Virtual Presentation

Comments

Steven Patin · Feb 18, 2022
Thomas,
I am intrigued by the ways companies look to differentiate. In the case of Whataburger, food quality, customer service, community relationships, family ownership were the prevailing themes. You gave a very astute summary of how those themes evolved throughout the change of ownership. Very well done.

Michael Monahan · Nov 25, 2021
Thomas- ppt was very clear with the incorporation with pics/color/text. Whataburger is not available in my area but I've had them when travelling. Bottom line, the presentation was fun which is not disrespectful to other presentations which are heavily into theory. Yours provided info I was unaware of and was anxiously awaiting the next slide.

Monica Law · Oct 17, 2020
I really like using cases from "real" companies, thank you for providing such a great overview.

Joseph D. Conde · Aug 25, 2020
Thomas, thank you for bringing this to light! Living in Texas, Whataburger has always been my favorite fast-food restaurant. When I heard about them wanting to franchise out, I was disappointed because I was worried that they would lose sight of their brand and family values instilled within the fast-food chain. What are your thoughts on the sale of Whataburger to BDT? Do you feel that they will remain successful in other states? Very informative presentation!

David Morris · Aug 16, 2020
I really enjoyed your presentation. I learned a lot. Being in Georgia I had never heard of Whataburger. Family brands can have difficulty maintaining their identity once majority equity is sold.

Thomas Teeter · Apr 15, 2020
@Michael,

Those franchise buybacks were in the early 2000s, so I don't think they were a part of the decision. The decision to sell the majority stake, at least partially, fueled by the Dobson family's plan to focus on their family investment firm. There have been rumors for decades that the company is posturing for an IPO, but Whataburger has consistently denied this. Whataburger was actually sued by one of its largest franchisees a few years ago for denying them the right to open a store within their territory. The franchisee claimed in its lawsuit that the company was intentionally blocking new franchises to position itself for a public offering. I think the company will eventually go public. BDT seems to have an investment time frame of 5 to 10 years.

Claudia Kocher · Apr 13, 2020
Very interesting and complete background on Whataburger. The question of whether or not to expand franchising presents a good learning opportunity for students. I am wondering what other BDT restaurants have done in this regard. You might want to include a bit more background info on this aspect of the case.

Thomas Teeter · Apr 15, 2020
@Claudia Kocher,

Thank you for your comment. Unfortunately, BDT is very quiet about its investments (for the benefit of the billionaire-family's it serves). Its deals usually involve acquiring partial stakes, alongside other (mostly international) investment firms.

Michael Kountze · Mar 28, 2020
Thomas...the comment below is from me.

Anonymous · Mar 28, 2020
Thank you Thomas. From my personal experience (I have a Whataburger within walking distance of my home), I haven't noticed much of a change since the takeover by BDT. The menu and the restaurant haven't gone through any changes which I fearful of. You mentioned the company buying many locations including a bankrupt franchise. Did those events cause the company to need a capital infusion? I'm just curious what were the financial motivations for sale to BDT... Also, do you foresee the company going public?

Anonymous · Mar 24, 2020
Great work, Thomas. Did you find that WB has been better able to successfully utilize its new investments to better develop and expand its network of suppliers? Given the current events and WB's relatively modest sized compared to MD or Wendy's, for example, I could see such a strategy as being a wise deployment of additional capital. Your thoughts?

Anonymous · Mar 24, 2020
This last comment was from Alex Rodriguez

Thomas Teeter · Apr 15, 2020
@Anonymous,

With it being a private company, there is no way to track exactly how the capital is spent. I can tell you from personal observation that WB stores seem to have more of their portable POS devices, in response to COVID19. The company announced layoffs last week, so we will probably see a significant delay in the expansion. I suspect finding new suppliers is going to be a challenge, at least in the near term.

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