Why Sonic’s Franchisees Love Their Brand

QSR Magazine:

Like any marriage uniting partners with strong personalities and points of view, the franchisee / franchisor relationship can be a rocky one. But for the past 3 years, Sonic Drive-In’s franchisees have given the chain top scores across the board in our yearly Brand Satisfaction Survey. Achieving such high levels of harmony in even a couple of categories would be considered a major coup by any company.

It is particularly impressive for a company in which 80% of its more than 3,200 units are franchise-owned. So we decided to ask some of the Oklahoma-based fast-feeder’s franchise partners to help us explore some of the philosophies, policies, and programs behind the Sonic satisfaction phenomenon.

In 2005, Sonic franchisees gave their brand an overall satisfaction score of 2.4 based on a scale that valued 1 the best and 5 the worst. At that time, franchisees of other chains in the survey gave their companies an aggregate score of 2.6. By 2007, the gap had dramatically grown, with Sonic earning a 1.8, while the aggregate score was 2.5. More.