SAN ANTONIO, April 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- After six months of hard work, dedication and perseverance followed by three days of high-intensity competitions, three Whataburger teams have emerged victorious at WhataGames, a unique competition designed to test the skills of Whataburger team members in the categories of operations, corporate history and customer service.

The teams, who beat out their competitors at Whataburger's more than 700 restaurants in ten states, get more than bragging rights - the three teams reap $140,000 in cash prizes. The gold prize-winning team earned $5,000 for each of the 10 team members that attended the games and an additional $500 for each team member back at home. The silver medal winners took home $2,500 each and $250 each for their restaurant team members, and bronze medalists were awarded $1,000 each and $100 each for their restaurant team members. The winning teams include:

The competition, which officially started on November 2, 2010, included a series of elimination rounds involving mystery shoppers, pop quizzes and restaurant evaluations. The field was narrowed to 16 finalists in early March 2011. The finalists spent April 3-5 in Dallas at the Gaylord Texan Resort, participating in the WhataGames finals, a three-part competition involving a simulated 30-minute lunch rush at a nearby Whataburger restaurant (What's Cookin'), a game show-style competition (WhataYaKnow) and a card game related to Whataburger's procedures (Texas Hot Hold 'Em).

General Manager Adriana Martinez, whose team won the coveted gold medal, worked day and night getting her team ready for the games: "Our team has been pumped from the very beginning, and we were truly focused on bringing home the gold -- both for those of us who travelled to WhataGames and those that stayed at the restaurant to keep up our reputation for hard work and great service," she said. "Many companies like to say it, but at Whataburger its true - hard work really does pay off. Thanks!"

A WhataGames team is comprised of 10 members from a local restaurant: one general manager, one manager, two team leaders and six team members.

Maintenance Team Competition

WhataGames also featured a competition between six teams from the company's maintenance staff to determine which team best services and maintains important restaurant equipment like fryers, grills and drive-thru speakers. Whataburger's maintenance services staff is responsible for nearly all of the company's restaurants and is a crucial part of ensuring every Whataburger restaurant is clean and the equipment is functioning properly to provide great, fast service. The gold prize-winning team earned $5,000 for each of the 3 team members, silver medal winners took home $2,500 each and bronze medalists were awarded $1,000 each. Winners include:

Thomas E. Dobson Award

In addition to the exciting WhataGames finals for restaurant and maintenance teams, Whataburger also presented the Thomas E. Dobson award to the top corporate general managers from 2009 and 2010, each of whom receives $25,000. The nominees are chosen based on performance, positive feedback from their supervisors, and evaluations from the company's Chairman and CEO, Tom Dobson.

About Whataburger

Whataburger has focused on its fresh, made-to-order burgers and friendly customer service since 1950 when Harmon Dobson opened the first Whataburger as a small roadside burger stand in Corpus Christi, Texas. Dobson gave his restaurant a name he hoped to hear customers say every time they took a bite of his made-to-order burgers: "What a burger!" Within the first week, people lined up around the block for his 25 cent, all-American beef burgers served on five-inch buns. Today, the company is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, with more than 700 locations in 10 states with sales of more than $1 billion annually. Visit www.whataburger.com for more information on the company.

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SOURCE Whataburger