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🔴 PRIVATE EQUITY OWNED
Whataburger
fast food · San Antonio, TX
PE Firm
BDT Capital Partners
Year Acquired
2019
“Texas sacred cow, now owned by Chicago money guys. Bless their hearts.”
The PE Playbook
- •BDT Capital Partners of Chicago acquired majority stake in 2019, ending 69 years of Dobson family control — Texans treated it like a funeral
- •Aggressive out-of-state expansion: from 11 states to 16+ including Colorado, Kansas, Tennessee — purists say the 'soul' is diluted
- •Widespread complaints of cold fries, soggy lettuce, incorrect orders, and 15-45 minute wait times flooded social media post-acquisition
- •Revenue surpassed $3 billion in 2021 (40% growth since 2016), so the investors are eating well even if the customers aren't
Since the Acquisition
- ▸Expanded aggressively from ~830 locations in 2019 to over 1,100 by 2025 — but longtime Texas customers say rapid growth diluted quality
- ▸Customers report noticeably longer wait times since the acquisition — complaints of 15, 26, even 45-minute waits for drive-through orders
- ▸Reports of cold fries, soggy lettuce, dirty stores, and incorrect orders became widespread complaints after the BDT takeover
- ▸The founding Dobson family, which ran Whataburger for 69 years, sold majority control to a Chicago-based firm — a cultural gut punch for Texas loyalists