Pros

Money... lots of it. A few years ago the pay structure for management was set up to reward on performance. Keep your controllables in line and increase sales and you got rewarded nicely. I've heard recently some of the bonus programs were capped or taken away though.

I met some of the greatest people ever working at that store. Many I still talk to even though its been years and I am miles away.

Cons

Work hours. For that great pay you have to sacrifice a lot of things. Health, friends, family, hapiness, vacations, etc. The job became your life if you wanted to make money. 6 sometimes 7 day workweeks. Working open to close or closing then having to open. Don't even think about asking for a weekend off either.

Career carhops. Most managers loved to see an application from a person that said they had carhop experience. But when you've worked at 7 Sonics in the past 4 years there is a problem. That was an instant sign of a bad employee.

Advice to Senior Management

Again mixed reviews here. There are some people really high up that know what they are doing. There are also some people really high up that are there just because of tenure, not experience. Get everyone on the same page. But lets take baby steps first and try to get everyone on the same book, worry about the page later.

Hold upper management accountable, even down to district managers. If I was shorthanded or had a few problem employees, I was in the store working it. But I find it odd that you have managing partners not getting the job done or not even being in the store and the district supervisor is relaxing at home or pulling managers from other stores to cover. I also find it odd when district supervisors aren't getting the job done but regional supervisors are on the golf course pulling other supervisors to cover. You held me accountable for my employees yet you don't even hold yourselves accountable for yours.

Rethink how much you are sacrificing just to make stock value go up a few cents a quarter. Yes it has gone up, split, gone up, split, but eventually you will have some plateaus and valleys. Marketing and sales strategies were key. Trying to cut labor hours, dropping starting pay all across the board at store level, and taking away bonuses just to bring a few extra bucks to the bottom line isn't the answer. Its possible to keep increasing sales to help the bottom line, but you cannot keep cutting pay. BTW, going to SMS and seeing the nice corporate offices and all the extremely nice cars in the parking lot doesn't go over well with managers.

Not all stores are the same. Just because you tested something in Nowheresville USA with great results means it will have great results in major metropolitan areas. And vice versa. Also, you probably can pay carhops 3.13 an hour in Nowheresville as well as managers 8 dollars an hour. But don't try and set that as the company standard. Some dishwashers make 10-12 dollars an hour in big cities.

Finally, stop changing the menu! Do you listen to the customers? Are they asking you to change combo numbers every 6 months and design a menu that has no order to it at all? Cause I never met anyone like that. I don't know if you corporate people have ever travled outside of Oklahoma before. But out on the west coast there is this business that only sells 3 things. It has a huge following and the quality is great. There are 240 locations and it is a privately owned company. They start their employees way over minimum wage. Well above its competition. It's a burger joint called In-N-Out. 3 items, high paid employees, successful bussiness. Judging from the Sonic stock price I guess if you want to run a successful bussiness, do the opposite of whatever Sonic is doing.