Here’s when and where the first Whataburger in SC is expected to open
Grading has begun for the first Whataburger restaurant announced in South Carolina.
Anderson County Administrator Rusty Burns said he would expect the location to be open in about six months.
The Texas-based hamburger chain is in the midst of a nationwide expansion, with 10 locations announced for South Carolina in 2022 and openings likely this year.
Whataburger recently opened its 1,000th restaurant, a milestone shared between two locations, corporate-owned Atlanta, Georgia, and franchise-owned Yukon, Oklahoma. Both opened Jan. 16.
A company official did not respond to requests for information about the status of each of the announced South Carolina locations.
Three of the locations are in the Midlands: Killian Commons Parkway in Columbia, 1185 Dutch Fork Road in Irmo and Platt Springs Crossing in Lexington County
Also announced are locations in the Upstate: two in the city of Spartanburg, one in Boiling Springs, one in Duncan, one in Anderson and two in Greenville. One of the Greenville locations was denied a permit by the city Zoning Board of Appeals to operate 24 hours a day. Company officials have not said whether they will appeal or find another location.
A document filed with the Board of Zoning Appeals said Whataburger expected to make $3.4 million in sales a year at that location.
All Whataburgers are open 24 years a day, seven days a week except Christmas.
The other Greenville location is outside the city and does not face restrictions on hours of operation.
Whataburger, not to be confused with the West Columbia-based What-A-Burger, 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.
