Sonic expanding into NEPA

The Oklahoma City-based fast food restaurant chain known for its carhop service will be coming to Northeastern Pennsylvania , said one of the partners in the company that bought the local franchise rights.NEPA Burgers is close to closing on a site in the /Wilkes-Barre area for their first restaurant, said Sean Kelly, a partner in the venture.Within the next five years it plans to open between 8 and 12 restaurants in their territory that includes, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and Schuylkill counties. “We started looking at a number of franchises about 18 and months ago,” Kelly, a Mountain Top native, said Thursday.He and partner Jody McGrail of Clarks Summit, both in their 30s with marketing backgrounds, surveyed people about their choice of a new concept restaurant for the region. Instead of a casual dining, sit-down establishment, the majority of respondents wanted a quick-service restaurant and identified Sonic as their top choice, Kelly said.“We haven’t had a new, quick-service concept restaurant in the area in about 10 years,” he added. Kelly surmised the chain’s national advertising on cable television has spurred interest here.Sonic Corp. has more than 3,400 drive-in restaurants nationwide and plans to open up to 200 more this fiscal year.   Kelly and McGrail have teamed up with a third partner who opened the first three Sonics in Pennsylvania and the chain’s restaurants in the Cincinnati area. Fameco Real Estate of Plymouth Meeting is handling the site selection.For the complete story read The Times Leader tomorrow.