Whataburger opened its first restaurant in 1950 in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Harmon Dobson and Paul Burton founded the company after developing a large hamburger that customers could hold with one hand. The original restaurant operated from a small, orange-and-white building near Ayers Street and South Staples Street.
The name reflected the founders’ hope that customers would ask, “What a burger!” Whataburger later became especially associated with Texas, although its restaurants expanded into other southern and southwestern states.
The original Corpus Christi location is often discussed alongside the chain’s distinctive A-frame restaurants, a design introduced during its early growth. This fact is about the founding restaurant, not the later corporate headquarters or the date the chain entered a particular state.