News
Sonic Drive-In founder Troy Smith Sr. dies
October 27, 2009
Troy N. Smith Sr., co-founder of the root beer stand that later become Sonic, America's Drive-In, died Monday at the age of 87.
His daughter, Leslie Baugh, confirmed his death, and said her father had been in declining health recently, according to a news release.
Born in 1922, Smith grew up in the oil patch in east central Oklahoma and attended Mountain View School and Seminole High School. He married Dollie Twiggs in 1940 before going into the Army Air Corps in 1943.
After World War II ended, Smith returned to Oklahoma to Dollie and his two small children, and began driving a milk truck then a bread truck route, as he pursued a desire to own his own business. Between 1948 and 1953, Smith tried his hand at operating various restaurant concepts in Shawnee, Okla., including a small diner called The Cottage Cafe and then a larger restaurant called Troy's Grill. A loyal Troy's Grill customer asked Smith to co-own a root beer stand and convert an old log home located on the same property into an upscale steakhouse.
After five years operating both restaurants, Smith realized that high-end restaurants might earn more gross revenue, but profits were limited. The Top Hat had profit margins four times greater than those of the steakhouse. In 1955, Smith ended his partnership and got out of the Log House Restaurant. Smith eventually put all of his efforts into the root beer stand and discovered the then-new drive-in concept was a better way to make money in the restaurant business.
Smith focused on turning his Top Hat root beer stand into a successful drive-in concept. During this time, he pioneered the use of angled and covered parking, along with an intercom speaker system that allowed customers to place orders from their cars. "Service With the Speed of Sound," became the tagline for the Top Hat.
Over the next six years, Smith, in partnership with Charlie Pappe of Woodward, Okla., opened Top Hats in three other Oklahoma communities, Stillwater, Woodward and Enid. The Top Hat concept took off and the pair found themselves fielding queries from interested entrepreneurs who wanted the chance to run their own businesses. An attempt to copyright the Top Hat name in 1958 failed so Smith and Pappe looked up "speed of sound" in the dictionary and discovered the word "sonic."
The first Top Hat to adopt the fledgling chain's new name of Sonic was the drive-in located in Stillwater. From that point on, Sonic Drive-Ins began popping up in small towns throughout Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Arkansas. Today, there are nearly 3,600 Sonic Drive-Ins located in 42 states. Smith's last position with Sonic was chairman emeritus of its board of directors, a position he held since 1991.
He is survived by his wife of almost 70 years, Dollie, his daughter, Leslie Baugh, his son, Troy "Butch" Smith Jr., eight grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.
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