New Middleton Sonic Drive-In "A Dinosaur" - Sustainable Times

George Zens, proprietor of the terrific regional newspaper Sustainable Times, does not like the new Middleton Sonic Drive-In, which at times has had customers' cars backed up along University Avenue and into the adjoining neighborhood. Zens went into full rant mode:

Sonic, of course, is an anachronism, a dinosaur, in fact, a symbol of much that is wrong with the way we do things. Its business model is to sell junk food to people who are too lazy to get out of their cars: it’s either drive-thru or drive-in.

I have to admit, I was secretly amused to see the three first commandments of our modern society so blatantly united in one single location:

1) Eat junk food, lots of it; it’s cheap and has all the food groups the average American wants: salt, sugar, fat.

2) Let’s not move more than we have to; drive everywhere; don’t get out of the car unless we really, really have to go make room for more junk food.

3) Let the car engine idle while we fatten up; gas is cheap again anyway, and isn’t that why our soldiers die in the Middle East: to protect our oil supplies, so we can waste gasoline here? And let’s not worry about air pollution: with that way of life, we won’t live long enough to see its consequences. Our children might. Unless they sit in the car with us getting schooled in the same way of life.

You gotta admit, Zens has a point, especially when you consider all the great locally-owned alternatives to the Oklahoma-based Sonic. Zens just doesn't complain; he offers three alternate commandments:

1) Eat good food locally.
2) Get out of the car and move.
3) Shut off the engine.
It’s better for our health, our environment and our wallets.

No argument with that.

(No, I haven't tried their famous cherry limeade yet.  It's just Sprite, lime juice, cherries and cherry flavor; 340 cal for large and 458 cal for the "Route 44" size.)

(Yes, this franchise is owned by one of the guys that ran the late lamented Mad Dogs Chicago-Style Eatery whose dogs Paul graded with a B- and happily ate. Can't imagine Paul will approve of Sonic's dogs, which are billed as chili cheese Coneys.)

- Barry Orton

Comments

[Molly]

Sonic? Bleah!~

You midwesterners are missin' out.

If you're going to go whole hog - go here:

http://www.in-n-out.com/

[Pete de la Guardia]

There are people in this convoluted culture that would have us all living in a cardboard box and celebrate a brave not-so-new concept that humans need to either languish in pain in their everyday toils, or just plain die for the good of the planet (humans are a virus that need to be fumigated don't you know?). That being said, there is a Sonic in Texas (my wife was transferred to Dallas years ago and we had, yes had, to live there for 10 years) that still owes me a chocolate Sunday. You see the 15 year olds that worked the Sonic in Texas culture could not understand I wanted chocolate syrup as apposed to chocolate fudge. After getting two wrong interpretations of the "Wisconsin chocolate Sunday" we finally surrendered, gave up, and left the drive-in, and eventually Texas, and rode off into the Lone-star sunset in my big gas-guzzling Wisconsin (and transferable to Texas culture) Ford pick-up truck.
None-the-less, in this new Second World (an impoverished, totalitarian nation with nukes) American society where upwards of a million people have been laid off in the last year, and millions more work quasi-jobs with no benefits (we have a whole generation that has never experienced a weekend off and/or earn just above minimum wage if we work at all), (complements of both Democrats and Republicans - two-party paradigm), Madison elitists whine over a lousy hamburger shop that employs a dozen 15 year olds in Middleton, Wisconsin at minimum wage. No doubt if this burger-joint vehicle of green destruction was staffed by illegal aliens we would be celebrating Sonic's courage.
Yes, there is a culture in Madison, Wisconsin that celebrates the destruction of the American Middle Class and its quirky, pathetic pleasures (one of those pleasure being eating stupid hamburgers at a stupid drive-in). Yet, the same kill-joys of middle-class quirky pleasures will celebrate the sending of dozens of mediocre sports media hacks to mediocre college football bowl games at thousands of dollars (a huge carbon footprint - wouldn't you agree?) while same said neo-Luddites ignore the local lame media that collectively has sent only 10 journalists (and only for a few days) to the two current war zones in the last eight years (wars the same said elitist kill-joys loath).
Well done spokes people for Madison culture - my almost lost faith in your self-righteous, sanctimonious, condescending hate for the rest of us underemployed bottom feeders who like shitty hamburgers is renewed in my rubric. I hope you all choke to death on some asparagus stalks; and, I might add, any hate spewed on you by the rest of the state of Wisconsin's cheap hamburger-eating, working-class rabble is well deserved.

[Pete de la Guardia]

Holy burger-joint vehicle of green destruction Batman, I misspelled sundae, twice. Loss of mental dexterity probably is a sign and symptom of eating shitty franchise burgers.

[Jen]

I drive by Sonic to and from work every day. It is unbelievable to me how many people are lined up waiting what must be a long time to get into a place whose food can't be that different or exceptional from the numerous other fast food places in the area. On a different note, I can't believe the City of Middleton is too pleased with the traffic problems they've created on a major thoroughfare. I know I'm not.

[Madison Hot Bite]

My second visit to Sonic in Middleton was nothing short of a major disappointment. I was sucked in by all of the hype because I am a true fast-food aficionado. My first order was a hamburger with fries and my second was a grilled chicken wrap with tots. What I am looking for when I test and review new restaurants is what do they posses that sets them apart.

Not only does Sonic not posses a truly definable taste but they lack innovation. At first glance their menu appears to be new and exciting but the truth is that it isn't and the product is anything but. Maybe Sonic is all about the advertising and marketing and nothing about the food which is a terrible business model for the long term. The food should be the paramount focus with the adverting and marketing driving traffic. What keeps the customer coming back is the food.

If you are looking for good fast food with innovative menu and a true unique taste I would highly recommend Culver's instead of Sonic. I am not making that statement because they are a locally owned and operated franchiser. I am trying to make the point that some fast-food companies just simply do it right.

[propecia price]

Nowadays too many people required junkfood because they don't have enough time to prepared them food more healthy. how ever they ignore or don't give importance that junk food is really danger if they eat it every day. they shuldn't thinking about it specially when they are really hungry.