Sonic Corporation

[RadicalModerate]

That was a great post. Still, I wonder . . . Has Sonic REALLY deteriorated that much over the years? (honest question, no snark implied or intended).
Personally, I think their offerings are as good or better than they ever were, but I should mention that I only eat at Sonic maybe once every two months (and I tip the carhop). Besides that, their commercials are some of the best on TV. =)

Please be advised that my observations regarding a non-slide in the quality of Sonic overall does not apply to the location at 122nd and Penn. It was bad when it opened and has only gone downhill from there. (of course, to be fair, I never go to that one but rather the one on Britton Rd or the one on N. May so my opinion in this context may not be completely accurate--as compared to my normal opinion =)

"It's Just Burgers" . . .
(classic: should be a motto to live by. or a bumpersticker.
perhaps, in order to create a taste of ConFusion Cuisine, even a Zen Mantra! =)

[SoonerDave]

That was a great post. Still, I wonder . . . Has Sonic REALLY deteriorated that much over the years? (honest question, no snark implied or intended).
Personally, I think their offerings are as good or better than they ever were, but I should mention that I only eat at Sonic maybe once every two months (and I tip the carhop). Besides that, their commercials are some of the best on TV. =)

Please be advised that my observations regarding a non-slide in the quality of Sonic overall does not apply to the location at 122nd and Penn. It was bad when it opened and has only gone downhill from there. (of course, to be fair, I never go to that one but rather the one on Britton Rd or the one on N. May so my opinion in this context may not be completely accurate--as compared to my normal opinion =)

"It's Just Burgers" . . .
(classic: should be a motto to live by. or a bumpersticker.
perhaps, in order to create a taste of ConFusion Cuisine, even a Zen Mantra! =)

LOL thanks Rad

I really do believe Sonic has deteriorated in all honesty. Now, its easy to develop that one opinion over a single data point, and I fully understand one data point does not a conclusion make. But with kids/teenagers that like drinks (esp in the summer) and activities often necessitate quick if less-than-ideal meals, we happen to frequent several Sonics around our area, and we see the problems fairly consistently.

Simple example: The fries and tater tots used to be great, but now are seemingly always undercooked. Okay, one store at one time, in a rush, they pull the things out of the fire too soon. That happens. But from store to store to store, we observe the same level of "undercookedness." To me, that's a pattern.

A few years ago, Sonic started using these "puffy" buns that dwarfed the meat, were never toasted, and were sometimes refrigerator cold -- again, at multiple Sonics. A supplier changed, I presume, that affected several places, and the bun was so "poofy" all you could taste in the burger was the bread. All that, coupled with wrong orders, slow service (which I won't go into detail about here) we just decided to go somewhere else. It wasn't more than a few months after that they started a campaign about their "improved food, bigger and better burgers.." As much as I'd LOVE to think that was JUST because of me , I know that a campaign like that had to emerge from their own feedback/research that told them they had a quality problem. And it did, in fact, improve. For a while. But that appears to have been temporary.

Now, as I said, my dietary wisdom has increased greatly over the last 18 months, and I haven't had a decent burger in that span (58 pounds ago!) so my recent experience with Sonic has decreased. But we do go there for things like (some) drinks and grilled chicken sandwiches...but we still finding the same inconsistency, wrong orders, cold food, hit-and-miss, slow service that was their bane before, so I just do what most consumers would do, vote with my feet and my dollars....just go somewhere else if I can.