HARMON &TOM DOBSON

By Annette Farrell

BIOGRAPHY• Originally from Batesville, Arkansas

• Wife Grace Williams, son Tom Dobson, second son Hugh and daughter Lynne

• Moved to Texas in 1949 (Corpus Christi)

• Sole proprietorship business man

• Killed in private plane accident in 1967

• Buried next to parents in Arkansas.

education• Wife Grace was home schooled growing

up in Arkansas.

• Dobson’s grandchildren attend/attended high schools in the Corpus Christi area.

• It is led to believe that Harmon attended college in Arkansas, same for his wife Grace.

Social aspects• Worked on shipbuilding, oil drilling and

diamond trading before Whataburger.

• Also a bush pilot and automobile dealer

• Tom Dobson’s son participates in USTA club tennis who is ranked number 12 in the state of Texas and ranked 141 nationally.

How it all started• Started over 50 years ago

• Used his original recipe for burgers

• Set up portable stand on the street

• Sold burgers for a quarter

• As the menu started to grow, the new taste was expanding to many Texas towns

• Now is found almost anywhere in the United States.

Today…• Harmon Dobson is passed also with wife

Grace Dobson

• Son Tom Dobson as of 1993 is the president and chief executive officer

• Headquarters moved from Corpus Christi to San Antonio

• Original restaurant on Ayers Street is still standing across from Del Mar College

Whataburger on Shoreline Dr. in Corpus Christi, Texas

Business organization

• Mr. Dobson’s business was no doubt a sole proprietorship when he first started in 1950. He was the owner and ran the burger joint by himself. Later it became a partnership with his wife. Successfully opening up many Whataburger restaurants all around Texas, Tennessee and Florida.

• Financed with Paul Burton later on

philosophy• Whataburger and the Corpus Christi

Hooks share a 15 year partnership, includes naming rights for the field

• Harmon Dobson was all about treating the customers and employees as if they were family. He served over 10434840 customers a year at his local restaurants.

Mistakes?• Harmon made no mistakes in his early

career other than the fact that he made burgers too low of a price at one point and was hardly making profit.

• He fixed the mistake by hiring the price of burgers to 30 cents then to 45 cents.

business name• His goal was simple: Make a better burger

that took two hands to hold and tasted so good that when you took a bite you would say "What a burger!" Dobson was granted the "Whataburger" trademark by the Texas Secretary of State office on June 23, 1950. The first neon sign would flash in four stages: What…A…Burger…Whataburger.

Interesting fact• Burgers were once twenty-five cents.

Customers could also purchase a drink and bag of chips. On opening day, the Whataburger on Ayers Street took in fifty dollars. Four days later took in $140 and sold over 500 burgers. For years the price of Whataburger burgers were less than fifty cents.

mla• Jares, Andrea. "Whataburger celebrates 50

years". Corpus Christi Caller Times. Nov 11, 2009http://www.caller2.com/2000/august/06/ today/business/1266.html.

• Jones, Cindy. "Whataburger". TSHA Online. Nov 11,2009 http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/WW/dgw2.html.

• "Whataburger". Wikipedia. Nov 11, 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataburger.