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New Sonic attracts fast-food fanfare

The restaurant on Gandy Boulevard offers classic American food delivered to customers in their vehicles.

America's Drive-In is now South Tampa's.

After months of anticipation, Sonic has opened on Gandy Boulevard, just west of Manhattan Avenue. Hundreds of hungry customers packed the place for its debut April 22.

Locals agree there hasn't been this much fast-food frenzy since Krispy Kreme opened on Kennedy Boulevard.

"Tampa has turned out in force," said managing partner Don D'Amato. "We've been very busy from the moment we open to the moment we close every day."

Sonic's menu features hamburgers, onion rings, cream pie shakes, chili and cheese dogs, cherry limeade and a variety of sandwiches on thick-sliced Texas toast. The wait staff - some on roller skates - deliver food to customers waiting in their cars.

Sonic, which has no indoor seating, is modeled after old-fashioned, drive-in restaurants. Car stalls and outdoor tables have menu boards and intercoms. Customers also can order from a take-out window and eat at picnic tables.

But what sets Sonic apart, isn't just the atmosphere, D'Amato says.

"The food is made to order so nothing sits under a heat lamp," he said.

D'Amato said the Oklahoma City-based chain plans to open 19 more Sonics in the next four years in the greater Tampa area, including one at Hillsborough and Lois avenues. The chain celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Part of the reason the concept has been so successful in Florida, D'Amato said, is because so many people visit from places that have Sonic.

"Seven hundred and fifty people come into the state of Florida every day from somewhere else," he said. "They know Sonic and are familiar with the whole experience."

Elsewhere in South Tampa, another burger institution is shutting its doors.

After 37 years, Krystal plans to close at S Dale Mabry Highway and Kennedy Boulevard to make way for a CVS pharmacy. The City Council approved the site change April 24.

Officials with the burger joint's franchisee, Tennessee-based SRG Holdings, say they don't when they'll close; it depends on how fast the CVS gets built.

SRG has no plans to build another Krystal in South Tampa, but another franchisee, Atlanta-based Triton Marketing, is actively looking for a site.

"We're looking for a new location in that area, as close to (the existing Krystal) as we can get," said Richard Ballard, Triton's vice president of operations.

Ballard said his company wants to open the location as soon as the S Dale Mabry store closes. Last week, the company opened the only other Krystal in Tampa, on Fletcher Avenue.

- Shari Missman Miller can be reached at 226-3374 or smiller@sptimes.com