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Reba McEntire to promote date-night meal at Sonic Drive-InReba McEntire to promote date-night meal at Sonic Drive-In

The quick-service restaurant chain to launch a Chocolate Covered Strawberry Shake as part of a special meal

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

February 8, 2024

2 Min Read
reba mcentire sweetheart meal deal
Reba McEntire is promoting a special meal at Sonic Drive-In.

Sonic Drive-In has tapped Reba McEntire to promote the quick-service chain as a date-night option in the runup to Valentine’s Day in the latest celebrity partnership with restaurants.

The  country singer and actor is highlighting her favorite meal at the 3,500-unit chain, which is a cheeseburger “with everything on it” — at Sonic that means American cheese, crinkle cut pickles, ketchup, onions, mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomatoes — and potato tots. That’s being paired with a new Chocolate Covered Strawberry Shake and being marketed as Reba’s Sweetheart Meal. The new shake is made with strawberries and chocolate flakes spun with vanilla soft serve and garnished with chocolate whipped topping, more chocolate flakes, and a cherry.

The meal is available from Feb. 12 through March 3 at a median price of $10.39.

"My boyfriend Rex and I have known each other since 1991,” McEntire said in a release announcing the marketing campaign. “After getting reacquainted in 2020 at a dinner, he found out I love tots! That started my nickname, ‘Tater Tot.’ My little sister, Susie, gave Rex the name ‘Sugar Tot.’ So now, we’re The Tots! Sugar and Tater.”

“We both love tots, especially at SONIC!” she added. “They are our absolute favorite. We even spent our most memorable Valentine’s Day dinner at SONIC and will do the same this year. We encourage others to make special Valentine’s memories at SONIC this year too! Just like Sugar and Tater.”

Related:Looking back at a year of celebrity/restaurant brand tie-ups

Sonic’s vice president of culinary and menu innovation, Mackenzie Gibson, said in the release that McEntire had often expressed appreciation for the chain, which is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Inspire Brands.

"February is the month to celebrate love, and there’s no better way to do that than with the exclusive Reba’s Sweetheart Meal and the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Shake," Gibson said. "Reba McEntire is a national icon who has regularly shared her love for our craveable menu over the years, and we’ve partnered with her this month to give guests an exclusive, Reba’s date night experience."

This is the latest in an array of recent celebrity promotions for chains, including one in with McDonald’s and DJ and artist Kerwin Frost and another with Dunkin’ and Martha Stewart, both in November, and a collaboration with Taco Bell and Paris Hilton in June.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

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About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
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