Whataburger is majority-owned by BDT & MSD Partners, a Chicago-based merchant bank that bought control from the founding Dobson family in June 2019. The Dobsons kept a minority stake, and the chain is still privately held, with its home office in San Antonio, Texas.
If you’ve heard that Patrick Mahomes owns Whataburger, that’s half right. He’s an investor in a franchise group that runs a few dozen restaurants, not an owner of the company. Some of the stake percentages floating around online are guesses, too, so it’s worth separating what’s disclosed from what isn’t.
Who is the current owner of Whataburger?
On June 14, 2019, Whataburger announced that BDT Capital Partners had agreed to acquire a majority interest through its affiliated funds. BDT, founded by former Goldman Sachs banker Byron Trott, advises and invests in family- and founder-led companies, which is how it pitched itself to the Dobsons.
Financial terms were never disclosed, QSR Magazine reported at the time. When the deal was announced, the chain had 828 restaurants and more than $2 billion in annual sales.
BDT later merged with MSD Partners, the investment firm built around Michael Dell’s family capital, and the combined firm, formed in 2023, operates as BDT & MSD Partners. That’s why newer sources name BDT & MSD as the owner. Same investor, new name.
How big is the Dobson family’s stake now?
Nobody outside the company knows. The 2019 announcement said the family would keep a minority position, and that Chairman Tom Dobson and then-CEO Preston Atkinson would stay on the board while stepping back from daily operations. Neither side has published percentages since. It’s a different path from Hobby Lobby’s Green family, which never sold a stake and moved its voting stock into a trust in 2022.
So treat the precise splits you’ll find elsewhere (60-70% for BDT, 85-90% for BDT, 10-15% for the Dobsons) as estimates. A private company files no ownership disclosures, so there’s nothing to source them to.
From one burger stand to more than 1,200 restaurants
| Year | What changed |
|---|---|
| 1950 | Harmon Dobson opens Whataburger #1 on Ayers Street in Corpus Christi with Paul Burton |
| 1953 | Joe Andrews Sr. becomes the first franchisee, in Alice, Texas |
| 1967 | Harmon Dobson dies in a plane crash; his wife Grace refuses to sell and runs the company |
| 1993 | Son Tom Dobson becomes CEO and president |
| 2009 | Home office moves from Corpus Christi to San Antonio |
| 2019 | BDT Capital Partners buys a majority stake; app and online ordering launch |
| 2025 | Debbie Stroud becomes president and CEO |
Source: Whataburger’s history page and its June 2019 deal announcement.
Whataburger runs more than 1,200 restaurants across 17 states, USA Today reported in August 2026. QSR Magazine’s 2026 QSR 50 puts its 2025 US systemwide sales at $4.31 billion, sixth among burger chains.
App and online ordering arrived the same year as the new owners, which gives the chain a direct line to customers as it enters new states.
Is Patrick Mahomes an owner of Whataburger?
He owns part of a franchisee, not part of Whataburger. In August 2021, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback joined KMO Burger, an investor-led franchise group that planned 30 Whataburger restaurants in Kansas and Missouri over seven years. The group’s first restaurant opened in Kansas City, Kansas, in June 2022.
His footprint grew in May 2025, when Whataburger and KMO Burger formed a joint venture covering the Kansas City, Springfield, Branson and Joplin areas. Whataburger put in the 16 restaurants it had been running itself and KMO put in its 13, and KMO Burger now owns and operates all 29, Whataburger announced at the time.
That’s a real regional business, but it sits at the restaurant level. Nothing public suggests Mahomes holds shares in the parent company.
What about Mark Wahlberg?
Wrong burger. Mark Wahlberg is tied to Wahlburgers, a separate chain he started with his brothers, and has no disclosed connection to Whataburger.
Company-run vs franchised: the number that’s moving
Under the Dobsons, Whataburger was mostly company-operated. Under BDT, franchising has picked up, and it shows in the unit counts Whataburger reports to QSR Magazine each year.
| Year end | Total restaurants | Franchised | Franchised share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 873 | 131 | 15.0% |
| 2024 | 1,085 | 206 | 19.0% |
| 2025 | 1,161 | 253 | 21.8% |
Source: QSR Magazine QSR 50 reports covering 2021, 2024 and 2025. Franchised shares are our calculation.
KMO Burger’s 29 restaurants would be roughly 11% of the 253 franchised units at the end of 2025. The counts come from different dates, so treat that as a rough share. Even so, nearly four in five Whataburgers are still company-run.
Our read: more franchising doesn’t change who owns the brand. BDT & MSD controls the company; franchisees own and run individual restaurants under license. Leaning on franchisees brings in outside capital for new markets but gives up some day-to-day control, the kind of trade-off a SWOT analysis is built to lay out.
Who is the richest fast food company?
By US sales, McDonald’s, and it isn’t close. The 2026 QSR 50 puts McDonald’s 2025 US systemwide sales at $55.06 billion, about 12.8 times Whataburger’s $4.31 billion. Starbucks ($30.25 billion) and Chick-fil-A ($23.92 billion) follow, both figures QSR estimates.
Systemwide sales include what franchisees ring up, so they measure brand size, not the parent company’s profit.
Who runs Whataburger day to day?
Debbie Stroud, a former McDonald’s and Starbucks executive, became president and CEO on January 1, 2025, succeeding Ed Nelson. In July 2026 the chain named Ryan Moore, previously at Torchy’s and Taco Bell, as CFO. BDT & MSD sits above that team as the controlling owner.
The short version: a Chicago investment firm owns most of Whataburger, the family that built it owns a slice, and a Super Bowl quarterback co-owns the franchisee behind 29 restaurants in Missouri and Kansas.
FAQ
Is Whataburger publicly traded?
No. Whataburger is a private company, so you can’t buy its shares on any stock exchange. BDT & MSD Partners holds the majority stake and the Dobson family a minority. Because there are no public filings, ownership percentages, profits and the 2019 purchase price have never been disclosed.
Is Whataburger still a Texas company?
Yes. Whataburger moved its home office from Corpus Christi to San Antonio in 2009, and the 2019 sale announcement said it would stay there. The majority owner is based in Chicago, but the company is still run from Texas, and its leadership team works out of San Antonio.