The Grenada Area Chamber of Commerce and The Grenada Star spotlights Sonic Drive-In and manager Sam Marascalco as the Business Spotlight for May.
Located at 2005 S. Commerce St., in Grenada, Sonic Drive-In offers friendly service seven days a week.
Marascalco will celebrate his 14th year managing the Grenada-based Sonic this year. The longtime manager says that the recipe for success is customer service.
“We have a friendly staff made up of a number of young, good people,” he said. “I feel like it has a lot to do with our success.”
As of April, there were 3,548 Sonic restaurants across the country. They are ranked according to income. The Grenada restaurant is among the most visited in the country, according to Marascalco.
“Restaurants are ranked on your yearly income,” he said. “When I got here in 2009, it was a $2 million store — that sounds like a lot. The bottom line tells the story after everything is paid. Back then, it was one of the busiest stores, but not where we are today.”
Marascalco recalls a story that owner Glen Young told him while he was in training.
“Glen told me this store had the capability to be a $3 million store,” Marascalco recalled.
In 2011, the restaurant became the top volume store in Mississippi. The store has held that title since that point. After topping the $3 million mark some years later, Marascalco set his sights on another goal.
“Glen and I were talking some years later and I told him wouldn’t it be great if we topped $4 million,” Marascalco said. “He told me, ‘Go ahead big boy, go for it.’”
A new store was built and completed in 2017 – not long after that the store topped the $4 million mark. Following the COVID-19 year of 2020, the Grenada Sonic Drive-In was ranked third in the country in 2021.
“A lot to do with our success was our stimulus checks that people received,” Marascalco said. “People had money and came out and ate — not just at Sonic — but spent money at all retail business.”
Another key to the success of the Sonic is making a quality products for its customers. As manager, Marascalco doesn’t expect to make things like a chili dog one particular way.
“One example, a footlong chili dog may call for two scoops of chili and ours might have three scoops,” he explained. “I’m not a stickler for that. The same thing goes for a lot of products we do. Our customers love the way we do our products.”
Marascalco has also made some subtle changes over the years with their products.
“People visit our store two, three and sometimes four times a day,” he said. “It’s because of our friendly staff and carhops.”
Sonic has more than 20 carhops employed as part of its 60 total employees. Marascalco has Sarah Shipp and Denise Orear to assist him in managing the busy operation.
“I try to find a good, friendly atmosphere person for the carhop position,” Marascalco concluded. “There are a number of people that have been with me for a while, including some that have been here for more than 20 years.”
Hours for Sonic are 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. until 10 p.m.
