Must Be Some Ketchup

Whataburger spicy ketchup and mustard soon to hit supermarket shelves

New trio of Whataburger condiments will soon be sold at the grocery store.
Photo courtesy of Whataburger
You remember this. It's a burger and fries from Whataburger.
Courtesy photo

Bolstered by the hype generated for its spicy ketchup, Whataburger has decided to start bottling the stuff. The burger chain will partner with HEB stores to sell it this summer. They'll sell the regular ketchup and mustard as well, and they are introducing a new potato chip product called Whatafries.

The ketchup will come in 20-ounce bottles; the mustard will be in a 16-ounce bottle. According to Whataburger, its mustard is a "one-of-a-kind" recipe dating back to the 1950s.

They are dubbing Whatafries a potato chip version of the their French fries, and they are crowing about the fact that they're made from real potatoes. Those will be sold in 7.4-ounce bags.

In other condiment news, the spicy ketchup will graduate from its previous limited-edition status to become available permanently at every one of its 740-plus restaurants in its 10-state service area.

Whataburger has gotten a lot of mileage from its spicy ketchup. The restaurant chain first released the not-really-that-spicy? condiment in January 2012 for a limited time, which helped ramp up the furor. When it went away, customers did what they usually do these days: created a Facebook page. Whataburger reissued it in March 2013 — which apparently resuscitated the enthusiasm sufficiently to persuade them to add it to the regular lineup.

As for the mustard, is it really one-of-a-kind? I can think of lots of mustards that are distinctive, but the Whataburger mustard doesn't seem that special.

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Pizza News

Donatos Pizza totes its unique crust to new location in Flower Mound

dallas.culturemap.com

Donatos

A pizza chain with a quirky obsession on its crusts is coming to Flower Mound: Donatos Pizza, the franchise famous for spreading its toppings to the very edge of the pizza, will open a location at 1400 Long Prairie Rd. #160.

According to a release, it'll open on December 17.

Donatos Pizza was founded by Jim Grote in Ohio in 1963 from a single stand, and remains family-owned. Their signature is to place the toppings on their pizzas "edge to edge" — for clueless diners who do not like plain crust edges. (Come on, the crust is the best part.)

Their menu features more than a dozen varieties of pizza such as veggie, four cheese, and pepperoni with hot honey. Their signature crust is a thin-crust but they also offer thicker alternatives as well as a cauliflower crust. Pizzas come in a 7-inch individual and go all the way up to a 14-inch large. Prices range from $15 to $25.

Fans appreciate their better-than-average ingredients and describe it as more flavorful compared to other corporate pizza chains, with a crisp thin crust and generous toppings.

In addition to pizza, Donatos' menu includes oven-baked wings, sub sandwiches, including meatball and Italian cold cuts, plus appetizers and salads.

The Flower Mound location will be a family affair, owned by Lynne and Ralph Pence, whose son Travis will oversee day-to-day operations. The Pence family has deep connections to Donatos including the fact that Lynne's sister used to work for the company, while her brother-in-law still does.

"We're from Columbus, Ohio — it is where our kids grew up and where our family is—it also happens to be the hometown and birthplace of Donatos Pizza," Lynne says. "Our daughter in Oklahoma found out Donatos was coming to Edmond, where she lives, and called us. She was so excited that Donatos was finally coming down south and we wanted to be a part of it."

This is the second Donatos in the Dallas area: a location opened in Frisco in November — the first in Texas.

There are currently 470-plus locations in 28 states. That includes 175 stores plus nearly 300 non-traditional locations nationwide, including select Red Robin restaurants, sports, and entertainment venues.

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