The Origins Of Cult-Favorite Fast Food Restaurants: Sonic

Minyanville.com:

If you didn’t know better you might think Sonic Drive-In (SONC) was brand-new, a classic retro-hip joint complete with vintage space-age logo, cool name, and modernist look. In fact Sonic is a kind of fast-food coelacanth, a surviving relic of a bygone era. Sonic may not be any older than McDonald’s (MCD).

But while that mega-chain has evolved from its original post-war style, Sonic still looks like a snapshot of American Graffiti — an impression reinforced by Sonic’s idiosyncratic menu with its Coney Island foot longs, corn dogs, and blue “Ocean Water” drinks. As a franchise operation too, Sonic once exemplified a more innocent retailing age. But finally that all changed — which explains why Sonic is still making waves.

Troy Smith, a former milkman in Shawnee, Oklahoma, opened up Troy’s Pan Full of Chicken restaurant after the war. Full story.