“That’s a different experience from the competition.” “Nothing occurs until that customer touches the button and begins their personalized service,” Hudson says. Never rushed and with low fuss, customers order, pay, and eat in their car. Sonic is, as the tagline suggests, “America’s Drive-In.”Ĭapitalizing on nostalgia and happier times, a presumed antidote to recessionary plight, Sonic’s drive-ins also appease customers’ desires for convenience and control. Many Sonic staffs still embrace the company’s roller-skating food delivery roots, a defining characteristic that lends an entertainment value to Sonic, unmatched by any of the major players. Throughout its history, Sonic has utilized the drive-in concept as its primary point of differentiation in a segment blanketed by heavy hitters like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s, as well as recent up-and-comers, such as Five Guys and Smashburger. Today, Sonic, by far the nation’s largest chain of drive-in restaurants, operates in 43 states and serves about three million customers each day. Providing the quick-service staples of hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, and milkshakes, Sonic sprouted from its Oklahoman roots over the next four decades to become a major regional player with about 1,500 stores spread south of the Mason-Dixon Line. In 1959, he adopted the name Sonic and a fitting restaurant mantra: “Service with the speed of sound.” Yet Top Hat immediately proved to be the more lucrative operation and Smith pursued the drive-in business. In 2011, Hudson assures, the brand is poised for a rebound and the beginnings of a new streak.įounded in 1953 by Troy Smith, Sonic began as the Top Hat Drive-In, an adjacent afterthought to Smith’s Shawnee, Oklahoma, steakhouse. Next, the brand focused on customer service, new product roll outs-such as a line of six-inch hot dogs and loaded burgers-and refined its marketing with the hiring of a new CMO (former PepsiCo vice president of marketing Danielle Vona), a new advertising agency (San Francisco–based Goodby, Silverstein & Partners), and a new media buy partner (New York City–based Zenith Media). Then the company broadcast the changes, shouting to a national audience that it had the unique food to match the unique experience. The chain introduced new items such as the footlong Quarter Pound Coney, built a better burger with a bigger patty and bun coverage, and altered its ice cream specifications with increased butter fats and milk solids to create “real” ice cream. “If you aren’t on top of your game all of the time, then you’ll pay for it,” Hudson says of the quick-service landscape and, more specifically, the ultra-competitive burger segment.Īs a result of its falling fortunes, including a sales decline of more than $200 million from 2009 to 2010, Hudson redoubled the company’s efforts on strengthening the brand.įirst, Sonic heightened food quality and the diversity of its offerings. Teamed with years of competitors improving their own customer service and food quality models, the brand found itself in the unfortunate, and rare, position of playing from behind. 10 Sonic got caught flat-footed at the onset of the economic downturn. In a sincere Midwestern voice, Hudson admits No. While the Oklahoma-based drive-in chain had consistently focused on the core elements spurring its 22-year upswing-namely service and product differentiation-it struggled in 2009–2010 with strategic standing and value messaging, a particularly critical element as consumers yanked back on discretionary spending given growing financial woes. “Twenty-two years is a long time to go before you max out,” Hudson says, pointing to the recession, as well as Sonic’s own missteps, as reason for the slide. The falling figures sobered Sonic’s successful streak and invincible attitude, reminding the corporate office and the system at large that growth was not guaranteed. Sonic chairman and CEO Clifford Hudson knows the numbers, and although he may cringe, he certainly does not cower from the realities or the challenge.Īfter 22 consecutive years of same-store sales growth, Sonic’s systemwide sales numbers declined in both fiscal years 20.
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