Whataburger celebrated the grand opening of its first Southwest Florida location on Sept. 10.
For one in attendance, it was a homecoming of sorts.
Most people know Harmon Dobson as Whataburger’s founder.
But to Estero resident Joel Dobson Halberstadt, he was Uncle Harmon.
“He was my mother’s brother,” said Joel, who helped cut the ribbon at Whataburger’s new Fort Myers location. “He was very gregarious, very friendly. He was so self-assured.”
Whataburger, Joel said, is “one of America’s greatest success stories.”
Harmon, one of four children including Joel’s mother, opened his first Whataburger in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1950.
“There was nothing he couldn’t do,” Joel said. “He said success was based on four things.”
Those were safety, for employees and customers; courtesy, “he wanted to make customers feel like they were the only ones in the store”; quality and consistency.
Whataburger thrived.
“Harmon (who was a pilot) used to go up in his plane and drop leaflets over new towns Whataburger was coming to,” Joel said. “He would fly city to city in Texas, analyzing roads and what areas were growing. He looked for where to go next.”
Joel’s father opened Whataburger No. 24 in 1961 and No. 30 in 1963 in Odessa, Texas.
“Burgers were 40 cents,” Joel said. “On a good day, we would sell 400 burgers. Now they sell 3,000 or 4,000. We had nine on a staff. Fort Myers has about 115. Ours was a prehistoric version of what it is today.”
In high school, Joel worked at Whataburger in Odessa — home to the Permian High School Panthers, the team behind “Friday Night Lights.”
“Whataburger was one of the places the players would go,” Joel said. “That’s how the triple-triple started. They wanted more protein.”
Tragedy struck in 1967 when the plane Harmon was flying crashed. Joel was 21.
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” he said. “I never forgot what he taught me. It carried me well throughout my life.”
Whataburger is set to open an Estero location soon. See you there, Joel.
Robyn George is a food and dining reporter for The News-Press. Connect at rhgeorge@fortmyer.gannett.com
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Original Source: The News-Press
