{"id":150446,"date":"2026-02-10T17:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T17:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/150446\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T17:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T17:55:13","slug":"tampa-bays-first-whataburger-opens-this-week-in-largo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/150446\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay&#8217;s first Whataburger opens this week in Largo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"523\" data-attachment-id=\"352151\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/food-drink\/tampa-bays-first-whataburger-opens-this-week-in-largo\/attachment\/whataburger-opening\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WHATABURGER-OPENING-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1714&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1714\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Elizabeth James&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Whataburger\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WHATABURGER-OPENING-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C201&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WHATABURGER-OPENING-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C523&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WHATABURGER-OPENING.jpg\" alt=\"The exterior of a newly built Whataburger restaurant on a sunny day, featuring the brand's iconic orange signage.\" class=\"wp-image-352151\"  \/>Credit: Photo via Whataburger<\/p>\n<p>The Whataburger hype is finally here.<\/p>\n<p>The Texas-born burger chain makes its Tampa Bay debut on Thursday, Feb. 12, in Largo. The new location at 10150 Ulmerton Road (in the former\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/food-drink\/new-joellas-location-opening-in-largo-this-week-and-theyre-giving-away-free-hot-chicken-for-a-year-12289530\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Joella\u2019s Hot Chicken<\/a>) will open its doors at 11 a.m. and keep them open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Largo restaurant was announced in June, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/food-drink\/whataburgers-return-to-tampa-bay-will-happen-in-wesley-chapel-20276683\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">along with several other Tampa Bay locations<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Eight spots are planned to open across Bay area by the end of 2027, with additional restaurants already slated for Brandon and Lutz in spring 2026. The brand now operates 48 locations statewide.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Opening-day festivities include swag bags for the first 100 guests in line, while supplies last, and a monthlong promotion offering a free Kids Meal with the purchase of any Whatameal from Feb. 12 through March 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/altnewsfoundation.org\/cl-tampa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/tampa\/NewsletterSignup\/Page\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAiECLjru3gB6BLYKOKFLfkVZsqFAgKIhAi467t4AegS2CjihS35FWb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbreak.com\/@c\/1599764?s=01\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/CreativeLoafingTampa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cltampabay\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cltampabay\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/cltampabay.bsky.social\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Recent Stories<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/food-drink\/tampa-bays-first-whataburger-opens-this-week-in-largo\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WHATABURGER-OPENING-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-newspack-article-block-landscape-large size-newspack-article-block-landscape-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Tampa Bay\u2019s first Whataburger opens this week in Largo\" data-hero-candidate=\"1\"   data-attachment-id=\"352151\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/food-drink\/tampa-bays-first-whataburger-opens-this-week-in-largo\/attachment\/whataburger-opening\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WHATABURGER-OPENING-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1714&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1714\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Elizabeth James&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Whataburger\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WHATABURGER-OPENING-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C201&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WHATABURGER-OPENING-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C523&amp;ssl=1\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tTwo more Tampa Bay spots are planned for this Spring.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/news\/ssa-marine-the-company-proposing-a-new-cruise-port-in-tampa-bay-has-a-history-of-violating-environmental-laws\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770746113_967_SSA-Terminal-Seattle-Druid007-shutterstock_1930607612-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-newspack-article-block-landscape-large size-newspack-article-block-landscape-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"The company proposing a new cruise port in Tampa Bay has a history of violating environmental laws\" data-hero-candidate=\"1\"   data-attachment-id=\"352137\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/seattleusa-march12ssaterminalinportof\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SSA-Terminal-Seattle-Druid007-shutterstock_1930607612-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1440\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Shutterstock&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Copyright (c) 2021 Druid007\/Shutterstock.  No use without permission.&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Seattle,,Usa,-,March,12:,Ssa,Terminal,In,Port,Of&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Seattle,,Usa,-,March,12:,Ssa,Terminal,In,Port,Of\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;SSA terminal in port of Seattle on March 12, 2015 in Seattle, Washington.&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SSA-Terminal-Seattle-Druid007-shutterstock_1930607612-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SSA-Terminal-Seattle-Druid007-shutterstock_1930607612-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C439&amp;ssl=1\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tSSA Marine says it will conserve Rattlesnake Key\u2014but it\u2019s also been dinged by environmental protection agencies and been in lawsuits against waterkeeper organizations.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/news\/why-florida-is-hiding-its-data-center-boom\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770746113_713_DATA-CENTER-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-newspack-article-block-landscape-large size-newspack-article-block-landscape-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Why Florida is hiding its data center boom\" data-hero-candidate=\"1\"   data-attachment-id=\"352134\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/news\/why-florida-is-hiding-its-data-center-boom\/attachment\/data-center\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DATA-CENTER-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1708&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1708\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;2.8&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS R5&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1763497201&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;30&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;1600&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.008&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"DATA CENTER\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Inside the H5 Data center in downtown Tampa.&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DATA-CENTER-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/DATA-CENTER-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Tampa and Miami areas split most of Florida\u2019s data centers.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"collection-link has-small-font-size\">This article appears in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/collections\/feb-05-11-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Feb. 05 \u2013 11, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Photo via Whataburger The Whataburger hype is finally here. The Texas-born burger chain makes its Tampa Bay&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136,22802],"class_list":["post-150446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-whataburger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}