Sonic Corp. debuted this month a new research and development kitchen and innovation center at its headquarters in Oklahoma City.
The Sonic Culinary Innovation Center includes a flexible kitchen to test existing and new equipment and menu items; a 40-seat room for presentations, meetings, consumer research and even dinners; a six-seat bar area for smaller meetings and product testing; and cameras to broadcast training, food demonstrations and interviews.
“The whole idea of the culinary center is to make sure we are prepared for the future,” said Claes Petersson, Sonic’s vice president of research, development and packaging innovation, during a tour of the facility. “Our goal is to have a pipeline of products that’s one to two years or more ahead.”
The innovation center covers about 3,500 square feet in the northwest corner on the first floor of Sonic’s headquarters building. Before opening the center this month, much product and consumer testing was done at a working Sonic unit next door to the corporate headquarters, in the Bricktown section of Oklahoma City.
“We’ve invested more than $1 million into the new Culinary Innovation Center to ensure our chefs have access to some of the best equipment in one of the nicest facilities in the industry,” Clifford Hudson, Sonic’s chairman, president and chief executive, said in prepared remarks.
Hear more about menu innovation from Petersson >>
Petersson noted: “We’ve been able to build a kitchen that is functional for everybody at the same time, and we can work together in a much better way.” He added that it is also a good facility for his research and development team to meet with equipment, food and packaging vendors.
“We work very hard in this kitchen to make it easy on our drive-ins. … This kitchen allows us to focus on those little details that make it easier for them,” Mackenzie Gibson, the innovation team chef who oversees the brand’s breakfast, ice cream and drink programs, said.
For example, the innovation team was working on new biscuits and testing new ovens for breakfast items, which would expand the chain’s existing burrito and Toaster Sandwich lines, Gibson said.
“This is an opportunity for us to step back and produce a product that would be heads and tails about our competition,” she said.
Just last month, the 3,500-unit drive-in chain expanded its already extensive beverage menu with the introduction of lower-calorie, less-sweet sodas to its predominantly franchised system.
New Splash Hand-Crafted Sodas were introduced in five options, using flavorings that Sonic already carries, and thus adding no new stock-keeping units to its system.
Petersson said Sonic already has 1.3 million possible drink combinations, and Splash expands the appeal to more health-conscious consumers. Flavorings and fruit are added to carbonated water, and the drinks have between zero and 50 calories per 8-ounce serving.
“My most important mission is to make sure that we’re prepared for what’s next, what’s around the corner,” Petersson said.
During its Aug. 31-ended fourth quarter, Sonic reported that profit rose 54.3 percent, to $18.8 million, or 34 cents a share, from $12.2 million, or 21 cents a share, the same period last year. Revenue rose 3.1 percent, to $163.8 million, from $158.8 million in the prior-year quarter.
Systemwide same-store sales increased 4.6 percent, with comps at franchised drive-ins rising 4.5 percent and growing 4.9 percent at company-owned units.
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