The Sonic franchise is a fast food restaurant that traces its roots back to 1953. Back in its establishment years, this business was known by the name `Top hat Drive-In’ which was later changed into Sonic in 1959. Its first operational store was opened at Shawnee Oklahoma. Currently, the business boasts of more than 3500 drive-ins serving millions of clients on daily basis.

Sonic offers made-to-order American Fare that comes with curbside speakers and fast carhops. The whole business has been built on an underexploited niche of drive-ins. Sonic is in fact the undisputed leader in drive-in franchise business. There are stores located from one coast to the other. The brand name of this business has become popular in several places.

The Sonic franchise boasts of the smallest turn over rations in the fast food franchise industry. The clients can park beneath a shady canopy and order food using curbside speakers. The foods are delivered by friendly Carhop from the car. Patrons can either decide to eat the foods or take them home.

This business concept helps in cutting down busy drive through lines and also delivers a unique eating experience to the clients. A conventional store that would feature about 24-36 stalls require ton be constructed on about ¾ of an acre. The serving experience acquired from sonic food is unique with no other place offering the ordering strategies used by this company. The sales growth of it remains remarkable with outstanding customer frequency. The stockholders of the company keep registering higher profits year after year.

The cist of the business varies depending on the kind of business plan chosen. Customers can either decide to establish traditional or non-traditional businesses. The traditional franchises feature a 20 year term and a renewal opportunity after every 10 years. There is also franchise fee of $45,000 that requires being sought. In general, the average initial investment of the non-traditional businesses can range between $710,000 and $3 million. Franchisees require having at least cash liquidity of about $1 million for them to be capable of meeting the minimum requirements of two stores. Entrepreneurs are also required to pay 5.9% advertising fee and royalty fees varying from 4-5%.

 

The non-traditional businesses also offer license with a 10 year expiry period and a renewal period of 5 years. The franchise fee for this business plan stands at $22,500 franchise fee. The average initial capital required for establishing this kind of investment ranges between $434,000 and $545,000 without counting the cost of land. However, there are some affordable non-traditional investment opportunities that can start with investment capital varying between $107,000 and $221,000.