One of the most popular restaurant chains in the Southwest is planning to build a nearly 3,400-square-foot restaurant in Santa Fe.
Based in San Antonio, the Whataburger company currently has more than 1,000 locations, primarily in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado.
But while the chain has long had a strong presence in the Land of Enchantment, with upwards of 150 restaurants, the Santa Fe project marks the company’s first presence in the state’s capitol city.
As planned, the company will build at 3570 Cerrillos Road in a part of Santa Fe populated with hotels and one-story stores.
The project, which also calls for the creation of a drive-through lane, has already received a building permit from the City of Santa Fe.
Typical Whataburger restaurants usually measure anywhere from 3,300 to 3,700 square feet, although one location in Corpus Christi, the city where the company was born, is the chain’s largest at 6,000 square feet.
Whataburger has been rapidly expanding its footprint in recent years, and according to the website Mashed, building “in existing markets beyond its home state, with new locations in places like Georgia and North Carolina.”
The company has said that it wants to build still more locations next year in Florida, Nevada, and South Carolina.
November 4, 2025
By Garry Boulard
