White Castle, the mini burger restaurant with a loyal following, is planning a restaurant in the I-Drive district.
The restaurant will open a 5,000 square foot quick service hamburger restaurant on the corner of Universal Boulevard and McKenna Drive, according to internationaldriveorlando.com. The restaurant will open in 2026, but no further details are available. This marks a major commitment into the Orlando market for White Castle, which hasn’t has a presence in Florida for years until recently.
According to hamburger historian Burger Beast, there were three White Castle restaurants in Miami, Florida from 1958 through 1967, when “supply chain headaches and distribution inefficiencies led to the closure of Florida operations”. White Castle stayed out of the Sunshine State until 2021, when the world’s largest White Castle opened in Orlando in May of that year. Now, the company is committed to Florida, opening several more and announcing its next project near Universal.
Founded in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas by Billy Ingram and Walter Anderson, White Castle sets itselt apart from other burger chains for its square sliders that are steam-grilled with onions and sold “by the sack” in castle-shaped venues.
Though not as massive in reach as McDonalds, White Castle has a loyal following and has even been featured in pop culture like the 2004 film, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and the Beastie Boys’ License to Ill video.
