Proving everyone wrong, Grace lived her entire life in the same house that her husband bought her. I didnt know the history of Whataburger was so interesting. But thats a tough needle to thread for a company that has developed intense customer loyalty because of its down-home, noncorporate image. Most people thought Grace Dobson would sell her rapidly growing hamburger business after her husband died in a private plane crash in 1967. They are memories Sheka said he will treasure. The new CEO and president of Whataburger was Tom Dobson, the son of Harmon and Grace Dobson. Since post-war production had not yet returned, the U.S. had a great need for autos, particularly in rural areas. The main reason for the move was for oil. Dobson, who was an avid pilot, was inspired by his time in sky, designed the orange and white striped A-frame store in Odessa, Texas, in 1961. It was an instant success, and Harmon began to expand the business to other markets. I had no idea that the founder of Whataburger started in the oil business! The History of and Story Behind Whataburger Logo - Money Inc I found this sad and interesting. Our History: The Whataburger Story Harmon Dobson was the founder of WHATABURGER Inc. Grace Dobson, also known as Lady Grace, is the famous face behind the Whataburger empire. Written by: Rebecca Canfield | Photos Courtesy of: Whataburger. Yet despite its success, Whataburgers history has included some setbacks. Harmon Dobson died in a plane crash in 1967, and his widow, Grace (whose first date with Harmon was at Whataburger #3, in Corpus), ran things until the first outsider, Jim Peterson, took. Dobson revealed that in Fast Food magazine in 1957 that flying over a Whataburger in Bryan, Texas led to more customers buying burgers. The purpose of this is to explore expansion plans in the northern area of the United States while staying true to the brands message.15 Some of the brand messages can be found in The Whataburger Difference. The Whataburger Difference is what separates the company from every other competitor that they have and one of the five points of focus is to protect and serve the best products in the industry.16 With this said, hopefully Texans will stay true to the family brand as changes occur, which would surely make Dobson proud of how his company has grown. While her husband, Harmon Dobson, was the one who launched the first Whataburger, it was Lady Grace who clung tightly to her husbands legacy through terrible trials and tragedies. The wreckage of a military plane found this month on an Alaska glacier is that of an Air Force plane that crashed in 1952, killing all 52 people aboard, military officials said Wednesday. You can count real friends on one hand. According to the lawsuit, Reese met with Atkinson, who told her that despite the agreement, Whataburger didnt believe it was obligated to approve new sites and that it could veto any sites that the franchisee selected. What kind of arrangement is appropriate, where should you send it, and when should you send an alternative? Dobson faced financial challenges. Today, our founder's original vision still inspires everything we do. The meeting between Pierce and the rich soil of the coastal plains of Texas might have been destiny. Great article! Be the first to post a memory or condolences. What disappointed Harmon most about this era was the news that although he was accepted to the University of Missouri to study journalism, he would never graduate. Police found two dead people inside the. Instead, during the next 38 years, the Whataburger matriarch, who died of complications from cancer Thursday in a local hospital at age 80, played an integral part in growing the hamburger chain into the eighth largest in the nation. In 2001, the Whataburger Family Foundation officially began, though the charitable efforts had been ongoing since day one. This is such a great topic! This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. Their business completed the next day, on April 11, 1967, and the men were going back home. On July 19, 1989, one of the most dramatic events in aviation unfolded in the skies over Iowa as heroic pilots battled to land a crippled DC-10. [4] In 1962, the company introduced French fries and hot pies to its menu. Whataburger was doing well after its grand opening. And You Thought Feral Hogs Were Bad. Tom Harmon is Missing | University of Michigan Heritage Project In part because of its regional statusof the nearly 800 current Whataburger locations, more than 600 are in Texasthe chain inspires a combination of pride and loyalty among many Texans. This was a very interesting story to tell! Whataburgers affairs were more and more being turned over to the professionals, all of whom wanted to participate in what by now had ceased to be a family business and had become simply a large corporate entity, WOA claims in its lawsuit. New Year's Day, 1950, Harmon Dobson, a sometime bush pilot, diamond courier, and automobile dealer, wrote in his journal: . Although he missed college, Harmon was determined to make his way in the world. It was the first Whataburger restaurant outside the state of Texas. Fowler died after the Harmon Rocket plane he was piloting went down in a field northwest of Thorsby, Alta., on Saturday afternoon. Eventually, Jim Peterson became the new CEO, but he left a negative impact on the company. Whataburgers Facebook page reached 1 million fans in 2013, just over a year after its launch. Translation on Find a Grave is an ongoing project. By 1951, Dobson was an official Texan. The war was over, and his adventure had ended. Sorry! Its a brand built on pride, care, and love. Harmon Dobson - Wikipedia The sponsor of a memorial may add an additional. Whataburger Field, home of the Corpus Christi Hooks celebrated a ground-breaking ceremony with Grace throwing out the first pitch. Dobson even cut a deal with a local bakery to make special-sized buns; the Rainbo bakery had to search the country for a company that could make pans big enough to bake them. Its a little like a public divorceneither side walks away looking good, says Michelle Hartmann, a Dallas attorney who specializes in private-company litigation. