to increase media reach
and work on technological
enhancements like a mobile
pay app and a preorder fea-
ture to speed up service.
But above all else, Saroch
says, Sonic’s strength is
its partners—particularly
longtime franchisees who
embrace innovation, bal-
anced by old-fashioned expe-
rience. The winner of its 2017
outstanding franchisee award
typifies this, he says. It was
a second-generation Sonic
owner who started working
as a cook for his father in
1969, when he was 14 years
old. “Building a family busi-
ness, staying in the brand for
a long time,” Saroch says, is
what Sonic is all about.
—CLAIRE ZULKEY