Sonic Drive-In: History, Key Facts and Reviews

1953-1959: from the Top Hat root beer stand to Sonic

Sonic began in 1953 as the Top Hat, a walk-up root beer stand in Shawnee, Oklahoma, run by Troy N. Smith Sr. (Wikipedia). Smith and a partner had bought the land for a log house they wanted to turn into a steakhouse, but the stand next to it took about $700 a week, so Smith bought out his partner and focused on it. On a trip to Louisiana he saw a drive-in where customers ordered through speakers. Back home, he had an intercom wired into his parking lot and used cars borrowed from a used-car lot to mark out the stalls. Sales tripled. Charles Pappe, a local businessman, opened the first franchised unit in Woodward, Oklahoma, in 1956 on a handshake. Because “Top Hat” was already a registered trademark, the two men renamed the chain Sonic in 1959, after their slogan “Service with the Speed of Sound.”

1960-1991: franchised drive-ins and a return to the stock market

Sonic grew through the 1960s and 1970s as a network of franchised drive-ins across the southern Plains. Pappe died in 1967, when the chain had 41 restaurants. Fried pickle slices, the Pickle-O’s, joined the menu in 1968. The count reached 165 in 1972 and 1,000 in 1978. President C. Stephen Lynn led a $10 million leveraged buyout in 1986, the company moved into offices in downtown Oklahoma City in 1987, and Sonic Corp. went public again in 1991 on the Nasdaq under the ticker SONC.

1992-2018: coast to coast, then the Inspire Brands deal

Sonic became a national brand between the mid-1990s and 2018. It opened 100 to 150 drive-ins a year in the mid-1990s and launched the “Sonic 2000” program in 1998 to refit its 1,750 restaurants. The 3,000th drive-in opened in Shawnee for the chain’s 50th anniversary in 2003, and the 3,500th in Algonquin, Illinois, in 2004, the year national TV advertising began. The first Northeast location followed in Waretown, New Jersey, in 2007. On September 25, 2018, Inspire Brands, the parent of Arby’s, agreed to buy Sonic for $2.3 billion; the deal closed on December 7, 2018.

2019-2026: 3,412 drive-ins, all in the United States

Today Sonic ranks 16th in the QSR 50, the yearly ranking of US fast-food chains by sales. At the end of 2025 it had 3,412 restaurants, 3,120 franchised and 292 company-operated, 49 fewer than a year earlier, and $5.242 billion in US systemwide sales (QSR 50 2026). Franchisees keep consolidating: KBP Brands bought 78 drive-ins in February 2026 (Restaurant Dive). Sonic still has no restaurant outside the United States; its first Hawaii drive-in opened in Kapolei in May 2026. To cook its burgers at home, try our Sonic Jr. Double Cheeseburger copycat or the SuperSONIC Bacon Double copycat.

Key dates

• 1953: Troy N. Smith Sr. runs the Top Hat root beer stand in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
• 1956: Charles Pappe opens the first franchise in Woodward, Oklahoma.
• 1959: the Top Hat becomes Sonic, for “Service with the Speed of Sound.”
• 1978: the chain reaches 1,000 drive-ins.
• 1991: Sonic Corp. returns to the stock market on the Nasdaq.
• 2018: Inspire Brands buys Sonic for $2.3 billion.
• 2025: 3,412 restaurants and $5.242 billion in US systemwide sales at year-end.