Exploring The Whataburger Museum Of Art

There is an official Whataburger Museum of Art, and few fast-food joints deserve it more.

Aside from possibly H-E-B, no brand in Texas has the iconic weight of Whataburger. The A-frame orange and white restaurants are a beacon of home from the swamps of the east to the mountains of the west and across the plains in between.

It’s not just the food, though having eaten hamburgers from New York to California, I can say that Whataburger does consistently rank near the top of fast-food restaurants. Most locations are open 24 hours, making them havens for the young prowling for something to do after dark, particularly in the middle of nowhere. Austinites hit Whataburger on the way home from concerts and festivals; nurses and doctors pick up Thick and Hearty Burgers after night shifts in the Texas Medical Center. When the power goes out in Houston, worried people turn to the Whatburger app to track open locations and find pockets of the electrical grid that are still functioning.

Whataburger began collecting fan art on its @TheWMOA Instagram in 2021. There are over a hundred pieces showcased on the page, ranging from parodies of famous paintings, surrealist works, sculptures, photography, and mosaics. Artists can submit their work for approval, and the Instagram takes great care to present them gallery style with proper titles and attribution. It’s clear Whataburger takes this seriously.

One of the artists who has been featured multiple times is Steffany Bowling of College Station. The owner of Peace, Love, & Cakes, it’s hardly surprising that she’s captured Whataburger in dessert form. She crafted a giant, four-tier cake for the burger chain’s 75^th anniversary, an imposing if temporary monument. She’s also been featured for smaller works, such as “Raspberry Skies and Western Ties,” a cute pencil, marker, and paint pen work of an anthropomorphic cactus wearing a Whataburger bandana.

“Whataburger has a special place in my heart because of my Papa Amos,” she said in an email interview. “I always joined him for what I called ‘old man breakfast’ on Sundays. Then over the years it became special to me and my boys. I have made friends over the years with many employees and always felt at home at a Whataburger. They are a wonderful company.”

Another artist who’s been virtually hung in the museum is Fort Worth’s Caya Crum. She’s best known as a muralist around the DFW area, and her contribution to The WMOA has that same street art flair.

“WhatKitty” is a portrait of an anthropomorphic cat in a kerchief walking home with a bag of Whataburger and a classic glass bottle of Dr. Pepper, another Texas staple. Her kitschy sensibility and deft use of acrylic captures the soft glow of a Texas sunset, lending a truly homey feel to the work. 

Another painting shows aliens landing for takeout.

“Aliens, spaceships, cats, and cigarettes are just a few of the recurring motifs I utilize in my artworks,” she said in an email interview. “Regardless of where I have lived, there has always been a Whataburger just down the street! I love creating Whataburger artwork because of the community each restaurant cultivates! When I post an artwork that I have created, people sometimes comment about a memory they have involving a meal they shared at a location or their favorite order!”

On the one hand, The WMOA is pure marketing for both the company and the artists. Whataburger gets to cultivate an image of itself as a community-minded brand that connects with its customers, no matter how quirky. Meanwhile, artists get a chance to display their talents in a place they might not normally draw an audience.

That shouldn’t take away from the inherent worth of pop art, though. Andy Warhol painted Campbell Soup cans and Coca-Cola because he really liked Campbell Soup and Coca-Cola. That his work had cross-promotional possibilities is just a fun coincidence of capitalism, no different than all the Vincent Van Gogh-inspired works that Doctor Who has ushered into being over the years. 

In 2025, The WMOA opened a physical location, albeit a temporary one. The pop-up gallery at SXSW drew hundreds of people to see the various works of art inspired by Whataburger. While the idea of a permanent museum is a bit far-fetched, it’s further proof that the burger chain does have a legitimate claim on being a cultural institution worth commenting on.

Everyone needs to eat, and fast-food restaurants have a direct line to a wide cross-section of the population. Everyone who eats at Whataburger takes away something different from it, and The WMOA boldly collects those reflections for commentary. Whether cash-in or cultural artifact, it’s definitely art.