Whataburger is finally — FINALLY — coming to the Denver metro
Apr 7, 2026, 1:50 PM
OK, Colorado. This is not a drill. And I am not exaggerating when I say this might be the best fast-food news the Front Range has gotten in years.
Look, we talked about this on KYGO last year — wondering when they’d run out of room in the Springs and start heading north. Castle Rock was always the logical next step, and sure enough, Douglas County planning documents show the site development plan was formally submitted.
Whataburger has officially filed plans with the Town of Castle Rock for a spot at the Promenade at Castle Rock, near Sam’s Club and the outlets just off I-25. If approved and built, it would mark the first Whataburger in the Denver metro since the early 1980s — over four decades ago.
Four. Decades. Let that sink in while you think about every road trip you’ve taken to Colorado Springs just to get a Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit.
Coloradans have been clamoring for this. Denver once had several Whataburger locations, including spots in Lakewood, Aurora, Westminster and Thornton, plus one on South Federal Boulevard that was demolished in 2001 and replaced by a Walgreens. All of them vanished by the early ’80s, leaving the Denver metro a Whataburger desert.
When the chain returned to Colorado in 2022, it set up shop in Colorado Springs and has been expanding along the I-25 corridor south of Denver ever since. There are now locations in Colorado Springs, Fountain, Monument and Pueblo. But Denver? Nada. Nothing. Zilch.
Until now.
No official timeline has been announced, and Whataburger hasn’t publicly commented on an opening date. But the plans are in. The wheels are turning. And I’d bet a Patty Melt that this thing gets built.
So to all my fellow Denverites who’ve been making that drive down I-25 for an orange-and-white fix: Relief is on the way. Castle Rock isn’t exactly LoDo, but it’s a whole lot closer than Pueblo.
Welcome back to the metro, Whataburger. It’s been way too long.
