Big data and tater tots: How Sonic chooses where to open restaurants

Fast-food chain Sonic is primarily a southern institution, but it’s not planning to stay geographically limited for long. Sonic’s working to bring more of its cheeseburgers, tater tots and roller-skating carhops to the Northeast and the West, identifying places to open new restaurants and studying predicted sales trends.

Chain restaurants have been doing this kind of work for decades – the margins in the industry can be fine, so big chains work hard to minimize the risks involved in any investment they make in new locations. In the past, according to Sonic Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyst Bradford Zygmontowicz, that meant boots on the ground.

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