Foodie News
Hope they brought some Tums: Whataburger's biggest fans dine out at all 680locations in 10 states
We thought Caroline Gallay was Whataburger's biggest fan (she even composed an ode to the burger chain), but that was before we heard about Karl and Carol Hoepfner.
After winning an essay contest in 2011 about why they were Whataburger's biggest fans — after first tasting the burgers in San Angelo in 1963, the couple have said they've eaten at their local Rockport Whataburger over 7,000 times — they began an epic quest to eat at every Whataburger in America. That's 680 locations in 10 states from Arizona to Florida.
The challenge started in Houston in 2011, while Carol was receiving treatment at the Texas Medical Center for a rare form of blood cancer. The couple visited over 90 Whataburgers in the Houston area as a way to fill the time between appointments. By the summer they'd been to 225 locations.
They completed the journey on Wednesday at a Whataburger in the Dallas area, exactly 62 years after the first location opened in Corpus Christi. They were greeted with their names on the marquee and a free van that proclaims "I'm Whataburger's BIGGEST FAN. But you can call me Carol."
See this report from KHOU's sister station in San Antonio: