Free Whataburger for Tuesday? Sure. For 60 years? Wow!
Whataburger is offering customers a free Whataburger on Tuesday evening. One online winner will get 60 years of free Whataburgers.
Whataburger restaurants, like this one in New Port Richey, Fla., is offering a free Whataburger Tuesday to customers who wear its signature orange between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Newscom/File
For lovers of the Whataburger, Tuesday is a good day.
The San Antonio-based restaurant chain is celebrating its 60th anniversary by offering free Whataburgers on Tuesday. Customers have to dine at one of its restaurants between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. And they have to wear orange, the chain's signature color.
The southern burger chain is offering an even more alluring deal starting Wednesday, Aug. 4: an online contest whose grand prize is 60 years of Whataburgers. That's a burger a week for 60 years or, as the restaurant calculates, 3,120 burgers.
"To make it easier on the winner, we're going to award it all upfront in gift cards," says Natalie Silva, the company's manager of communications.
To enter, contestants have to submit pictures and essays or videos to show their ties to Whataburger. The company's website will have a link to the contest rules starting at midnight Tuesday.
"People have a lot of history with the company and that's what we want to hear about," Ms. Silva says. "We're really looking for those deep meaningful stories."
The company started in 1950 as a small burger stand in Corpus Christi, Texas, and some Texans still remember eating there. Entrepreneur Harmon Dobson named his restaurant for the phrase he hoped to hear from customers: “What a burger!”
The made-to-order patties came with four dill pickle slices, three fresh tomatoes, lettuce and mustard, served on a freshly baked 5-inch bun. They still do, even as the burger stand has expanded to more than 700 restaurants in 10 states: Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
Of course, the price of a Whataburger has expanded, too, from 25 cents in 1950 to an average $2.74 today.
On Tuesday evening, however, they'll be free for customers who wear the right color. For one Whataburger aficionado, they could be be free through 2070.