Sonic Drive-In

Sonic Corp. is the operator of an American drive-in fast-food restaurant chain that is owned by Inspire Brands, the parent company of Arby’s and Buffalo Wild Wings. As of 2020, 3,504 Sonic restaurants are located in 46 U.S. states. Sonic’s menu consists of hamburgers and French fries, as well as onion rings, corn dogs, chili dogs, and breakfast toaster sandwiches.

About Sonic Drive-In in brief

Summary Sonic Drive-InSonic Corp. is the operator of an American drive-in fast-food restaurant chain that is owned by Inspire Brands, the parent company of Arby’s and Buffalo Wild Wings. As of 2020, 3,504 Sonic restaurants are located in 46 U.S. states. In 2020, Sonic was ranked 14th in QSR Magazine’s rankings of the top 50 quick-service and fast-casual restaurant brands in the nation. Sonic’s menu consists of hamburgers and French fries, as well as onion rings, corn dogs, chili dogs, and breakfast toaster sandwiches. Customers can combine various drinks and flavors to create thousands of possible drink combinations. Ice cream desserts include sundaes and floats. At a standard Sonic Drive-In, a customer drives into a covered drive-In stall, orders through an intercom speaker system, and has the food delivered by a carhop. The company annually hosts a competition to determine the top skating carhop in its system. Although Sonic has operated since the early 1950s, Sonic Corp. incorporated in Delaware in 1990. It has its corporate headquarters in Oklahoma City; the headquarters building features a dine-in Sonic restaurant in an adjacent building. In 1973, Sonic Supply was restructured as a franchise company that was briefly named Sonic Systems of America. It provided franchisees with equipment, building plans, and basic operational instructions. It grew into a regionally-known operation that is now known as the Sonic region.

The original Sonic with the first sign was demolished and renovated in May 2015. The new sign was installed at the Stillwater Top-Hat Drive-in. This was the first of three Sonics in Stillwater. By 1958, two more drive-ins were built, in Enid and Stillwater, and by 1958, the first Sonic in Woodward, Oklahoma, was built. The first franchise location in Woodward was built in 1956, based on a handshake. By 1973, the company grew into the region-ally- known operation that was known as Sonic Supply of America, which is now a division of Sonic Systems. In 2008, the chain was acquired by Inspires Brands, which also owns Arby’s andBuffalo Wild Wings, and its stock traded on NASDAQ with the symbol SONC. Total 2016 revenues were around USD 100 million with net income of USD 18 million. Most restaurants are owned and operated by franchisees, and many have drive-through lanes and patio seating. The chain was founded by Troy N. Smith Sr. in 1953, after he sold a fast food restaurant, Troy’s Pan Full of Chicken, on the edge of town. In 1953, Smith joined with a business partner to purchase a five-acre parcel of land that had a log house and a walk-up root beer stand named the Top Hat. After realizing that the stand was averaging USD 700 a week in the sale of root beer,. Smith decided to focus on the more-profitable root beer Stand.