Significant progress has been made in recent weeks on two burger restaurants in Mebane – the new Whataburger franchise, which will be located at 1004 Mebane Oaks Road, and a renovated Burger King restaurant at 1305 S. Fifth Street, adjacent to Exit 153 of the I-40/I-85 freeway.
The 1004 Mebane Oaks Road site, where the new Whataburger franchise will soon exist, was for many years the home of Blue Ribbon Diner – a popular local restaurant well-known for its burgers, milkshakes, home-cooked meals such as spaghetti and hamburger steaks, and its decor, which was covered from wall to wall with memorabilia from the local Eastern Alamance High School.
Blue Ribbon Diner, which also has a flagship restaurant in Burlington, closed the Mebane location in March 2023 and soon after became Zack’s Hot Dogs as part of an expansion that company made following a change of ownership from the founders of Zack’s Hot Dogs, the Toloupas family of Greensboro. However, the Mebane Zack’s Hot Dogs lasted only a few months before closing in November 2023.
The former Blue Ribbon Diner/Zack’s Hot Dogs restaurant was demolished this past spring, and ground broke soon after on a smaller building that will house the Whataburger restaurant on the 1.31 acre lot at 1004 Mebane Oaks Road. While the former Blue Ribbon Diner exceeded 5,400 square feet, the new Whataburger restaurant will be approximately 3,300 square feet.
On April 24, 2024, the San Antonio, Texas-based Whataburger Restaurants, LLC, executed a Ground Lease Agreement with 1004 Mebane Oaks Road, LLC, located at 1603 Anthony Road in Burlington, according to documents on file with the Alamance County Register of Deeds.
The Ground Lease Agreement between 1004 Mebane Oaks Road, LLC, and Whataburger, which was recorded in Alamance County on December 31, 2024, has an initial term length of 180 month – or 15 years – and includes three additional options for Whataburger to renew for terms of five years each. The lease contains provisions for rental payments to be paid by Whataburger Restaurants to 1004 Mebane Oaks Road, LLC, together with certain other terms, conditions, covenants, and restrictions.
Washington, North Carolina-based Wimco Corporation (wimcocorp.com) is currently constructing the new 3,300 square foot Whataburger restaurant along Mebane Oaks Road. The building has come up quickly over the past month, progressing from initial demolition and site grading to framing and exterior wall work. While an official date hasn’t been formally announced for the opening of the new Mebane Whataburger, the relatively fast construction of the site suggests thet the new restaurant could open as early as this fall.
Back in January, Whataburger broke ground on its first North Carolina location in Hickory. Whataburger announced the impending opening of 10 new Whataburger franchises in North Carolina, including Hickory, additional locations in Mooresville, Charlotte and Gastonia, and multiple locations in the Triad region. The Gastonia site was the first to open in North Carolina in late May, with Hickory marking the second opening in June.
The Mebane Whataburger is the 11th planned franchise in the Tar Heel State for the company. Additional Triad locations include two in Greensboro (1408 Four Seasons Station Blvd. and 4409 West Wendover Avenue), Winston-Salem (291 Harvey Street), Kernersville (1152 Solomon Drive), Archdale (10118 N. Main Street) and High Point (2713 N. Main Street).
While Whatburger will be a new restaurant for burger lovers in the Mebane area, the construction and the completion of the revamped Burger King at 1305 S. Fifth Street will bring back a longtime favorite.
Back in late April, the longtime Burger King restaurant at the site, which has served Mebanites for more than three decades, was demolished to make way for a new restaurant. For many years, the old Burger King was attached to an adjacent gas station. But the new Burger King will be a standalone restaurant with a drive-thru, similar to other local fast food restaurants, as well as the new Whataburger, which will feature a drive-thru.
Like the Whataburger site along Mebane Oaks Road, the new Burger King has come together quickly in recent weeks, morphing from an empty lot to an enclosed building that has been fully framed, completed in terms of exterior walling, and covered in Tyvek exterior waterproof wrapping.
Restaurant Brands International (RBI) purchased Carrols Restaurant Group in May 2024, becoming the largest Burger King franchisee. Carrols Restaurant Group operated the Mebane Burger King prior to the sale to RBI. RBI also owns and operates various Popeye’s, Firehouse Subs, and Tim Horton’s locations nationwide, along with hundreds of Burger Kings.
Burger King is currently accepting applications for numerous jobs at the Mebane Burger King site, suggesting the location will re-open in the coming months, once construction is complete on the new site. The Burger King sign outside the new restaurant currently states “Closed 4 Now,” with construction crews onsite daily making progress on the facility, which will be similar in size to the old Burger King, but will not feature a gas station, and will have modern finishes and updates.
