73-year-old Sonic Drive-In chain shuts down over 70 locations

Sonic Drive-In keeps closing restaurants and it’s steadily closing more.

About two miles from my home, from the main road, you can see the iconic Sonic Drive-In marquee. That was a pretty exciting sight, as I like a good slush or milkshake as much as anyone, but once you get a little closer, you see that the sign says “closed forever” under the logo.

That sign has become increasingly common as 56 Sonic locations closed in 2025, according to data from Franchise Investor Data (FID).

In addition, local news reports show that at least 18 more locations have permanently closed in 2026.

That’s perhaps a drop in the bucket for a chain with more than 3,300 U.S. locations, but it’s a blow to both the franchise operators that opened the locations and the customers served by the ones that have closed.

Sonic Drive-In is a pricey franchise

“Sonic Drive-In is a premium QSR franchise requiring a total investment of $1.5 million to $2.5 million, placing it among the higher-cost opportunities in the sector,” FID reported.

Owners do generally make money.

“The typical payback period for a Sonic Drive-In franchise is 6.3-10.6 years… with estimated owner earnings of $237,000 a year,” FID wrote. “Most locations reach monthly break-even within 20-30 months; full recovery of invested capital takes longer.”

FID did note that there’s a pretty wide disparity between the average unit value (AUV), measure of gross annual sales, between top performers and weaker ones.

“Top-quartile units run $2.3 million AUV against $920,000 in the bottom quartile — a 2.5x spread on the same brand, same fees, same buildout. Payback follows the quartile you land in, not the logo,” the site added.

Sonic Drive-in traces its roots back to 1953 when Troy N. Smith Sr. opened the original walk-up root beer stand that became the foundation of the chain. It was originally called the Top Hat Drive-In, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.

Confirmed 2026 Sonic Drive-In closures

RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino thinks that while it’s not a widespread problem, Sonic is suffering from rivals homing in on part of its concept.

“Sonic has always had a fun concept. Pull up, order a burger, have someone bring it to your car. But nostalgia only gets people there so often. Today, every fast-food chain is fighting over convenience, price and speed. Sonic has to give customers a reason to make that extra stop, and a cherry limeade alone may not be enough,” he told TheStreet.

To counter intense fast-food competition, the chain has increasingly leaned on promotional pricing, including limited-time combo options like the $7 Big Deal Meal and $9 Big Deal Meal. The drive-in brand also maintains an ongoing $1.99 menu, which includes selections such as the Single Grilled Cheese Burger and Small Jumbo Popcorn Chicken.

While the pace seems to be slower than last year, Sonic has closed at least 18 locations in 2026. Those locations include:

• Texarkana, Texas: The 2723 N. Stateline Ave. store closed for good on April 19, according to the Texarkana Gazette.
• Sun Prairie, Wisconsin: The 2564 Ironwood Dr. store closed June 7 and is being replaced by a car wash, leaving one Sonic in the whole state, reported HNG News.
• Lenexa, Kansas: The 15745 W. 87th St. store, Lenexa’s only Sonic, closed July 12, according to the Johnson County Post.
• Fort Mill, South Carolina: The 3039 Highway 160 store near Tega Cay was boarded up by Aug. 16, and the property was listed for sale or lease, reported the Fort Mill Sun.
• San Antonio: The 4318 Vance Jackson Rd. store is boarded up, with a sign pointing customers to Castle Hills. San Antonio had at least 37 Sonics in February, according to Yahoo News.
• Stoughton, Massachusetts: The 630 Washington St. store is gone, leaving Peabody as the only Sonic in the Boston area. Lawrence and Wilmington closed earlier, NBC Boston reported.
• Store Closure Watch counts 18 Sonic closures total in 2026, 9 of them added in October. The site shows seven locations closed in Texas, three in Florida, another three in Kansas, two in Ohio, and one in Wisconsin. (That leaves two of the 18 unaccounted for, but some data from Store Closure Watch is behind a paywall and not accessible.)

The site shared its methodology for tracking closures.

“Sonic Drive-In listed about 3,350 store pages on its own site in September 2026. We check that list weekly. When a store page is missing from two consecutive checks we test the page directly, and we drop the candidate if it is still serving a live store listing. Most records in the file come from news reports, WARN notices and court filings, not from this check,” the site explained.

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