where was the first sonic drive in located
Woodward, Oklahoma
title: Sonic Drive-In text: the cars. Smith borrowed several automobiles from a friend who owned a used-car lot to establish a layout for controlled parking. He also had some so-called "jukebox boys" come in and wire an intercom system in the parking lot. Sales immediately tripled. Charles Woodrow Pappe, an entrepreneur, chanced upon the Shawnee drive-in and was impressed. He and Smith negotiated the first franchise location in Woodward, Oklahoma, in 1956, based on nothing more than a handshake. By 1958, two more drive-ins were built, in Enid and Stillwater. Upon learning that the Top Hat name was already trademarked, Smith and Pappe changed title: Sonic Drive-In text: 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. In 1967, the year Pappe died, there were 41 drive-ins. By 1972, this number had risen to 165, and by 1978, . In 1968, Sonic introduced the Pickle-O's, fried pickle slices. In 1977, the company established the Sonic School for manager training. Franchisees operated most of the drive-ins and often made the store manager a business partner, even to this day. In 1983, the company's board of directors hired C. Stephen Lynn as president, title: Sonic Drive-In text: new image that would make Sonic a nationally recognized name. In 1986, Lynn, with a group of investors, completed a $10-million leveraged buyout and took the company private. The next year, Sonic moved its offices to leased space at 120 Robert S. Kerr Avenue in downtown Oklahoma City and began to assume a higher profile in the community. In 1991, Sonic became a publicly traded company again. By 1994, the corporation had renegotiated the franchise agreements with its franchisees. In 1995, Hudson became president and chief executive officer, and Sonic Industries became Sonic Corp. During the mid-1990s, Sonic opened 100–150 title: Sonic Drive-In text: to work delivering bread because bread was not as heavy as milk. Soon afterwards, Smith purchased the Cottage Cafe, a little diner in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Before long, he sold it and opened a fast food restaurant, Troy's Pan Full of Chicken, on the edge of town. In 1953, Smith went in with a business partner to purchase a five-acre parcel of land that had a log house and a walk-up root beer stand, already named the Top Hat. The two men continued with the operation of the root beer stand and converted the log house into a steak restaurant. After title: Sonic Drive-In text: In October 2004, President Pattye Moore stepped down to spend more time with her family. On June 28, 2005, helped by new menu items and increased advertising exposure, Sonic Corp. reported double-digit increases in net income and revenue in the third quarter that year. On January 5, 2005, the company started to roll out card readers in the drive-in stalls at its 544 company-owned restaurants by the end of January that year. In 2007, the company opened its first restaurants in the Northeastern U.S., in New Jersey. In 2009, Sonic partnered with DonorsChoose.org on a collaborative effort, Limeades for Learning,