2026 FDD Item 19, p. 72
Sonic Drive-In Franchise Revenue (2026 FDD)
In Item 19 of its 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, Sonic Drive-In reports average AUV - All Franchised Restaurants of $1,552,145 (December 30, 2024 to December 28, 2025, 3,057 eligible U.S. franchised Traditional Restaurants, including C-Stores; excludes first-year openings, extended closures, nontraditional/multi-brand locations and specified late-year company-to-franchise transfers). The figures below are selected disclosures, not a substitute for reading the full Item 19.
Startup cost: a Sonic Drive-In franchise costs an estimated $1,485,200 – $2,522,900 to open (Item 7). See the full Sonic Drive-In franchise cost breakdown.
Does Sonic Drive-In’s Item 19 show profit or owner pay?
No. Sonic Drive-In’s Item 19 reports sales but no profit, costs or owner pay. Rent, payroll, supplies, loan payments and Item 6 fees come out of sales before an owner is paid, so these figures cannot show what an owner earns.
What Sonic Drive-In discloses (Item 19)
Source: Sonic Drive-In 2026 FDD, Item 19, PDF p. 72.
| Figure | Value | Period | Based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average AUV - All Franchised Restaurants | $1,552,145 | December 30, 2024 to December 28, 2025 | 3,057 eligible U.S. franchised Traditional Restaurants, including C-Stores; excludes first-year openings, extended closures, nontraditional/multi-brand locations and specified late-year company-to-franchise transfers (Item 19, PDF p. 72) |
| Median AUV - All Franchised Restaurants | $1,465,090 | December 30, 2024 to December 28, 2025 | 3,057 eligible U.S. franchised Traditional Restaurants, including C-Stores; excludes first-year openings, extended closures, nontraditional/multi-brand locations and specified late-year company-to-franchise transfers (Item 19, PDF p. 72) |
| Highest AUV - All Franchised Restaurants | $4,800,647 | December 30, 2024 to December 28, 2025 | 3,057 eligible U.S. franchised Traditional Restaurants, including C-Stores; excludes first-year openings, extended closures, nontraditional/multi-brand locations and specified late-year company-to-franchise transfers (Item 19, PDF p. 72) |
| Lowest AUV - All Restaurants Row (Source Discrepancy) | $255,308 | December 30, 2024 to December 28, 2025 | 3,057 eligible U.S. franchised Traditional Restaurants; All Restaurants row prints $255,308 but the fourth-quartile row prints $225,308, requiring source confirmation (Item 19, PDF p. 72) |
Item 19 sample and definitions
Annual Unit Volume (AUV) means annual Gross Sales, not income after expenses. Fiscal 2025 runs December 30, 2024-December 28, 2025. The 3,057 sample includes eligible C-Stores but excludes nontraditional and multi-brand restaurants, partial-year openings, extended temporary closures, specified December company-to-franchise transfers, all restaurants closed during the year and year-end company restaurants. Reports and POS data were not independently audited or given a CPA opinion. The All Restaurants row's $255,308 lowest AUV differs from $225,308 in the fourth quartile; the former is retained as that row's printed value, not asserted as a resolved system minimum. The drive-through-description counts also total the wider year-end population rather than the stated earnings sample. Venue-specific averages/medians are not pooled or substituted for the all-eligible sample. PDF pp. 70-73.
How to interpret Sonic Drive-In’s Item 19 figures and sample limits · What Item 19 does and does not show about owner pay.
A source check placed this record on review hold. Automatic fee estimates are withheld until the outstanding issues are resolved. Reported sales are not owner income.
Scope of these figures: The selected Sonic Drive-In disclosures above retain their recorded periods and samples. The lead figure covers 3,057 eligible U.S. franchised Traditional Restaurants, including C-Stores; excludes first-year openings, extended closures, nontraditional/multi-brand locations and specified late-year company-to-franchise transfers. They do not establish take-home owner income or the results of a new outlet. Read the linked Item 19 for the franchisor's definitions and exclusions.
Full Sonic Drive-In franchise cost breakdown · Payback calculator (enter your own assumptions)
Sources
Sonic Franchising LLC Franchise Disclosure Document, issued March 26, 2026, as filed with the Minnesota Commerce (CARDS). Read the source FDD PDF. How to get this FDD yourself.
- Item 5: cited PDF p. 28
- Item 6: cited PDF p. 30
- Item 7: cited PDF p. 37
- Item 19: cited PDF p. 72
- Item 20: cited PDF p. 79
- Agreement term (Item 17): cited PDF p. 66
Page references for Sonic Drive-In use the PDF viewer's digital page count, not printed page headers. Some viewers download the document instead of opening the referenced page.
If the state document viewer does not open, use Minnesota Commerce's public filing instructions to look up the filing by franchisor name and document date.
Document & verification changelog
- October 29, 2026: Record updated.
- October 28, 2026: Source review hold recorded. Unresolved corrections are listed in this source section.
- October 9, 2026: Provisional publication approved per owner directive: Owner-directed provisional publication before independent source verification was complete.
- October 9, 2026: Initial cost profile published from the 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document (issued March 26, 2026).