Boots and Sonny's Drive Inn
Boots and Sonny's Drive In is an American fast-food restaurant in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
History
Boots and Sonny’s first began as a Tastee-Freez in 1962 when Sonny, a man with a farming background, added this to his list of entrepreneurships along with owning a “handful of dry cleaners”. This, however, would be the adventure that would stay in his family for four decades.
The Tastee-Freez started out selling ice cream and within the next few years expanded their menu to include many things along with the “top-secret” chili recipe. Along with expanding the menu the family also expanded the space of the building in 1970 by moving a block or so down Church Street to the current building. After six years in the new building Sonny and his younger brother merged to form Ricky and Sonny’s drive-in. They took over their family business. In 1980 Ricky left and opted to open his own business called Ricky’s Drive-in, which is still open today. The departure of Ricky lead to the business being known by the name it has today, Boots and Sonny’s Drive-in.
The Statistics
Today Boots and Sonny’s is a household name in the Spartanburg area. They average a whopping forty thousand hot dogs sold (and eaten) per month! Along with twelve thousand cheeseburgers per month they sell six thousand pounds of fries and two thousand four hundred pounds of onion rings monthly. On the beverage side of things, they sell seventeen thousand gallons of tea each month.
The Present
You can drive by the brick building with the yellow roof at the corner of Henry Street and Church Street daily from Monday to Friday between the hours of 11 and 2 and find that you will have difficulty finding any kind of parking outside the restaurant. Once inside the building seating is hard to come by as well. On most days the drive-thru line is wrapped around the building and into the road. But once you get to the window or the register you are always greeted with a smile no matter how busy they are! After your order is taken and you pay you are given a small slip of paper with your order number. While you wait on them to call your number you can take a seat in one of the many booths in the restaurant. Taking a look around you will notice the both the frontend and backend of a 1950’s car attached to the walls. You can also enjoy the music flowing from the speakers of an old Wurlitzer jukebox! You might also notice one of the original ketchup dispensers from when the restaurant was opened as Boots and Sonny’s still being used.
Despite the disappearance of so many drive-ins over the years, Boots and Sonny’s still has plenty of competition from other drive-ins around the county of Spartanburg. Some of the most popular are Sugar-n-Spice, Ricky’s, Simple Simon, and the newest addition, Sonic. The biggest of them all is the famous Beacon drive-in! Although Boots and Sonny’s is not as big, their business is still booming and they are now serving more hotdogs, as well as other items, than ever! The Claytons are thankful to have such support from their loyal customers from all over the county and hope that this support continues in future years!