Super Sonic changes

Sonic Drive-ins in Odessa will soon get a facelift.

According to City of Odessa building permits, renovations are planned at each of the fast-food chain's five Odessa locations, costing $140,000 each.

Mike Abusaab, who's a franchise operator for numerous Sonics in West Texas and New Mexico, said remodeling is already complete at Midland locations and is now being done in Andrews. Work in Odessa will start at the 52nd Street location, taking about two weeks, and move on to other stores after that.

"They're going to have the best looking Sonics in the nation," he said. "Our customers and crew deserve the best."

Gone will be the flat canopy design, replaced by a "half-barrel" shaped canopy in front of the store. Green neon on the restaurants will be replaced by a brighter, longer-lasting, lower-energy light-emitting diode design.

And new LED information displays will be placed on the signs in front of the restaurants, which Abusaab said would replace signs with movable letters that easily fly away.

Sonic's new restaurant in Crane is being built to the new specifications, he said.

The Sonic corporation requires the facelifts every 10 years, Abusaab said.

While it takes time and money to make the changes, Abusaab said they typically lead to double-digit sales increases.

"Every time we've done something like this, the customers react in a positive way," he said.

Abusaab said workers try not to disturb the flow of business during remodeling. About a third of the stalls in the drive-ins will be closed off at a time.

While he welcomes the revenue brought in from the remodeling projects, Gary Vest, economic development director for the Odessa Chamber of Commerce, said the demands corporations put on franchisees can be taxing.

Vest, who once owned four Subway restaurants, said he was forced to remodel a three-year-old restaurant he built from scratch.

"They'll tell you, ‘You've got this amount of time to make these changes,' " Vest said. "The franchisees have to pay for it, and they don't get that money back."

Vest said he has a friend who owns 17 Sonic franchises and is considering selling because of being forced to renovate.

"I've been on both sides of the fence," Vest said. "To the franchisee, it's a lot of negatives. To the store itself, it's a lot of positives."