Sonic Offers "Summer Of Shakes" To Wow Customers
By Megan Zielinski, contributing writer
Sonic, nation’s largest chain of drive-in restaurants, is bringing 50 new slush and shake flavors to customers this summer, making it the only restaurant in the fast food industry to offer the largest variety of frozen delicacies.
Last summer, Sonic launched the Summer of Shakes with 25 exclusive flavors. Since the success of the program, the company is further expanding options offered. "The wide variety of flavors available during last year's Summer of Shakes was a huge draw for our guests. We, of course, wanted to top our efforts this year by not only introducing new innovative shake options, but by bringing added creativity to our slush offerings, too," says Chef Claes Petersson, VP of product innovation at Sonic. Not only is Sonic broadening the flavor horizon for customers, the company is offering half-off all concoctions during special hours between 2-4 p.m. and any time after 8 p.m. All Sonic restaurants are open from 6 a.m. until midnight.
The company is incorporating new, creative sippable slush flavors including the super-sweet Blue Raspberry Slush with Nerds, and taking a twist on traditional candy favorites with the Cotton Candy Slush, Banana Taffy, and Peach Ring Slush. Adding new flavors to last year’s favorites such as the classic Watermelon, Green Apple, and Cherry gives customers more selections to mix, match and enjoy.
The 25 shake flavor options, including Peanut Butter and Bacon, Coconut Cream Pie, and OREO Caramel all serve as a base for the endless amounts of combinations customers can now create beyond the featured shakes, using unique ingredients like peanut butter, cheesecake, chocolate hazelnut, and jalapenos according to peculiar tastes. Sonic’s smooth real ice cream, made with fresh milk and cream, containing a rich vanilla flavor, is what makes their shakes special and distinct from other restaurants.
The program includes advertising with well-known TV commercials featuring the entertaining two guys in the car, along with social and digital marketing—Sonic Facebook page has nearly 3 million “likes” online. By posting pictures, fans have the opportunity to rave about their favorite shakes and slushes, while Sonic includes personalization into each response.
It all began with a franchisee who experimented with different flavors, as a result of the success the tempting shakes brought to the single restaurant, the idea spiraled into an entire Sonic initiative. It just goes to show that even in a large franchise organization like SONIC, we can partner with our franchisees to encourage innovation, and especially good ideas can be rolled out system-wide to delight customers in all of our markets." The Summer of Shakes is available in all 3,500 drive-ins nationwide.