История сети ресторанов быстрого питания Sonic: от корневого пива до национальной известности.

American fast food chain

Following World War II, Sonic founder Troy N. Smith, Sr., returned to his hometown of Seminole, Oklahoma, where he became employed as a milkman. He decided to work delivering bread because bread is lighter than milk. Soon afterwards, Smith purchased the Cottage Cafe, a little diner in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Before long, he sold it and opened a fast food service, 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. The two continued operating the root beer stand and converted the log house into a steak restaurant. After realizing that the stand was averaging $700 a week in the sale of root beer, hamburgers, and hot dogs, Smith decided to focus on the more profitable root beer stand. He bought out his business partner. Initially, Top Hat customers parked their automobiles anywhere on the gravel parking lot and walked up to place orders. In Louisiana, Smith saw a drive in that used speakers for ordering. He suspected that he could increase his sales by controlling the parking and having the customers order from speakers at their cars, with carhops delivering the food to the cars. Smith borrowed several automobiles from a friend who owned a used car lot to establish a layout for controlled parking. He also had some so called "jukebox boys" wire an intercom system in the parking lot. Sales immediately tripled. Charles Woodrow Pappe, an entrepreneur, saw the Shawnee drive in and was impressed. Smith and he negotiated the first franchise location in Woodward, Oklahoma, in 1956, based on a handshake. By 1958, two more drive ins were built, in Enid and Stillwater. In 1977, the company established the Sonic School for manager training. Franchisees operated most of the drive ins and often made the store manager a business partner, which is the case even to the present day.

In 1983, the company's board of directors hired C. Stephen Lynn as president. In 1984, Lynn hired attorney J. Clifford Hudson to head the legal department. Under Lynn, Sonic and its major franchisees began to encourage the development of local advertising cooperatives, under the leadership of Keith Sutterfield as advertising manager and later as VP of marketing in which Sutterfield developed a field structure to work with the franchisees. New franchises began to expand the company into new areas and redevelop markets that had been unsuccessful in the past. These developments, combined with a major advertising campaign featuring singer and actor Frankie Avalon, led to significant growth and a new image that made Sonic a nationally recognized name. In 1986, Lynn, with a group of investors, completed a $10 million leveraged buyout and took the company private. The next year, Sonic moved its offices to leased space in downtown Oklahoma City and began to assume a higher profile in the community. In 1991, Sonic became a publicly traded company again. By 1994, the corporation had renegotiated the franchise agreements with its franchisees. Plans to bring Sonic to Alaska had not yet come to fruition. On October 26, 2015, Sonic opened its first Rhode Island location in Smithfield, reporting to have received 500 orders on its opening day. In the mid 2010s, the company began a refranchising effort and began to add to its numbers of stores again.

In January 2010, Sonic announced that they would begin switching to cage free eggs, gestation crate free pork, and chickens killed using controlled atmosphere stunning methods instead of traditional shackling and electrical stunning. Sonic reformulated its soft serve ice cream to meet the FDA standards of identity that define what constitutes real ice cream and introduced Real Ice Cream on May 17, 2010. Several new hot dog items were also introduced in June 2010 and February 2011. Craig Miller was hired as chief information officer in January 2012. In June 2010, Danielle Vona was hired as chief marketing officer. In late 2010, Sonic announced the end of its 17 year relationship with advertising agency Barkley. A group of specialized agencies was selected to represent the company, and in early 2011, San Francisco based Goodby Silverstein and Partners was named as the new creative agency for the company. In 2017, Sonic announced it would be adding seven new stores in Hawaii in the near future. On September 25, 2018, Atlanta based Inspire Brands, owner of Arby's and Buffalo Wild Wings, announced that it would acquire Sonic for $2.3 billion. The acquisition was completed on December 7, 2018. In September 2017, Sonic opened its first location in Alaska in Wasilla, and a year later it opened its second Alaska location in Fairbanks.

In 2020, Sonic unveiled a new drive in design with an updated, wider layout for car docks and the drive thru lane, a new kitchen layout built for efficiency, and an aesthetic makeover. By March 2020, all locations indefinitely suspended patio dining due to COVID 19, but continued to serve take away and pickup customers. On November 21, 2020, a mass shooting occurred at the drive thru of a Sonic Drive In in Bellevue, Nebraska. Two people were killed, and two others were injured. A 23 year old man was arrested; he had also allegedly made a bomb threat to the location before. In March 2022, the man pled guilty to all charges filed against him, including murder, attempted murder and arson. In 2020, Sonic was ranked 14th in QSR magazine's rankings of the top 50 quick service and fast casual food brands in the nation.

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. Prior to its acquisition by Inspire Brands, its stock traded on NASDAQ with the symbol SONC. Most restaurants are owned and operated by franchisees. Total 2016 revenues were around $100 million with net income of $18 million.

In February 2019, employees of three Ohio locations resigned en masse due to management changes, as well as what they alleged was a 50% reduction of the employee hourly pay rate, a claim denied by Sonic. As of 2019, Sonic carhops are still not able to receive tips from customers paying by credit or debit card. Tips can only be paid in cash, though some carhops make less than minimum wage. A petition on Change. org started in 2017 garnered over 33,000 signatures, but no change was made to Sonic's policy. In 2020, Sonic added a tipping feature via the online ordering app. In 2021, Sonic added an option to tip at the stalls.

In June 2011, the first location under the name Sonic Beach was opened in Homestead, Florida. A second location, opened in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in November 2011, lacked drive in stalls due to its beach side location. Both locations included outdoor seating and flatscreen televisions, but have since closed. A third location was opened in Miami Gardens. The fourth location was opened January 2014 in Lauderhill. Along with the traditional menu items, Sonic Beach offered several new items, including popcorn shrimp, Philly cheesesteaks, and pulled pork sandwiches. Sonic Beach serves beer and wine. Remaining locations have been rebranded under the traditional Sonic name, although retaining the Sonic Beach logo.