@drdoggie00 wrote:

@ServiceAward wrote:

There is a trade-off between gathering data from the "average experience" and gathering reliable data that can lead to improvements. That's the case for any mystery shop, which is why they expect guidelines to be followed - even when it may not make sense to us as shoppers. Standardization ensures consistency across all mystery shops. I'm honestly surprised they don't treat it like a lot of the pizza shops (RE: Medium, Hand-tossed, pepperoni only). More variables get introduced when you bring in other complex items, like the onion rings @metro25782 wants. Onion rings take longer to fry than french fries or tots. This can have an impact on the overall time, which is important on this shop. In the onion ring scenario, those going over the data would not know if the 10-minute wait was due to Sonic frying fresh onion rings or if because they were short-staffed and backed up on orders. The Sonic shops focus on core areas like accuracy and speed. Keeping the menu limited ensures they get consistent data that can be compared. This way if a store underperforms, they know how to fix the problem. That's how it is supposed to work, though I wonder if my local Sonic proprietor ignores the feedback he gets. At least they have changed-up the options some and that's good.

I hear you. However, I'm pulling a Supreme Court justice and writing a dissenting opinion. -lol-

At most of my Sonics, when I order a burger, plain fries/tots, and a drink, the carhop is at my window within 90 seconds - no joke- so you know the food is pre-made. To me, that's almost like they're gaming the system and invalidating the timing data. I wish Sonic would emphasize quality (yeah yeah, I know) and freshness (yep, I'm living in a fantasy world) rather than a 30-second microwave button. If they're pre-making burgers and fries/tots, they're likely also pre-making everything else. If that's the case, allowing something like onion rings wouldn't make a difference in their already-skewed timing.

@ServiceAward wrote:

Enjoy your foot long, Doc.

I will swallow it with pleasure, Serve.

@ServiceAward wrote:

I don't think mine pre-makes anything. I almost wish they would. I am going to wait at least 15-20 minutes for my order.

@ServiceAward wrote:

Don't get choked.

@drdoggie00 wrote:

@ServiceAward wrote:

I don't think mine pre-makes anything. I almost wish they would. I am going to wait at least 15-20 minutes for my order.

My kingdom for food that is actually cooked after I order it. It only ever happens at one out-of-town location I hit.

@ServiceAward wrote:

Don't get choked.

Hasn't happened yet, but there's always a first time for everything.

@shopperbob wrote:

All that were built in small towns near me are gone.

@drdoggie00 wrote:

@shopperbob wrote:

All that were built in small towns near me are gone.

Texas is an entirely different animal. Small towns here won't have a grocery store and may only have one gas station and a blinking yellow stop light, but you can count on them having a Sonic or a Dairy Queen (sometimes both.)

Several years ago, I took a six-week road trip up north that covered 21 states. (Everything is "up north" when you're as far south as you can get.) The further north I went, the sparser Sonics got. My traveling companion (who isn't a shopper) noticed and said she was ready to return south because she missed the Sonic ice.

@KokoBWare wrote:

Interesting. Sonic has 3,522 restaurants in the United States. Of these, 942 are in Texas, or 27% of all Sonics.

Oklahoma is a distant second with 268 Sonics.

San Antonio is the city with the most Sonics. It has 44 of them. Wow.

[www.scrapehero.com]

@drdoggie00 wrote:

Well, the new Sonics have dropped.

Unfortunately, none of them dropped near me. -wails-

@shopnyc wrote:

I've never eaten at a Sonic, nor even seen one. I generally don't eat fast food and only do fast food shops if I am not required to eat the food and report on the taste. Is their food decent? Just curious.

@luckymoose11 wrote:

You don't have to eat the whole thing, one bite is enough to tell you if you like it or not. You could actually just taste it and spit it out.