Page 76 - Entrepreneur - USA (January - February 2020)

THE FRANCHISE
Sonic Drive-In
4
STARTED FRANCHISING —
ON NOVEMBER 20, 1953, pilot
Scott Crossfield took a Douglas
Aircraft Skyrocket up over the
dusty California desert, blasting
through the sound barrier and
setting a world record that
helped usher in the space age.
That same year, the first Sonic
Drive-In opened in Shawnee,
Okla. Its slogan: “Service at the
Speed of Sound.”
Today, nearly seven decades
and 3,600 restaurants later, the
company is sonically booming
in another direction— this time,
into the era of machine learning.
“We’ve heard from our guests,”
says Sonic president Claudia
74 / ENTREPRENEUR.COM / January-February 2020
— —
1959 TOTAL UNITS
3,600
San Pedro. “They still want us to
be fast, but they also want their
favorite customized food.”
So through a partnership
with Mastercard, Sonic is pilot-
ing an AI-powered car-side
menu board that updates its
offering in real time based on
the customer, weather, and time
of day. Fueled in part by the
robust analytics Sonic gathers
from its new order-ahead app,
the restaurant’s offerings will
grow increasingly personal-
ized, with the goal of creating a
tailored experience that’s unri-
valed in fast food.
But the upward trajectory
$1.2M–$3.5M
COST TO OPEN
hasn’t been without hiccups.
In 2018, Sonic’s income
rose from $63.7 million to
$71.2 million, yet the restau-
rant saw overall revenue
drop. It was then acquired by
Inspire Brands in late 2018
for $2.3 billion, meaning it
now shares a corporate parent
with the likes of Arby’s and
Buffalo Wild Wings. The new
ownership could be a boon to
franchisees: System-wide sales
are moving upward, and the
partnership provided improved
access to delivery services like
DoorDash and Uber Eats.
Even as Sonic’s menu con-
tinues to rotate in creations
like deep-fried Oreos à la Mode
and Red Bull Slush, the restau-
rant isn’t sitting on its laurels.
In August, it announced that
it was using a new creative
agency, Mother, and it prom-
ised to deliver a revamped
brand logo in 2020.
So what can we expect?
Something Googie? A rocket?
A Footlong Coney dressed in
a space suit? “It’s a little bit of
making sure we are grounded in PHOTOGR APH COURTESY OF SONIC
our roots, but with a much more
forward- looking view,” says San
Pedro. “That’s all I’m going to
say.” —LIZ BRODY