Local Sonic franchise headed to Post Falls
The owners of the local Sonic Drive-In franchise are taking their carhop burger business across the border after experiencing record-setting success in Spokane.
After the Sonic at Ruby Street and Sharp Avenue reached a $1 million bench mark for gross sales faster than any of the chain’s other 3,000-plus fast-food restaurants, the owners of the North Idaho-Eastern Washington franchise rights purchased property to build a second store in Post Falls.
“Our general plan is to open up 10 stores within the next five years,” said Preston Hawkins, who owns the Spokane Sonic with his stepson Patrick Vollmer.
The Post Falls restaurant will be located just south of Mullan Avenue and U.S. Highway 41 and is expected to open in March or April, he said. The company is working with Marshall Clark, of Clark Pacific Real Estate, to secure other sites within its Eastern Washington and North Idaho territory.
When it opened in May, Spokane’s Sonic Drive-In, the first in Washington state, immediately generated long lines of cars and traffic backups. Sonic Corp. is based in Oklahoma City and has restaurants in the United States and Mexico that feature signature menu items, such as cream pie milkshakes, delivered by roller-skating carhops.
The Spokane store generated $1 million in gross sales 25 days sooner than a previous company record of 112 days, Hawkins said.
“We’ve exceeded the sales we projected on our business plan by a big margin,” Hawkins said, adding that Spokane is now becoming a “big name” within the Sonic chain.
Hawkins said his store averages 1,200 orders a day. Opening at the beginning of summer generated a lot of traffic, he said. Now, as high school and elementary students head back to class, the store is seeing an influx of Gonzaga University students, newly arrived for the school year.
Part of the restaurant’s success, he said, can be attributed to national television advertising that began appearing months ahead of the actual opening.
“When we opened there was already this pent-up curiosity and we’ve gotten the benefit of that.”