Hundreds show up for taste of Whataburger
People waited in line for hours to get a taste of Whataburger on Monday.
The Southaven location at 176 Goodman Road East opened its doors at 11 a.m. Monday. It is the first Memphisarea Whataburger to open since two locations closed in the early ’90s.
Lacy Pinkerton, a Whataburger field marketing manager, said these lines were normal for when Whataburger opens in a new market.
Whataburger, a Texas-based fastfood chain, is known for its burgers, shakes and breakfast taquitos.
The Southaven Whataburger was prepared to serve about 1,700 people during its first day.
“We’re open 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Pinkerton said. “We serve breakfast from 11 p.m. to 11 a.m., and we have really good breakfast.”
Some store managers have been training for opening day for a full year or more.
“The rest of the folks, anywhere from six months to two weeks,” Pinkerton said.
Whataburger plans to employ a total of 525 employees across the four locations in the Memphis area by year’s end, a news release said.
The drive-thru line stretched past Malco’s Desoto Cinema Grill located across from Whataburger and to Airways Boulevard for periods on Monday.
Kenneth Herts got in the drive-thru line around 11:20 a.m. to get Whataburger with his son. Herts remembers having Whataburger years ago when they used to be in Memphis, but hasn’t had it since.
“I actually heard about (the opening) last night,” Herts said. “I woke up at 7 for the dentist, and my face is numb, and then I told my son, ‘Let’s come out, I have some time this morning.’ Hopefully I won’t be out here for longer than an hour.”
It ended up taking Herts and his son around three hours to be served.
“After a week, this won’t happen,” Herts said. “It’s like Bojangles was when it opened down the street. We had the same problem, and now nobody goes to Bojangles. It’s like bootleg Church’s (Chicken).”
A much shorter line of people was waiting outside in the 95-degree heat to get their burgers Monday. One worker who was bringing out little cups of ice cream to keep the customers cool joked she had never felt heat like this before, saying it felt like Arizona.
Derek Rivers came out to stand in line because he was hungry and had some time to kill, he said. Like Herts, he also remembers eating Whataburger in Memphis before they closed in the ’90s but hasn’t had it since.
“One of my friends was the first one to be in line this morning,” Rivers said. “She gets free burgers for a year.”
The second Southaven Whataburger location, at 6829 Getwell Road North, is expected to open in August, Pinkerton said.
Whataburger is headquartered in San Antonio, with more than 850 locations across 14 states.
The Southaven locations are the first two of four Whataburgers planned in the Memphis area. The others are set to open in Memphis (Stage Road and North Germantown Parkway) and Cordova (Germantown Parkway and Macon Road).
Gina Butkovich covers Desoto County, storytelling and general news. She can be reached at 901-232-6714 or on Twitter @gigibutko.