Charlie Pappe was an entrepreneur from Woodward, Oklahoma, who was interested in managing restaurants. When driving through Shawnee in , he came across the Top Hat drive-in and was impressed.
He contacted Troy Smith, and the two men agreed to work together on growing the restaurant. The proceeds would then be split between Smith and Pappe. The first franchise contracts under this plan were drawn up, but still no joint marketing plan , standardized menu , or detailed operating requirements were in place.
Sonic's founders formed Sonic Supply as a supply and distribution division in the s. Under Smith, longtime franchise holders Marvin Jirous and Matt Kinslow were hired to run the division. In , 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. As the company grew into a regionally-known operation during the s and s, the drive-ins were mainly in small towns in Oklahoma, Texas , Kansas , New Mexico , Missouri , and Arkansas.
In , the year Pappe died, the brand had 41 drive-ins. By , this number had risen to , and by , 1, In , Sonic introduced the Pickle-O's, fried pickle slices. In , 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, even to this day. In , the company's board of directors hired C.
Stephen Lynn as president. In , 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. 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 , Sonic became a publicly traded company again. By , the corporation had renegotiated the franchise agreements with its franchisees. During the mids, Sonic opened — new restaurants a year. Beginning in , Sonic began a retrofit program, called "Sonic ", to redesign and update all 1, stores in its chain to what was called a "retro-future" look.
Hudson was named chairman of Sonic Corp. Celebrating its 50th birthday in , Sonic briefly added the Birthday Cake Shake to the menu. During the s the company became a collection of independent Sonics rather than a cohesive chain. Menus differed from store to store. Slaw dogs were served in the Carolinas, and deep-fried "pickle-o's" were offered in Oklahoma.
Clifford Hudson, who became president and chief executive officer of Sonic Industries in , launched the stock publicly. Sonic , a five-year plan, unified the company with a consistent menu, brand identity, service, and a national purchasing cooperative and advertising program. The new "retro-future" Sonic logo was introduced, and the new menu offered breakfast items and "frozen favorites. As the company employed sixty thousand teenagers, the Sonic carhop was named one of Teen People magazine's "Top 10 Jobs That Rock" in In Sonic celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, and every Oklahoma town with a population of more than four thousand had "America's Drive-In.
As the company grew bigger, it led to its first TV commercial in Three years later, Sonic went back to being a private corporation until when it became a publicly traded company anew.
Another project of Sonic was the Sonic Beach, which opened its first two locations in Florida one in Homestead, and another in Fort Lauderdale in , which markedly lack the typical Sonic drive-in feature as they were built close to the beach. Instead, outdoor seating was installed. It was in Sonic Beach restaurants where beer and wine are served.
Today, Sonic boasts over 3, restaurants in 43 states.
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