Corpus Christi Caller-Times Tom Whitehurst

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Tom Whitehurst

Local columnist Tom Whitehurst writes this business, finance, economics column for publication on Sundays.

Sunday, August 13, 2000

We know where the beef is

Whataburger likely set burger standard

Whataburger's 50th anniversary brought a nagging question to mind:
   Did this locally owned company invent the quarter-pound patty size that has become the big-burger standard for all the large chains?
   The answer is complicated:

First, Whataburger doesn't know, hasn't bothered to research it and claims not to care.

Second, McDonald's, which was 23 years behind Whataburger in introducing a burger with a quarter-pound beef patty, officially acts as if Whataburger doesn't exist. A company spokesman professed skepticism that McDonald's, as big as it was by 1973, the year it introduced its Quarter Pounder, would have bothered to notice what "this other brand" was doing. Apparently I was remiss in thinking that McDonald's paid attention to its competitors, when its entire focus was, and remains, on its customers.

Third but perhaps first, those who pay close attention to the fast-food industry can't give a definitive yes, but Whataburger is their lone suspect.
   Still more bread
   Whataburger started in Corpus Christi in 1950 with a burger that has not changed in size since then. It was, and is, a quarter-pound patty on a 5-inch bun - still bigger than the 4-inch industry standard. Whataburger does lay proud claim to inventing the 5-inch bun. Founder Harmon Dobson insisted on it, and got together with Rainbow to make it happen.
   Industry leader McDonald's started in 1948 as a hamburger stand in California owned by two brothers. But restaurant industry publications generally recognize McDonald's official start date as 1955, under Ray Kroc's stewardship. And McDonald's started with a small burger, the size found in Happy Meals.
   Ahead of competitors
   Sonic started in 1953, Burger King in 1954 and Wendy's in 1969. Burger King introduced the Whopper in 1957.
   The only mass producers of hamburgers that predated Whataburger made tiny burgers, such as White Castle's on a 2 1/2-inch bun, said Scott Hume, editor of Restaurants and Institutions, an industry publication with a circulation of 165,000.
   "But then Whataburger in the early '50s started a bigger-size hamburger, and you certainly saw the basic idea of a fast-food hamburger following that," Hume said. "As far as a quarter-pounder, I don't know if I'd credit that. But I think they were pushing the envelope on what people considered to be the right hamburger size."
   The growth of the fast-food hamburger industry provided more work, and new headaches, for meat providers. Before, all they had to produce for hamburgers was mounds of ground beef.
   But as the fast food industry grew, meat processors had to provide pre-formed patties separated by sheets of wax paper. Today, this is a convenience item found in grocery stores.
   But it wasn't until the early 1960s, as the hamburger chains grew, that pre-formed patties became widespread as a product line, mainly for commercial establishments, said Jerry Kane, president of Sam Kane Beef Processors.
   Harmon Dobson was more than 10 years ahead of that trend.
   "A lot of it had to do with taking the right portion of beef and having full coverage of the bun, and Whataburger was fastidious in having full coverage of the bun with meat," Kane said. "Remember that commercial 'Where's the beef?' Well, that was never a question with Whataburger."
   No, it wasn't. And still isn't.

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