They're at it again! After sitting vacant since its abrupt closure this past June, a former O'Charley's restaurant in East Cobb is being targeted for redevelopment into Cobb County's latest Whataburger! Located at 3550 Sandy Plains Road, the 6,948 square foot building is slated to be demolished and rebuilt as a new Whataburger restaurant, according to plans reviewed by ToNeTo Atlanta.
The East Cobb site sits at an intersection - Sandy Plains & Shallowford Roads - that is one of the most heavily trafficked in the area. The site, which according to property records, measures just over an acre, also currently benefits from multiple shared access points including those between it and Regions Bank, it and Synovus Bank, it and the Target and it and the former GreenWise centers, respectively.
ToNeTo Atlanta reported March 13 that a new Whataburger is also planned in Loganville in Walton County. That Whataburger is planned for 4764 Atlanta Highway (US Highway 78) where it will occupy a roughly two acre property.
Similar to Jim 'N Nick's, which ToNeTo Atlantareported March 21 would open a new location in West Cobb, Whataburger has found Cobb County residents especially receptive to their business. The company's Cobb County presence now includes two restaurants in Kennesaw, one planned for Acworth, and other locations in the Cobb-adjacent communities of Woodstock and Cumberland/Akers Mill.
Since entering metro Atlanta with a location in Kennesaw in late 2022, the 24 hour burger chain added eleven locations to metro Atlanta in 2023, including locations on Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw, Scenic Highway in Snellville, and Duval Road in Dawsonville this past fall.
In January, Whataburger Chief Executive Officer Ed Nelson, Chief Operating Officer Debbie Stroud, and other company executives descended on Atlanta to celebrate the 1,000 overall Whataburger at Akers Mill Square near Cumberland Mall. The Akers Mill Whataburger also became the first unit to carry an "Atlanta" address.
(We are still waiting for someone to correctly answer our Whataburger trivia questions and win free Whataburger for a year! See our Facebook page for details.)
Established by Harmon Dobson in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1950, Whataburger was family-owned until 2019 when the Dobson family sold its majority stake to BDT Capital, a Chicago-based investment company. Since the sale, the company has pushed forward with ambitious growth through both corporate and franchised restaurants.
In partnership with Made to Order Holdings, LLC, Whataburger expects to open an additional ten Georgia restaurants in 2024.
ToNeTo Atlanta has in recent months reported on several new Whataburger restaurants planned for the greater metro Atlanta area including those planned for Acworth, Roswell, Duluth, Grayson, Dahlonega, and Oakwood.
Our publishing partners at The City Menus report that other Whataburger restaurants are planned for Carrollton and Sharpsburg, between Newnan and Peachtree City, too. A previously planned location on Mansell Road near North Point Parkway in Alpharetta has been abandoned, but the company is looking to open a location on McFarland Parkway in south Forsyth, just off exit 12 of Highway 400, not far from Halcyon.
Overall, the chain plans to have 50 Whataburger restaurants open in Georgia by 2030. Today the company has 16 restaurants open in the state. According to the Made To Order Holdings website, the brand plans to bring more than 6,000 jobs to Georgia.
Have you tried Whataburger at one of their existing Atlanta area restaurants? Do think Whataburger is better than other fast-food burger joints? Where else in metro Atlanta would you like to see Whataburger open?
Please share your thoughts below.