OKLAHOMA CITY First-quarter profit at Sonic Corp. was slashed nearly in half from a year ago as sales for the 3,500-unit drive-in chain fell victim to consumer pressures.
Sonic said Wednesday it hoped to reverse the results partly with its new $1 value menu, which it introduced just prior to New Year’s Day.
“The economic environment continues to weigh heavily on consumer discretionary spending,” said Clifford Hudson, Sonic’s chairman and chief executive. “We have responded to the current downturn … by taking a more strategic approach to pricing to provide our customers broader choices at different price points.”
Net income for the quarter ended Nov. 30 totaled $7.1 million, or 12 cents per share, compared with earnings of $13.6 million, or 22 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenues in the latest quarter fell 3.2 percent to $184.1 million. Systemwide same-store sales fell 3.6 percent and same-store sales at what Sonic calls partner drive-ins, or locations in which the company owns a majority interest, fell 6.6 percent.
Sonic refranchised 17 drive-ins in two markets during the quarter, it said, as part of its long-term goal to reduce the percentage of partner drive-ins from about 20 percent of the system to a range of between 12 percent and 14 percent.
During the first quarter, Sonic opened 39 new drive-ins and relocated or rebuilt 21 locations.
