Whataburger Takes Customization Culture to New Level

Fifty-Nine years after industry pioneer and Whataburger founder Harmon Dobson created a fanatical customer following with his custom-made burgers, the customization craze has come full circle for a generation obsessed with 'made-for-me' cars, shoes and clothing.

Today, there are 36,864 ways to make a Whataburger with special requests like eggs and picante sauce as toppings, and the iconic burger chain is taking customization one step further by letting its customers wear those special orders on their shirts - literally - with a new custom T-shirt that is designed using an interactive portion of Whataburger's Web site.

The T-shirt designs are based on the brightly colored round ingredient stickers the company uses to mark special requests. The online T-shirt design process, at www.whataburger.com/yourburgeryourshirt, starts with customers choosing and clicking on up to nine dots from 11 different options: mayo, no lettuce, jalapeno, dry, plain, special, no onion, no tomato, bacon, no pickle or ketchup. As customers click on each of the dots to add them to their shirt on the Web page, the Whataburger photo to the left of the dots changes, letting customers see what their Whataburger looks like as they customize their shirt.

Next, customers see a preview of their shirt design and then finalize details like the shirt's style, color and size. Customers' shirts are then screen printed with their favorite Whataburger order in the corresponding ingredient stickers and the company's logo. The design can be changed multiple times, whether it is one large blue "special" sticker, signifying special directions like grilled onions or a burger cut in half, or nine smaller stickers of varied colors.

That appeals to devoted customer Travis Barker, 26, of Houston, who started collecting the stickers on the side of a large fry box and plans to frame the box when he completes the collection. Barker orders his Whataburger many different ways to collect the stickers and especially prizes his special edition dots for Whataburger limited availability menu items like the A.1. Thick and Hearty Burger and Honey BBQ Chicken Strip Sandwich.

"Whataburger has extremely passionate and dedicated customers who order their custom-made burger week in and week out," said Todd Coerver, Whataburger Restaurants, LP Vice President of Marketing and Innovation. "The shirts are a reflection of what makes Whataburger special. It's all about getting great-tasting, quality food made precisely the way they want it, and now, they can show off their orders on a shirt."

Logos, product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

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