Sonic 2009 Annual Report Download - page 5

With this shift, we will build on key attributes
that Sonic customers have come to associate with
Sonic – a smiling Carhop delivering high-quality,
distinctive food made the way you want it.
To ensure that our service initiatives are
successful, we have implemented a customer
feedback tool known as FanTrak, which has helped
us identify what is important to our consumers and
deliver on those key areas. Their feedback gives us
the opportunity to refine our products and services
so as to increase the likelihood they will return,
deepen their loyalty to our brand and ultimately
spend more with us each time they return. Based
on their feedback, our service has improved
substantially this past year, but the improvements
won’t end there. We continue to look for ways to
take our service to a higher level, and surprise and
delight our customers as only Sonic can do.
On a separate note, as it relates to our Partner
Drive-Ins (those in which we own a majority
interest), we successfully completed our
refranchising efforts of approximately 200 Partner
Drive-Ins in a much shorter time than we
anticipated. We originally expected that this
initiative would take several years, but the lion’s
share of it was completed within 12 months!
In addition, our remaining Partner Drive-Ins
have new leadership, a senior industry executive,
Omar Janjua. Omar has more than 25 years of
experience in the industry on both company-owned
and franchised operations, including management
of major national brands and settings. We are very
pleased to have Omar on board. Our Partner Drive-
Ins have accounted for the greatest shortfall of the
company’s performance in the last year, and my
belief and expectation is that the impact of Omar’s
management talents will begin to bear fruit in
calendar 2010.
One of the brightest spots in the development
of our brand is in our new markets. As a result of
several years of national advertising, virtually every
time we have opened a drive-in in a new market in
the past year, we have seen explosive results. This
has been true from San Diego to Boston and Oregon
to Pennsylvania. We are very pleased with our new
customers’ embrace of our brand in new markets,
and intend to continue the development of new
markets, which more and more is making up a
larger portion of the growth of our brand.
It is fair to say our brand is one in transition - in
an exciting way as it relates to new markets, but in
a more subtle way as to the concept itself. The
same thing can be said for our company in that it is
in transition related to the operation of our own
drive-ins, as well as a refinement of our approach to
franchising. We remain confident that the long-term
potential of our brand has its best years ahead, and
that we will continue to build toward becoming
America’s most-loved restaurant brand.
Finally, as I prepared this letter for the annual
report, our founder, Troy Smith Sr., passed away.
Troy was 87 and began the business in 1953. What
a life he led and what a friend we will miss. Troy
was a wonderful fellow who continued to see the
upside all of his life, even as difficulties abounded.
We’ve included more information about him in the
latter portion of this annual report, but I’d like to
share his insight from a recent conversation. In
September I sat down with Troy to learn from him,
among other things, his perspective about
weathering the stormy economic times. His
comment to me was, “Take care of the customers
and the business will take care of itself.” Troy, we
take your words to heart.
And to you, our stockholder, as you review this
year’s annual report, I believe you’ll agree, it’s no
wonder we see opportunity!
Sincerely,
It is fair to say our brand is one in transition -
in an exciting way as it relates to new markets,
but in a more subtle way as to the concept itself.
3