[6] Originally a walk-up root beer stand outside a log-cabin steakhouse selling soda, hamburgers, and hotdogs, Sonic currently has 3,545 locations in the United States.

Following World War II, Sonic founder Troy N. Smith Sr., returned to his hometown of Seminole, Oklahoma, where he became employed as a milkman.

Before long, he sold it and opened a fast-food service, Troy's Pan Full of Chicken, on the edge of town.

In 1953, Smith joined with a business partner to purchase a five-acre parcel of land that had a log house and a walk-up root beer stand named the Top Hat.

Smith borrowed several automobiles from a friend who owned a used-car lot to establish a layout for controlled parking.

Although Smith and Pappe were being asked to help open new franchise locations, no real royalty plan was in place.

The pair decided to have their paper company charge an extra penny for each Sonic-label hamburger bag it sold.

Under Smith, longtime franchise holders Marvin Jirous and Matt Kinslow were hired to run the division.

As the company grew into a regionally known operation during the 1960s and 1970s, the drive-ins were mainly in small towns in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Missouri, and Arkansas.

Franchisees operated most of the drive-ins and often made the store manager a business partner, which is the case even to the present day.

These developments, combined with a major advertising campaign featuring singer and actor Frankie Avalon, led to significant growth and a new image that made Sonic a nationally recognized name.

The next year, Sonic moved its offices to leased space in downtown Oklahoma City and began to assume a higher profile in the community.

The new intranet was via Hughes Satellite Services and provided advancements like credit card processing and video training.

Sonic gained further attention in 2003 following the release of comedic reality show The Simple Life starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.

Hilton and Richie, previously with no experience in having a job, had to work in a Sonic site in Altus, Arkansas.

[22] In 2009, Sonic partnered with DonorsChoose.org on a collaborative effort, Limeades for Learning, the chain's first systemwide cause marketing initiative.

Public school teachers request needed supplies and materials and Sonic customers vote on how to allocate over $500,000 each autumn.

In the first seven years of the program, Sonic and its franchisees donated more than $6 million and impacted learning for more than 349,000 students nationwide.

[52] On September 25, 2018, Atlanta-based Inspire Brands, owner of Arby's and Buffalo Wild Wings, announced that it would acquire Sonic for $2.3 billion.

[57] By March 2020, all locations indefinitely suspended patio dining due to COVID-19, but continued to serve take-away and pickup customers.

The company contracted with Richard Childress Racing in late 2000 to be an associate sponsor for Dale Earnhardt Sr. during the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season.

After Earnhardt died in an accident at the 2001 Daytona 500, the company continued its sponsorship with his replacement driver Kevin Harvick, through the end of the 2003 season.

Sonic returned to NASCAR several years later to sponsor Sam Hornish Jr. and Richard Petty Motorsports in 2015.

[6] Improvisational actors T. J. Jagodowski and Peter Grosz became known to American television viewers from their "Two Guys" series of commercials.

Similar series of ads for the company have featured other duos of improvisational performers, including Molly Erdman and Brian Huskey, Katie Rich and Sayjal Joshi, and Emily Wilson and Tim Baltz.

[73] In 2010, national auditions were held and a new series of commercials began airing, some of which featured carhops from Wisconsin and Austin, Texas.