SONIC: An American Tradition
Service With The Speed Of SoundSM
Troy and Charlie would have kept the Top Hat name, but lawyers informed them it was copyrighted.
So, they opened up the dictionary and started searching for a new name.
Echoing the common theme of those days, Top Hat's slogan had been "Service With the Speed of SoundSM." Indeed, the post-war world was changing fast. The country had seen the dawn of the Atomic Era and the beginnings of the Jet Age and the Space Race.
When Troy and Charlie ran across "sonic," meaning "speed of sound," they knew they had the perfect name. The Stillwater, Oklahoma Top Hat Drive-In became the first SONIC Drive-In and still serves hot dogs, root beer and Frozen Favorites® desserts on the same site.
Franchises In The Bag
The new name sparked more requests from aspiring SONIC operators. One of the reasons Troy Smith believes SONIC
has been so successful through the years is that the drive-in operators are also part-owners, something he thinks
makes a terrific difference.
The first SONIC franchise ever sold came with the first formal SONIC franchise agreement. The one-and-a-half page, double-spaced franchise contract was drafted by Shawnee lawyer, O.K. Winterringer, who also happened to be Troy's landlord.
The royalty fee of one penny per bag was based on the number of SONIC sandwich bags sold through Cardinal Paper, one of SONIC's early vendors.
With each new franchisee, Troy would call Winterringer and another one-and-a-half page, double-spaced contract based on the penny-a-bag royalty was drafted. Troy and Charlie helped new partners with the layout, site selection and operation of their SONIC Drive-Ins.
In the early days, there was no national advertising and there were no territorial rights. If two prospects wanted the same town, Winterringer and Troy would talk to them and convince one to go somewhere else.
Farewell To A Founder
Charlie Pappe unexpectedly died of a heart attack in 1967 at the age of 54. Troy Smith was left alone to run the burgeoning,
14 year-old company and its 41 SONIC Drive-Ins.
Troy invited two franchisees to take over running SONIC Supply Inc., the supply and distribution division of SONIC, with Marvin Jirous as president and Matt Kinslow serving as vice president. In the next six years, Troy, Marvin and Matt built an additional 124 SONICs in a core group of states including Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas.
SONIC Dons A Suit
In 1973, Troy, Marvin and Matt plus seven key principal franchise owners formed and restructured the company into SONIC
Systems of America, later changing the name to SONIC Industries. They became the officers and board of directors and
purchased the SONIC name, slogan, trademark and logos from Troy, and the supply company from Marvin and Matt. They also
offered each store operator the option to buy 1250 shares of stock at $1 per share.
SONIC was now owned by its franchisees. Due to the number of shares offered, SONIC also became an over-the-counter, publicly traded company.
There were now 165 SONICs in the chain.
| Part One | Part Two | Part Three |
