Is this west Wichita Sonic restaurant the best Sonic in the country? We’ll know soon
Do not try to go to the Sonic at Maple and Tyler in Wichita on Monday before 1 p.m.
The restaurant will be closed — but for a good reason.
The Sonic, which is managed by Addison Klein, did something no other Wichita Sonic has been able to do for at least two decades: qualify for what’s considered the Olympics for Sonic workers.
The restaurant is one of 12 nationwide finalists in the Dr Pepper Sonic Games, a training program that each year since 1994 has awarded the chain’s top restaurants with bragging rights and prizes.
More than 3,000 Sonic restaurants across the United States compete with each other starting in January each year, earning points based on team challenges. Employees must demonstrate their proficiency in fountain drink preparation, order taking, ice cream treat making and more.
The pool is narrowed down through multiple rounds until a Top 12 is identified, and in normal years, the employee teams from those restaurants earn an expense-paid trip to the annual Sonic convention to compete for gold, silver and bronze medals.
That’s changed this year because of COVID-19, and instead, judges will be traveling to the 12 restaurants across the country, testing employees on their skills.
Seven members of Klein’s staff at Maple and Tyler will be competing on Monday. The restaurant is owned by Kinslow Sonic Group, based in Prague, Oklahoma.
No restaurant from Wichita has ever won the competition, though Topeka Sonic restaurants won in 2013 and 2014, and the Oswego Sonic won in 2002. Last year’s winner was a restaurant in Summertown, Tennessee.
This year’s list of Final 12 also includes a restaurant in Oklahoma City and one in Gore, Oklahoma.
Klein said he told his bosses that he was going to get his restaurant in the finals at the beginning of the year, and he’s been working toward it ever since.
Yolanda Perales, the popular assistant manager who has been at the restaurant for four years, said she’s ready for the judges to arrive.
The store’s secret to success, she said, is finding the right people.
“It’s just the employees we have,” she said. “It’s keeping positive employees. They keep it running smoothly.”
The Sonic will reopen on Monday at 1 p.m. Klein said he’ll keep us posted on the results, but they likely won’t be known until October. The Wichita store is the first of the 12 that will be visited by judges.
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 1:02 PM.
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