The Haysville Times
By Cathy Loffland
This is Sonic’s second year in a row to be one of the top 12 companies to go to the Sonic games that are held yearly at the National Convention.
“To be one of top 12 stores is a huge honor, especially since we have done this two years in a row,” said Sarah Queen, Haysville Sonic Manager.
The process starts in January and goes through July. In the first part, there are about 2,700 stores participating, hoping to make it to the finals. A secret shopper visits and grades the restaurant on food quality, food safety audits and the speed with which they get the orders out.
After all this is done they narrow the field down to 48 stores and these stores go to the knowledge bowl. The Haysville store missed only three questions at the knowledge bowl.
The top 12 stores go to Vegas for seven days, from September 17–24 for the Sonic games. Each store takes seven people to compete. The trip is all paid for and each team member also receives spending money for the trip. The games last only two of the seven days they are in Vegas, so there are all kinds of activities planned for them the rest of the time. They will get to see David Copperfield and Jay Leno while they are there.
Each store will compete in the team competition, where they have to be able to put out 20 correct, good quality orders in 20 minutes.
Then there is an individual competition and in which they are judged on speed, accuracy and quality in the positions they are trained for.
According to Queen, there are only two stores in this region that have made it. Queen has been the manager for about six months. She started about the same time the contest began.
“I’m extremely proud of my crew. We have practiced, and we do our job right,” said Queen. “This year we are really focused on the team event. In our franchisee of Sonic Restaurant Industries there have been no stores that have medaled in the team event and we want to be the first,” said Queen.
If all three of SRI stores medal, the franchise will double the prize. In the individual games the Gold brings home $2,000, Silver brings home $1,000 and Bronze brings home $500. In the team event the Gold will bring home $5,000.
Last year, Haysville had four people who brought medals home. They were Nick Smith, Gold Medalist on dresser, Anthony Motes, Gold Medalist on Grill, Ricky Smith, Gold Medalist on Swamp (drop fryer), and Tara Smith, Silver Medalist on Switchboard.
The team members for this year are Ricky Smith – Dresser, Wesley Moore – Grill, Michael Rubi – Swamp (drop fryer), Stephanie York – Switchboard, Sarah Queen – team Leader, Jennifer Durham – Fountain Drinks, Haylie Bybee – Carhop.
We want to wish the Haysville team all the luck in Vegas. Bring home some medals!