city, is to locate several miles off Interstate 85, closer to downtown on North Main Street.
Whataburger in Anderson will be located on about an acre at North Main Street and Concord Street.
