SONIC® and Order-Matic Innovates Sustainable Drive-In Technology
For more than 50 years, SONIC Corp. has dominated the drive-in restaurant industry by doing what it does best: made-to-order American classics, signature menu items, and speedy service. Today, SONIC is the largest chain of drive-in restaurants in the nation with over 3,500 locations nationwide maintaining strong sales growth, customer frequency and high returns.
SONIC’s success is the product of innovation and sustainability. Their ability to adapt to the ever-changing demands of the American food industry has solidified them as a timeless American classic. But there once a time, early in SONIC’s story, when their drive-in system was anything but innovative.
Outdated Communications Problem
In the early 1960s, SONIC approached Order-Matic with a communications conundrum. Initially, all orders at Sonic were taken from a manual switchboard. Order Matic introduced a priority switchboard creating a “First in, First Out” process. This took pressure off of the operator allowing for faster order taking.
Order-Matic Hops to the Challenge
Order-Matic implemented an innovative Point of Sale system that allowed order tracking, seamless communication to reach directly inside of every SONIC restaurant, resulting in faster order taking, speedier service, reduced employee theft, and happier customers for the next several decades.
Sustainable Communications into the 21st Century
Since the 1960s, Order-Matic and SONIC have worked together to bring innovation to drive-in technology. While other drive-ins disappeared over the years and were replaced by strip malls and drive-thrus, SONIC leveraged its communications system to become a sustainable American classic.
To this day, Order-Matic provides a wide variety of products, including Point of Sale systems, menu housings, communication equipment and other accessories to the SONIC brand in nearly every one of its 3,500 locations. We continue to supply and service the SONIC
brand and consider them a large part of our heritage as we celebrate 55 years in the industry.