Sonic Drive-Ins are a staple of fast dining in the Midwest, but a recent crack-down on many of the restaurants across the country has proven disastrous for select Topeka restaurants, especially ones suffering from a lack of quality employees.
“Listen, I know I’m the manager, but I think it’s unfair to blame me for this mess,” claims Christine Anderson, who runs one of the restaurants being threatened with a forceful closure by the Sonic higher-ups. “It’s the employees that are ruining our brand, but when your only options are bad employees or no employees, you have to learn to make do.”
Christine’s Sonic Drive-In has been flagged for unclean stalls, sloppy food, and employees swearing within earshot of the customers, among other things.
“They’re keeping the business alive, but at what cost?” she asked Channel 33 News reporters. “Now they might be the one reason why the whole restaurant is shut down. You wanna know what happened yesterday? I went to the restroom at Sonic, and one of the employees must’ve left the door unlocked, because there I saw him, smoking weed in the bathroom. Smoking. Weed. In the goddamn bathroom. Of course I didn’t fire him, he’s the only one who knows how to work the ice cream machines.”
Christine’s Sonic Drive-In is one of four Topeka locations being threatened with closure, and as of now, it seems as though none of them have any other choice.
“It’s either get new staff, or close for good,” Christine explained. “I really did try to entice people, too. Remember the Sonic Clown?”
The Sonic Clown was a local performer who appeared at Topekan high school career fairs from 2017 until COVID-19 hit, and he hasn’t been brought back since. Whether the Sonic Clown was successful at garnering interest in the restaurant is still unknown.
Unfortunately, at this rate, Topekans might have to say goodbye to some of their favorite drive-ins.