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Sonic Drive-In history
Sonic Drive-In company history timeline
His attempts to expand into multiple locations were not successful, and by 1953 Smith's chicken restaurants had failed.
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.
While traveling in Louisiana in 1954, he saw a food stall with homemade intercom speakers that allowed customers to order from their cars.
In 1956 Charlie Pappe, manager of a Woodward supermarket, partnered with Smith and opened a second Top Hat Drive-In.
He and Smith 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.
Upon learning that the Top Hat name was already trademarked, Smith and Pappe changed the name to Sonic in 1959.
The group was credited with introducing the ice cream concept to the Sonic system after proving it at its own restaurants. Its founder, Don Rogers, an Oklahoma oilman, had opened his first Sonic Drive-In in 1962.
In 1968, Sonic introduced the Pickle-O's, fried pickle slices.
Franchises appeared in Texas and Kansas, and, by 1972, there were 165 Sonic Drive-ins.
In 1973, Sonic Supply was restructured as a franchise company that was briefly named Sonic Systems of America.
In 1977, the company established the Sonic School for manager training.
By 1979 profits began to fall nonetheless.
A new advertising campaign, budgeted at only $5 million, could not reverse the decline, and by 1980 the company posted a net loss of almost $300,000.
Jack Hartnett, president since 1983, led the Rogers Group to more than a dozen years of record profits and the highest unit volumes of any Sonic franchise.
In 1983, the company's board of directors hired C. Stephen Lynn as president.
A new franchise agreement in 1984, adopted by nearly 90 percent of the franchisees, provided the company with ascending royalties, beginning at one percent of gross sales and rising to three percent, depending on store volume.
In 1984, Lynn hired attorney J. Clifford Hudson to head the legal department.
In 1986, Lynn, with a group of investors, completed a $10-million leveraged buyout and took the company private.
In 1991, Sonic became a publicly traded company again.
Sonic's growth continued into the 1990s. It went public again in 1991, raising $52 million in its initial public offering.
Sonic's growth remained relatively flat after 1992.
In 1993, Sonic's market value was estimated at $200 million.
By 1994, the corporation had renegotiated the franchise agreements with its franchisees.
Average per-store sales were around $585,000 per year in 1995.
The company owned and operated, often through various franchise and partner agreements, 178 restaurants going into 1995.
In 1995, Hudson became president and chief executive officer, and Sonic Industries became Sonic Corp.
Sonic's equipment sales unit was sold off to Columbus, Ohio-based N. Wasserstrom & Sons, Inc. in February 1996.
Feeling its stock undervalued, Sonic Corp. began to buy back shares in March 1998.
1998: A new 'retro-future' look is introduced for the drive-ins.
Sonic Corp.'s revenues rose 18 percent in 1999 to $257.6 million.
Hudson was named chairman of Sonic Corp. in January 2000.
By August 2000, the company had bought back $53 million of its stock and had authorized another $20 million for that purpose.
As the company employed sixty thousand teenagers, the Sonic carhop was named one of Teen People magazine's "Top 10 Jobs That Rock" in 2001.
Celebrating its 50th birthday in 2003, Sonic briefly added the Birthday Cake Shake to the menu.
On January 5, 2005, the company started to install card readers in the drive-in stalls at its 544 company-owned restaurants by the end of January that year.
On June 28, 2005, helped by new menu items and increased advertising exposure, Sonic Corp. reported double-digit increases in net income and revenue in the third quarter that year.
San Pedro joined the company in 2006, quickly rising through the ranks.
In 2007, the company opened its first restaurants in the Northeastern United States, in Waretown, New Jersey.
In 2009, Sonic partnered with DonorsChoose.org on a collaborative effort, Limeades for Learning, the chain's first systemwide cause marketing initiative.
In 2009, the brand had multiple quarters of declines in same-store sales.
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.
In 2011, Sonic corporate asked employees to concoct and submit drink combinations and names that weren’t officially on the menu.
A group of specialized agencies was selected to represent the company, and in early 2011, the San Francisco-based Goodby Silverstein and Partners was named as the new creative agency for the company.
Craig Miller was hired as chief information officer in January 2012.
In 2014, the company announced plans to add 1000 restaurants in the next 10 years, including an additional 300 in California alone.
The original Sonic with the first sign was demolished and renovated in May 2015.
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 will acquire Sonic for $2.3 billion.
Prior to becoming President in early 2018, she helped guide the company in a variety of capacities, including serving as Vice President of Investor Relations and, most recently, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
In November 2020, a fatal shooting occurred at the drive-thru of Sonic in Bellevue, Nebraska.
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Sonic Drive-In competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wendy's | 1969 | $2.2B | 12,500 | 7,528 |
| Panera Bread | 1981 | $2.8B | 140,000 | 4,595 |
| Pizza Hut | 1958 | $7.5B | 350,000 | 11,028 |
| Buffalo Wild Wings | 1982 | $2.0B | 44,000 | 1,600 |
| Chipotle Mexican Grill | 1993 | $11.3B | 64,570 | 4,832 |
| Ruby Tuesday | 1972 | $952.0M | 32,100 | 8 |
| CKE Restaurants Holdings | 1956 | $1.3B | 20,200 | 533 |
| Applebee's Canada | 1980 | $2.5B | 28,000 | 1,391 |
| Subway | 1965 | $16.1B | 5,000 | 750 |
| Red Lobster | 1968 | $2.6B | 55,000 | 2,129 |
Sonic Drive-In history FAQs
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Sonic Drive-In may also be known as or be related to SONIC CORP, Sonic Boom Corporation, Sonic Corp, Sonic Corp., Sonic Corporation, Sonic Drive-In and sonic drive thru.