Here’s How Much Sonic Employees Really Make

Here’s How Much Sonic Employees Really Make

Sonic Drive-In may be a household name now but that wasn’t always the case. Guess what! Sonic first began as a root beer stand before growing into a bunch of car-to-kitchen eateries called Top Hat (via Delish.) And in 1959, when the brand’s founder Troy Smith figured out that Top Hat had already been trademarked by someone else, he chose to go with the name, Sonic instead. The name matched the brand’s tagline which read, “Service at the Speed of Sound.”

Today, the brand has as many as 3,500 outlets in 44 states across the country. According to Sonic, working at the chain has its fair share of perks. A description on the brand’s website reads, “Not to put the cherry in our own Limeade, but Sonic has a great reputation for growing careers. Seriously, next time you’re at your local Sonic, ask the manager how she or he started.” The description further states that the brand helps you grow professionally, no matter what your future goals are. But what if your goal is to make a lot of money working at Sonic? How much do employees get paid, and what’s it like to work there?

It’s a mix of good and bad

As per Indeed, carhops make an average of $8.88 per hour, but this obviously isn’t a hard and fast rule. For example, a commenter on Reddit offered some perspective when they wrote, “Speaking of tips, carhops make tip wage. This is code for you make way less an hour but the tips make up for it. Our hops make $3 an hour. Which seems sh** but after tips, it’s not uncommon for them to come out to $10+ an hour.” While a few Sonic locations do pay their carhops a normal wage, others basically treat them like tipped employees who receive below minimum wage. Based on salaries reported to Indeed, a cook makes around $9 an hour. Interesting, eh?

Also, if you’re working as a carhop at Sonic Drive-In, you usually need to invest in your own pair of skates. And because such a major part of your requires you to skate around the restaurant without losing your calm, most would say it’s worth buying a pair of high-quality skates.

An employee at a Sonic outlet did an AMA on Reddit about working at the fast food outlet. A commenter noted that the managers “make or break” things in terms of efficiency at the restaurant and how smoothly things run. The original poster added, “I’d add to that: communication. If you are not talking to your kitchen crew when you need something dropped, stocked, etc., you are bound to fail.”