Kelly Wright/The Lantern
This Sonic, north of Polaris Parkway in Columbus, will join eight other Sonic restaurants across Ohio. The new sonic is being constructed on Olentangy River Road.
Soon, students can add another restaurant to their checklist of places to eat. A new Sonic Drive-In is under construction on Olentangy River Road, and will open its doors 6 a.m. Oct. 27.

Sonic is a drive-in food chain where customers can pull up to a parking spot, choose their meal at an order station and have a bell-hop in roller skates bring each order on a tray.

There is also a drive-thru and patio seating.

Alex Boron, a sophomore in molecular genetics, is eager to visit the soon-to-be-built Sonic.

“I love Sonic and we don’t have one in northern Ohio,” she said. Currently, the closest Sonic to campus is in Whitehall.

The new Sonic will be the ninth to open in the Columbus area in the past 18 months.

“We’re trying to get in [the] Columbus area as fast as we can,” said supervising partner Bruce Hillwertz.

“We’re super excited about the campus aspect,” said Michael Cox, team coordinator and news store coordinator.

At the new location, the drive-in has been customized to represent an OSU atmosphere.

Hillwertz said the structure’s support poles are usually painted green, but are scarlet to represent OSU colors.

Instead of yellow, red and blue alternating outfits, employees wear a scarlet shirt and an official OSU hat.

“We’re a unique restaurant, very family-oriented and we thrive on being able to take care of your taste buds,” Cox said. “You can literally get any food or drink any way you want it.”

Kevin Neumeister, a sophomore in material science and engineering likes that Sonic is inexpensive and stays open late. “It’s just good stuff,” Neumeister said.

Sonic also has its own XM radio station, and Hillwertz said customers can make a song request to a bell-hop, who can arrange for the song to be played.

“It’s valuable for us to be good in the community and we’re here to support all aspects of the community,” Hillwertz said.

The new Sonic will be open from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. every day. Hillwertz said the store may eventually be open 24 hours, but it depends on how busy the new location become.

Matt Hancharick can be reached [email protected].