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. This, I believe, will turn out to be a very profitable investment, which is something up until May 1, I was very unaccustomed.3, Dobson aimed to make a better burger a burger so good that it would require two hands to hold it. The beloved Nickel Mugnow a classic piece of Americanadebuted as a promotion which was supposed to last 1-year but ended up running for 14. Whataburger founder Harmon Dobson stands in front of his first . Born:? Whataburger is bigger than all of those, and that may be the point. [4], Dobson and Burton business venture was short lived when their partnership ended 1951 because of a dispute over Dobson's price raise of the burger from 25 to 30 cents. He felt like the burgers at Dairy King were too small and wanted to build a really big burger, calling it the Whataburger. Tom healed the wounds that Peterson left on Whataburger by pulling together as a company, simplifying its message, shutting down less profitable locations, and putting emphasis back on its famous burgers.14. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. At 4:28 p.m, the plane took off, but, unfortunately, something went wrong. So, he brought along Johnny Sneed, who was working with a Whataburger franchise in Victoria, Texas. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. Year should not be greater than current year. Unwilling to compromise, Dobson offered Burton the keys to his yellow Plymouth convertible and franchise rights to all of San Antonio in exchange for the business. Harmon Dobson was sixteen years old on Black Friday, but this first Black Friday was no shopping extravaganza: it marked the most devastating stock market crash in United States history. how privileged we are to have been in a partnership with you for this long.. And it is crazy to think how it was once only 35 cents and burger and not they are like 4-5 bucks for the same burger that they sold back then. "She was a very shy woman, who didn't want the limelight," Adler said Friday. Funeral services are at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at St. Luke's United Methodist Church, 3151 Reid Drive. Dobson was involved in the early growth of the franchise from 1950 until his death in an airplane crash in 1967. You have chosen this person to be their own family member. With time, they started to expand more outside Texas because Texans gave this restaurant a gold star. Little did he know that he was going to be the founder of an epic fast food restaurant. Through the years, she also served in numerous philanthropic capacities including working for the USO, Coastal Bend Youth City, the Kidney Foundation and the Texas State Aquarium. Months later, Harmon raised the prices for burgers to 35 cents. [2] Dobson spent most of his early life working on his parents' cattle farm. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. Tom officially took over Whataburger in 1993 and is still company chairman today. Grace Dobson Obituary (2005) - Corpus Christi, TX - Corpus-Christi Corpus Christi is going to miss Grace Dobson. Under Reeses leadership, WOA repeatedly won the chains annual best franchise award. Otherwise, it wouldnt approve any new sites for WOA. Is It Possible to Be Vegan Without Eating Vegetables? The location of the first Whataburger was 2609 Ayers Street, across from Del Mar College in Corpus Christi. Earlier this year, Andrewss company, now run by his daughter, Kathy Andrews Reese, sued the restaurant chain, claiming that Whataburger had reneged on a 22-year-old agreement between the two companies. [8] The crash killed Dobson and his business associate. Really great article. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. After all, kindness, compassion, and quality were principles Harmon and Grace worked to instill in their employees. He wanted this burgers to be so delicious that it would make a person yell, What a burger! This inspired the naming of his company. 9 Intense Plane Crashes Caused By Stalls Smithsonian Channel Smithsonian Channel Aviation Nation 3.2M views 2 years ago 8 Bad Weather Plane Crashes Smithsonian Channel Smithsonian. The exterior of the original Burger Boy restaurant at 2323 N. St. Mary's. Chuck Blount / Staff Show More Show Less 2 of 6. Insiders still refer to this time in the companys history as the dead zone. Profits fell as the company overreached by opening stores in saturated markets like Las Vegas and adding menu items, like popcorn shrimp salad, that customers didnt want. Im beginning to like it & the dollars too.11, By the spring of 1967, Whataburger had expanded to more than forty stores in sixteen Texas cities and four states since it had first opened in 1950. Whatabattle! - Texas Monthly I had over 5000 dollars invested in a drilling deal in Loving County, Texas, and on May 18 almost lost the whole thing through his drinking by fouling up a deal only two days before the money would have been forfeited Am now interested in financing Paul Burton, a hamburger expert, in some small specialized hamburger joints somewhere in Texas. I had no idea that the founder, Harmon Dobson, was not originally from here. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. Dobson wrote about his success during the first couple of days Whataburger opened in his journal. The story begins in 1950, when Harmon Dobson, an Arkansas native, came to Texas with dreams of making it big in the oil business, but instead prospered in big burgers, opening the first Whataburger stand in Corpus Christi in August of that year. By the end of the decade, Harmon would open Whataburger #21 in Pensacola, Florida. This venture led him to his destiny in the Lone Star State. Information and advice to help you cope with the death of someone important to you. Dobson was involved in the early growth of the franchise from 1950 until his death in an airplane crash in 1967. Harmon Archibald Dobson (October 8, 1913 - April 11, 1967) [1] was an American entrepreneur best known as one of the founders of the fast food chain Whataburger. Two die after small plane crashes in field southwest of Edmonton Their family complete, the Dobsons embarked on the happy, golden age of Whataburger. Make sure that the file is a photo. However, if one thinks about it, if it were not for this incident, Dobson would not have gone down the road that he did to finance Whataburger. These days, Whataburger doesnt seem so grateful. The place did well, and soon Dobson added two more locations in Corpus and one in nearby Kingsville. Im glad to read that Tom Dobson, his son, was able to continue the legacy that was left by his father. Two years later, three Corpus Christi locations began operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, much to the delight of hungry patrons.