Whata-change

San Antonio-based Whataburger sells to new owners amid expansion plans

Whataburger will keep its headquarters in San Antonio.

Courtesy photo

After 69 years as a family business, Whataburger has a new owner. In a June 14 release, the beloved San Antonio-based fast-food chain announced that Chicago’s BDT Capital Partners had acquired a majority interest in the company.

The Dobson family, which opened the first restaurant in Corpus Christi in 1950, will hold minority ownership, and the company headquarters will remain in San Antonio, the release says.

The move comes as the brand explores ambitious expansion plans. It is also on the heels of reports that the company was exploring a sale.

“As the brand embarks on a growth and expansion plan, we decided the time was right to promote new leadership to carry the company forward,” said current president and CEO Preston Atkinson in the release. “This leadership team has the right combination of Whataburger core values, strategic vision, and people-centered leadership to take us into the future.”

According to the release, the decision was an emotional one for the Dobson family.

“This is both exciting and bittersweet for the Dobson family. Whataburger has been the heart and soul of our family legacy for nearly 70 years, but we feel really good about the partnership with BDT,” Tom Dobson, Whataburger board chairman and son of founder Harmon Dobson, said in the release. “They have a track record of success with businesses as special as ours that want to grow, while preserving culture and family history.”

BDT, the release states, is a "merchant bank specializing in family and founder-led companies."

Atkinson and Dobson will "retire from the day-to-day operations of the company," the release says, but they will remain on the board. Although the leadership team will be realigned, the company has kept tenured Whataburger executives in strategic roles. Restaurant employees — the company officially calls them "Family Members" — will not see any changes.

Perhaps most important, Texas customers will still be able to get the burgers, chicken sandwiches, and taquitos that have made the chain a cult favorite — and claim Whataburger as their own.

texas promoted

NYT loves AUS

Pastry chef from San Antonio makes New York Times Best Bakeries list

Comadre Panadería/Instagram

Comadre Panadería is known for nostalgic Mexican bakes with feminine flair.

The New York Times has once again shined its spotlight on Austin’s culinary scene. It included Comadre Panadería, an Austin bakery by San Antonio native Mariela Camacho, on its new list of the 22 of the Best Bakeries Across the U.S. Right Now.

Interim food critic Priya Krishna praises pastry chef Camacho’s pastries that include conchas and her signature pink cake. “Despite their saccharine appearances, not one of the desserts is overly cloying, and even the coffee drinks (Texas pecan horchata! Cranberry vanilla agua fresca!) strike the playful tone of the pastries,” she writes.

Comadre Panadería has been widely recognized, including by this publication; Camacho, who is now based in Ausitn, won Pastry Chef of the Year in the 2023 CultureMap Austin Tastemaker Awards. She also earned a 2024 James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.

Camacho and Comadre as a whole are both invested in using baked goods to make a more equitable world, from the bakery's early days as a fundraiser for disaster relief, to a current insistence on charging enough to support ethical and organic foods, and paying staff enough to keep up with rising costs in Austin.

Although Camacho was born in San Antonio and started her baking career there, she also spent a significant time in Seattle, Washington, where Comadre started as a pop-up. According to Austin Monthly, she then moved back to San Antonio, and then to Austin. But no matter where she is, the Mexican cooking traditions of her ancestors take precedent.

Mariela Camacho of Comadre Panaderia in Austin Mariela Camacho, Comadre Panaderia. Courtesy photo

The Times also recognized Houston's Koffeteria. Krishna hails the bakery for pastry chef-owner Vanarin Kuch’s creative fare that includes dishes such as beef pho kolaches, Chinese sausage breakfast tacos, and butter mochi.

“Some of Mr. Kuch’s offerings are rooted in his Cambodian American identity — he makes cornbread with the coconutty, scallion-forward flavors of Cambodian street corn — while others are odes to Houston’s multicultural makeup. But most of the fun of Koffeteria is having no idea what Mr. Kuch will do next, and eagerly awaiting his next innovation,” Krishna writes.

Open since 2019, Koffeteria has been riding high this year. It earned a James Beard Award semifinalist nomination for Outstanding Bakery and a CultureMap Houston Tastemaker Award for Pastry Chef of the Year.

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Comadre Panadería and Koffeteria are the only Texas establishments to make the Times’ list. Only California and New York City, which each have three representatives, earn more recognition.

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