By By Kerry Whipple Bean
publisher
Brewton, which has lost two fast food restaurants in the past year, will be home to a new chain this spring.
Whataburger has purchased property in front of the Walmart Supercenter and will begin construction work soon, Brewton Community Development Director Steve Yuhasz said.
A Whataburger spokeswoman said the new store — which will be opened by the company, not a franchisee — has a target opening date of mid-April.
Founded in 1950, the Texas-based Whataburger has 13 other sites in Alabama, but the first store opened outside Alabama was based in Pensacola, Fla.
The chain now has more than 700 restaurants in 10 states in the South and Southwest. Whataburger was the No. 2 sandwich chain in growth nationwide in 2008, according to Nations Restaurant News, which also ranked the company the No. 13 sandwich chain that year.
In the past year, two restaurants — Taco Bell and KFC — have closed in Brewton.
Yuhasz said business recruitment continues in the city, despite the recession.
Since Walmart opened in late 2008, a local restaurant — The Oaks — opened across the street, and other businesses have begun to fill a strip mall next to the big box retailer. While some had relocated from the old Walmart shopping center, the Dollar Tree, new to Brewton, opened late last summer.