Patrick Mahomes approved: Kansas City suburb OKs Whataburger location amid expansion into Midwest

SAN ANTONIO – It may or may not rank as high as another Super Bowl win, but another dream for Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes looks to be coming true in 2021.

A Whataburger will open in the Kansas City, Missouri area, as the burger chain expands into the Midwest.

The City Council for Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City, unanimously approved a final development plan for the location on Monday. Overland Park is located just across the state line in Kansas.

The 3,751-square-foot restaurant will replace an eatery called the Salty Iguana, which is set to be demolished, a plan presented to the council members states. It was previously approved by the planning commission last month.

It will have red brick siding, a masonry screen wall and two drive-thru lanes, according to renderings (some fans quipped that Mahomes was drawn into the designs).

The plan states that it expects the restaurant to generate about 1,800 trips from customers a day.

It does not say when the restaurant is expected to open, but the location started its job search in October, according to Fox 4 KC.

According to job listings, other Whataburger locations are planned for Blue Springs, Lee’s Summit and Independence, Missouri, which are in the Kansas City area.

Whataburger was not able to immediately provide more information to KSAT about when those stores will open, and where else restaurants will pop up.

James Turcotte, senior vice president of real estate for the chain, told the San Antonio Business Journal in July that it was going to expand in the South and Midwest, specifically in Tennessee and the Kansas City area.

“It’s a natural expansion for us,” Turcotte told the news organization. “It fits our customer profile. It fits our supply networks, and we think that those markets are a good fit for us and that they line up with what we do here in Texas.”

Rumors about the expansion into the Chiefs Kingdom began swirling before Turcotte confirmed the news.

Mahomes, who grew up in the Lone Star State and played at Texas Tech, has advocated for a Whataburger for a few years now. He’s a major ketchup fan, too. Obviously, ketchup and Whataburger go hand-in-hand.

In November 2018, the quarterback tweeted “I just want a store in Kansas City!” in response to a Whataburger image featuring 10 ketchup bottles.

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