NC’s What-a-Burger and Texas’ Whataburger end long-running legal dispute
A long-running trademark lawsuit between a branch of North Carolina’s What-A-Burger restaurants and Texas-based Whataburger has quietly come to an end.
The dispute began in 2023, as Whataburger made plans to enter the North Carolina market, alleging that What-A-Burger locations sell goods and services “that are identical to Whataburger’s offerings, and identical or highly related to the goods and services covered by Whataburger’s federal registrations.”
WSOC-TV reported that the parties signed a “confidential coexistence agreement” in 2023 that allowed limited use of “What-A-Burger #13.” Among the conditions were that the North Carolina restaurants could use the name for existing brick-and-mortar locations and an existing food truck. However, the lawsuit that followed alleged that a new North Carolina entity formed days before the agreement was signed and wasn’t disclosed to Whataburger, and that the food truck used the trademark in ways not permitted by the agreement.
Lawyers representing What-A-Burger #13 and its owner, Zeb Bost, fired back that Whataburger broke a previous, decades-old agreement first with the Bost family that would allow the North Carolina business to operate without interference in Stanly and Cabarrus counties.
Now, Whataburger told Chron’s Chyna Blackmon in Houston that “this matter is being resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.” Blackmon previously followed the dispute for CharlotteFive.
A CharlotteFive request for comment from Whataburger came back with exactly the same statement: “This matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.”
A worker at Zeb Bost’s What-A-Burger No. 13 location in Locust told CharlotteFive that Bost wasn’t available for comment, as he had recently undergone surgery and is “not working right now.”
The history of What-A-Burger and Whataburger
The competing burger chains with similar names both have long histories, stretching back to the 1950s.
Whataburger opened as a burger stand in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1950, led by Harmon Dobson. Since the restaurant began churning out Whataburgers, patty melts and chicken sandwiches, it’s grown to a nationwide chain of more than 1,130 restaurants across 17 states.
Since Whataburger’s first North Carolina restaurant opened in Gastonia last May, it has opened a dozen locations in the state and one just across the border from Charlotte in Indian Land, SC. More are on the way.
North Carolina’s What-A-Burger was founded by E.L. Bost and C.W. Bost in 1956 out of a Concord diner. Along with its signature What-A-Burger, the restaurants offer hot dogs, fish sandwiches, barbecue, chicken tenders and more.
Michael Bost — the son of E.L. Bost who is now president of What-A-Burger Drive-Ins, Inc. — previously told CharlotteFive that, “The official use of the name for the restaurant was started in north Kannapolis … but they started selling the sandwich, as such, calling it a ‘What-A-Burger’ in 1955.”
Michael Bost explained the local chain’s first location in Kannapolis was called What-A-Burger No. 1, with each new location named with subsequent numbers up to the latest in 1984 – What-A-Burger #15 in Concord.
What-A-Burger #13 — with locations in Locust and Mount Pleasant — operates separately from the others. Bost told CharlotteFive that his father gave the Mount Pleasant spot his half-brother, Marvin Bost Sr., the father of Zeb Bost.
What-A-Burger’s remaining North Carolina locations are:
- What-A-Burger # 1, 1510 N Cannon Blvd, Kannapolis, NC 28083
- What-A-Burger # 2, 34 Church St S, Concord, NC 28025
- What-A-Burger # 10, 926 S Main St, Kannapolis, NC 28081
- What-A-Burger # 11, 210 S Main St, Mooresville, NC 28115
- What-A-Burger # 13, 101 N Central Ave, Locust, NC 28097
- What-A-Burger # 13, 8330 W Franklin St, Mt Pleasant, NC 28124
- What-A-Burger # 15, 1252 Old Charlotte Rd SW, Concord, NC 28027
Whataburger
Location: Multiple
Cuisine: American, burgers, breakfast
Instagram: @whataburger
This story was originally published February 25, 2026 at 12:39 PM with the headline "NC’s What-a-Burger and Texas’ Whataburger end long-running legal dispute."
