Another Whataburger planned for the SC Midlands. Here’s where
The Whataburger hamburger chain is continuing its expansion into South Carolina with a restaurant on Killian Commons Parkway in Columbia.
The company is seeking bids for new construction via LDILand, a website for general contractors to see construction plans for bidding.
It will be the third in the Columbia area from the national chain based in San Antonio, Texas, not the locally-owned restaurant What-A-Burger.
The others are in Irmo and Lexington.
The Columbia spot is at an exit of Interstate 77, where a number of other fast food restaurants are located, including Chick-Fil-A and Freddy’s Frozen Custard, as well as a number of car dealerships.
Seven other Whataburger locations have been announced this year in Upstate South Carolina, two in the city of Spartanburg, one in Boiling Springs, one in Duncan, one in Anderson and two in Greenville.
A representative of Whataburger did not immediately answer requests for comment on the Columbia plans or what other cities in South Carolina will be considered as part of an aggressive expansion program.
In Greenville, the board of zoning appeals denied a special exception for a 24-hour drive-thru. The 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 the board of zoning appeals said the Laurens Road Whataburger expected to do $3.4 million in sales a year. All Whataburgers are open 24 years a day, seven days a week except Christmas.
The other location in the Greenville area is on Woodruff Road, outside Greenville city limits. It does not require governmental oversight. The road is an almost continuous expanse of strip malls, big-box stores and fast food chains through Greenville County.
Whataburger was founded 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 stores.
The family sold its majority interest in the company In 2019 to Chicago-based investment firm BDT Capital, which began the expansion program.
