A fast food restaurant manager went to the extreme in training his staffers on how to handle a hold-up situation: his method scared paying customers and earned a serious reprimand from local police.

A manager of a Sonic in St. Joseph, Mo., recently staged a lunchtime mugging, recruiting someone to enter the restaurant with a real-looking toy gun and hold it to an employee's head. Problem was, employees weren't the only ones taken by surprise: When authorities received frantic reports from panicked customers of a potential hostage situation, they sped to the restaurant to resolve it.

"The officers quickly determined this was a training exercise," St. Joseph Police Department commander Jim Connors recounts. "We forcefully got the message across that's not expected behavior."

Troy N. Smith, an Oklahoman who turned a root-beer stand into the Sonic, America's Drive-In, chain has died at the age of 87 in Oklahoma City.

Smith opened the Top Hat Drive-In hamburger and root-beer stand in Shawnee, Okla., in 1953. Six years later, it became Sonic, a made-to-order fast-food company now dubbed "America's Drive-In," that currently has nearly 3,600 units in 42 states and serves 1 million people daily.

The chain was initially dubbed "Sonic" for its motto, "Service with the Speed of Sound," following its invention of curbside speakers in the 1950s, which allowed customers to order without leaving their cars. Smith also pioneered the use of parking lots that had angled parking spaces and overhead coverings.

These days Sonic is more popularly known for its value menu and drink combinations -- some 168,000 drink combinations make it what Sonic calls the "Ultimate Drink Stop."

Born in 1922 and raised in east-central Oklahoma, Smith served in the Army Air Corps before returning to the United States, where he would later operate milk and bread trucks. He expanded his business by opening various restaurants and cafes before founding Top Hat Drive-In. After opening three more Top Hat franchises, Smith unsuccessfully sought to copyright the moniker, changing it to the "speed of sound"-inspired title, "Sonic." The first Sonic opened in Stillwater, Okla.

Smith is survived by Dollie, his wife of nearly 70 years, a son, daughter, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held Friday, at 2 p.m., at the First Christian Church in Edmond, Okla.

[via Nation's Restaurant News]

Blondie & Brownie

Local, organic, artisanal ice cream is great, but sometimes it's a Styrofoam cup filled with vanilla soft serve and topped with chunks and crumbs of a desecrated candy bar that really, truly answers the primal scream for ice cream.

That's why this portrait of a Snickers Sonic Blast, taken by Blondie of Blondie & Brownie, is so diabolically delightful. You can almost feel the cold, creamy rivulets running down your throat, and taste the sugary burn of caramel and chocolate on the back of your tongue.

The Blast's consumption undoubtedly results in a swift and unforgiving sugar coma, but what a fantastic way to surf the waves of the glycemic index.

[Via Blondie & Brownie]

When fast food joints decide to expand beyond the burger, the first place they go is typically the chicken sandwich. After all, the kids in the back of the joint can basically do all the same things, just to a different patty. (Why don't the bigwigs just pick fish? Well, you know, the whole tartar sauce issue.)

Sonic Drive-In has recently added two new "premium" chicken sandwiches to its menu: Chicken and chicken bacon ranch. Both come either fried or grilled with an option for a "wheat" bun option (that apparently, per the nutritional details, does not actually contain any whole grain). As far as I can tell the quote-unquote wheat bun and slightly larger size are what make these suckers "premium."

Between the chicken and the bacon ranch chicken, guess which one tastes better? Well, the plain chicken (which I ordered grilled) is just that: Plain. A chicken patty arrives topped with lettuce, tomato and mayo on a less-squishy-than-usual bun. Though it's not that thrilling, at under 500 calories it's one of the less-heinous fast food options out there.

Naturally, the fried version with bacon and ranch dressing is more exciting even if it could use a bit more bacon or another dollop of ranch and you'll have to scurry double-time on the treadmill later. Is it tastier than the other chicken sandwiches on the market? Eh. Sonic falls into the chicken spectrum thusly: Superior to a McChicken, worse than a Carl's Jr. and can't compete at all with chicken-specializing chains like KFC or Popeye's. On my next trip to Sonic I think I'll just stick to burgers and Java Chillers.

Got a fave fast-food chix sandwich that makes the others look like frauds? Let us know in the comments.

As the weather turns chill and the holidays loom dimly upon the horizon, one's thoughts begin to turn to comfort food. But who's able to take the time to prepare lengthy, old-school recipes or ready to pack one's gut like a hibernating bear?

Luckily, Sonic has combined the flavors of a favorite old-fashioned, homemade dessert with the speed of the drive-thru in their new Banana Pudding Shake. The shake is made with genuine Nilla Wafers, just like the it should be (seriously, without the Nilla, it is not banana pudding), as well as vanilla soft serve, bananas and something called "pudding-flavored syrup," topped with a scoop of whipped cream the size of a monkey's head. A large monkey.

The chunks of banana and Nilla render it a bit chunky to suck through the straw, but when you savor a mouthful of shake and a crunch of cookie, it's a truly delightful moment. I personally wish the puddingshake tasted a bit more strongly of banana and packed a bit less vanilla-ness, but it's still a welcome coming attraction for one's post-Thanksgiving desert hoedown. And I will battle unto the death anyone who has the temerity to argue with the brilliant idea of a pudding-flavored shake. Unless, of course, they can hook me up with a few gallons of pudding-flavored syrup.

Of course, a lot of people would say "just avoid fast food altogether!" But sometimes you just need a Wendy's double cheeseburger and fries.

The folks over at A Calorie Counter have looked at the nutritional info for all of the fast food outlets (McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, A&W, Arby's, Hardee's, In-N-Out Burger, Jack in the Box, Little Caesars, Papa John's, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Sonic, Subway, Taco Bell, Wendy's, White Castle, Popeyes, Del Taco, Carl's Jr., and Dairy Queen) and have compiled a list of the 88 worst foods you can buy, in terms of the amount of trans fats. After the jump, the 10 worst. The link above gives you the whole list.