• Investment Required
• Investment Level: $ 125 K
• Training and Support: Yes

Just because Troy's first restaurant attempts faded away, that simply didn't mean that his dream of owning a restaurant had to fade as well. Troy developed his ultimate dream concept, which was to own a fancy steak house in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Next door to his steak house there was a root beer stand that Troy used to make a little bit of extra money. Only it turned out that the root beer stand actually became more profitable than his steak house concept. The Root beer stand, known as The Top Hat, was a cash only business that served cooked to order hotdogs and hamburgers. Troy continued to look for ways that he could improve his business, and the improvements that he implemented earned him a place in the history of American fast food.

While traveling in Louisiana at one point, Troy noticed a homemade intercom speaker set at a hamburger stand, which allowed customers to order from their cars. Inspired, Troy contacted the inventor of the system, requesting a customized system for the Top Hat root beer stand. A couple of local electronics wizards known as the jukebox boys helped to install the new speaker system. A new canopy was also added so that cars could park beneath it, and servers known as Carhops were hired to deliver the food directly to the waiting cars. This was where the concept for Sonic was born, because the new intercom boosted sales at the Top Hat to an enormous $1,750 a week.

In 1956, a man by the name of Charlie Pappe was so impressed with the Top Hat restaurant that he opened the second Drive-In Top Hat location in Woodward, Oklahoma, his hometown. A location in Stillwater, Oklahoma was the first Top Hat Drive-In to become a "Sonic" drive-in restaurant, and still exists today serving frozen favorites, root beer and hot dogs on the same site.

Today, all Sonic locations are Sonic franchise businesses, because the drive-in operators are all part owners of the Sonic franchise locations that they run. Troy believes this makes an exceptional difference in the success of a business. Sonic franchise locations have been springing up all over the United States for a number of years now, in response to a growing popularity in Sonic franchise ownership. Today there are 3,290 Sonic franchise locations spread across 34 states, plus an additional Sonic franchise restaurant location in Mexico.

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