Patrick Mahomes loves Whataburger so much, he’ll co-own 30 in Kansas City and beyond
Eight Whataburger restaurants are already in the works across the metro.
Now a new franchisee — a group that includes Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes — plans to open 30 locations from Wichita to St. Joseph.
But it will concentrate on the Kansas City metro. Mahomes and a “group of investors from Texas” are behind the franchisee, KMO Burger, according to Whataburger.
Its first restaurants are scheduled to open in the Valley View Shoppes at Missouri 152 & North Booth Avenue, near Liberty, in fall 2022 and in Metro North Crossing, at Northwest Barry Road and Jefferson Street, in late 2022, according to the shopping center developers.
“I love Kansas City and I love Whataburger,” Mahomes said in a statement. “I’m excited to help bring a gift from my first home to my second home.”
Mahomes elaborated more earlier this week when he was talking to NBC Sports about his love of Whataburger.
“I’ve always ate Whataburger since I was a little kid. And then when I got older, I’d babysit my brother and there was a Whataburger literally down the street, and we would always grab that and kind of have that while my mom was working.
“And so when I got to Kansas City, it was the first time I’d really been out of Texas and didn’t have Whataburger all the time. And so I ended up talking to some people and we ended up making it happen where we’re going to have a lot of locations out here, and I’ll have a little bit of Texas here in Kansas City.”
Four Whataburger locations are expected to open this year in Blue Springs, Independence, Lee’s Summit and south Overland Park.
Others that were already in the works for next year are in Raymore, Kansas City, Kansas, and at 95th and Metcalf in Overland Park, as well as the Metro North Crossing location that will be owned by KMO Burger.
KMO Burger plans to open its 30 restaurants in the region over the next seven years.
Mahomes’ agent, Chris Cabott, shared the news on his Instagram account:
Includes reporting by The Star’s Pete Grathoff.
This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 12:32 PM.