Now hiring in KC: Whataburger looks for general managers in Blue Springs, Overland Park
Beloved Texas-based chain Whataburger is hiring general managers for the Kansas City area.
In recent posts on its website it is listing openings for 905 Missouri 7 in Blue Springs (a former Winstead’s), as well as Overland Pointe Marketplace, 8420 W. 135th St. in Overland Park (a former Salty Iguana Mexican Restaurant).
The listings read: “A Whataburger general manager drives operational excellence and customer service. They make sure that our restaurants are always clean, safe and ready for business.” General managers will grow through the chain’s Restaurant Career Development Path, a professional development program.
Salty Iguana closed in Overland Pointe Marketplace in late 2019 after nearly a decade. It decided not to renew its lease and concentrate on its other locations. Officials with the Overland Park Planning Commission said no plans have been submitted for the site.
Winstead’s decided not to renew its lease for the Blue Springs location in late 2018 after more than 30 years in the spot. Miranda Austerman, spokeswoman for the City of Blue Springs, said Whataburger officials have been meeting with the city for several weeks on the site, and that their development attorney met with them on the morning of Oct. 21.
“We are really excited that they are looking at Blue Springs but nothing has been finalized,” she said.
Whataburger’s public relations company issued a statement Wednesday: “Whataburger is certainly excited about expanding into the Kansas City market and they are in fact hiring for some positions now. They have a robust and comprehensive training program, and they recruit early to ensure new leaders are prepared to share the Whataburger brand with the communities they serve.”
They declined further comment.
In June, Lee’s Summit officials confirmed that Whataburger had approached them about putting up a new freestanding Whataburger at Douglas Street and Saint Luke’s Boulevard, near Saint Luke’s East Hospital.
Days later the chain confirmed it would expand in the Kansas City area and Tennessee, but it didn’t list locations.
Whataburger was founded by Harmon Dobson in 1950, according to the company’s website. He had an idea — an eatery that would “serve a burger so big that it took two hands to hold, and so good that after a single bite customers couldn’t help but exclaim, ‘What a burger!’ ”
Burgers are made to order and it uses 100 percent beef and a 5-inch bun.
It also has breakfast items such as pancakes and biscuit sandwiches, fish and chicken sandwiches, patty melts, salads and shakes.
After the Texas-based burger chain offered to send Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes some of his favorite ketchup and a T-shirt in late 2018, he tweeted back, “I just want a store in Kansas City!”
This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 6:38 PM.