Could a Sonic come to Lansing?
I’ve seen ads in the Lansing State-Journal for Sonic managers and there’s even been a little bit of talk on this blog about what, where, and when. I contacted Sonic’s PR department to see if I could get any more information. This afternoon, I recieved a reply from Christie Martin who is the Real Estate Coordinator for Sonic Restaurants Inc.
She did confirm that Sonic is interested in the Lansing market and they are actively looking here for expansion. However, no specific location has been identified yet. The hope is to have a store open in the next 12 months.
I remember the first time I ever saw a Sonic. It was in Vandalia, IL (home to the oldest surviving State Capitol in Illinois). We were coming home from a family vacation in St. Louis. It had ben a long week and every body was exhausted and just ready to get home. We still had about a three hour drive, so we didn’t want to try something we weren’t familiar with. It was years before I finally ate at one.
Just a few weeks after I started dating my girlfriend, we had a wedding to go to. We were both invited before we started dating, but ended up going together and shocking everyone there who knew us. The night before, we went to my place after work and needed dinner. I wasn’t in the mood to cook and we kept seeing commercials for Sonic on TV. My girlfriend really likes the Limeades and a new Sonic had just opened in East Peoria. The whole car hop thing is still wierd to me. I’d rather just go in. I hate drive-thrus and this just a version of a drive-thru. The food was alright. It was fast food and it tasted like it. The drinks were really good though. I went with the Limeade and that made up for the fast food burgers. I’m not overly disappointed there are no Sonic’s here right now, but it would be a welcome addition for a lot of people.
At least that reply was a bit more hopeful than this one from Sonic Corporate:
http://www.spartantailgate.com/forums/msu-red-cedar-message-board/311547-sonic-coming-lansing-2.html
I’m in the same boat though, the food is ok, but the drinks there are what makes it unique.
It took about two weeks to get a reply but they did at least get back to.
I have an Interesting story that follows along with this story. A good friend and I were driving to the Big Ten basketball Tourny in Indy not more than 3 years ago. We stopped at a Sonic on the way back after “One of Those” nights. The breakfest borrito and a Limeade with burgers to save for the ride back. I’ll tell you that it hit more than all the right spots. We than thought, “Why in the hell isn’t there a Sonic in East Lansing?”. I made a few phone calls down to the Corporate Office explaing the delemina, and when they finally responded they had said t”hat in EL there were too many fast food resturants and they didn’t feel it to be cost effective.” I promtly responded, “We have one of the highest grossing T-bells because we have 50,000 people walking through EL every day, and on any given night over 100,000 people in town for a football game”. Within 3 weeks they put a Sonic in Southgate.
I agree that the food isn’t the greatest, but I also feel that with the foot traffic and appitite of city, 2 or even 3 Sonics throughout greater Lansing would be suffiicant.