IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW SONIC DRIVE-IN EXCLUSIVE TO ALABAMA OFFICIALLY TAKING ORDERS IN BREWTON

Newly unveiled drive-in model is first in the state and only third in the nation; designed to improve experience and convenience

Sonic Drive-In has officially opened its drive-thru along Douglas Avenue in Brewton

BREWTON, AL – November 8, 2022: Drive-in fans and foodies rejoice! Sonic Drive-In has officially opened to guests in Brewton, Alabama for a one-of-a-kind dining experience, announced Quality Drive-In, the franchise operator of the local restaurant. The new restaurant has created more than 60 new jobs in the community, with both full and part-time staff. Leaders are still looking to fill 20 positions.

“We are very excited to bring Sonic Drive-In to Brewton and introduce guests to our iconic menu and nostalgic brand,” said David Hartzog, Director of Operations for Quality Drive-In. “We welcome our new employees, and we are excited about their future with us. Sonic is a community-driven business and there is not a better community than Brewton to partner with us in this journey.”

The new restaurant features 10 drive-in spots for motorists, a double drive-thru lane and a patio that seats 24 guests. Many local vendors were utilized to complete the construction project. Sonic has an expansive menu of burgers, sandwiches, chicken, hot dogs, snacks and ice cream. The beverage menu also offers a wide variety of flavored soft drinks, slushes, lemonades and limeades, tea and coffee options.

Brewton is the first community in Alabama and only the third in the country where Sonic’s new, innovative design has been unveiled. The updated drive-in model was designed to offer guests an improved experience with a drive-thru-focused approach.  Coupling nostalgia with convenience, this concept allows guests the option to choose the drive-in experience or need for speed through a pick-up window transaction.

“Sonic’s new brand image is truly on display with this restaurant,” said Jason McNeill, Vice President for Quality Drive-In. “I am excited to grow our business here in Brewton and under the leadership of Dave and his team. The community’s excitement and warm welcome have been incredible, and we look forward to future opportunities here and beyond.”

The Brewton location marks Quality Drive-In’s 75^th Sonic Drive-In restaurant across Alabama and Florida. Quality Drive-In is a division within Quality Restaurant Group, LLC, one of the nation’s largest multi-unit franchisee organizations with 345 restaurants and 10,000 employees in 15 states. Quality Restaurant Group acquired 62 Sonic Drive-In locations across the two states in 2020, thus leading to the formation of Quality Drive-In.

The Brewton restaurant is open Sunday to Thursday from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Online and mobile ordering is available through the SONIC App, and select third-party partners provide delivery.

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About Quality Restaurant Group

Quality Restaurant Group, LLC is based in Greensboro, North Carolina and was founded with a strong focus on developing a world-class multi-branded quick service and fast casual franchising business. The company’s leadership have a vision of becoming QUALITY franchisee entrepreneurs that believe in a QUALITY PEOPLE-FIRST culture that drives an unparalleled spirit of customer service for our guests in our restaurants. The company owns and operates 67 Moe’s Southwest Grill restaurants in Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia; nearly 200 Pizza Hut restaurants in Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Pennsylvania; 27 Arby’s locations in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota; 75 Sonic Drive-in restaurants in Florida and Alabama.  Check out www.qualityrestaurantgroup.com for more information.

Greensboro, NC October 8, 2021 – Quality Restaurant Group (QRG) was presented with the prestigious Fast 50 Award on October 7, 2021 and was ranked as the number 1 fastest growing company in the Triad region of North Carolina.  The Triad Business Journal’s Fast 50 Awards program celebrates the successes of private businesses and the teams that make it happen.

“I am proud of all the team has accomplished the past few years” said Matt Slaine, Chief Executive Officer.  “We have created a platform that has enabled us to grow organically and inorganically and build the core foundation of a great company for many years to come. Most importantly this honor goes to our operations teams in the field who keep the lights on and create great experiences for all of our customers. These team members have worked tirelessly every day through the pandemic, continuous supply chain disruptions, unprecedented labor market tightness, and many other obstacles they turned into opportunities.”

To be eligible for Fast 50, companies had to be private, for-profit companies with U.S. headquarters based in the Triad. They must also have completed three full fiscal years, with at least $2 million in revenue in 2020.

“QRG’s growth has been exceptional considering the unprecedented challenges faced by our operations teams everyday” said Matt Zeiger, Chief Financial Officer. “We are fortunate to have four iconic brands led by experienced teams with an unrivaled spirit of tenacity. I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the QRG story and help create a platform for continued growth”.

“The entire team, from our restaurants to our Restaurant Support Center, has worked tirelessly on not only building the business during these unprecedented times but creating a highly desirable employee experience by embracing our People First culture” said Nicole Hethcox, Vice President of People Services and Human Resources. “It is such an honor for QRG to be recognized for growth.  I feel very fortunate to be part of QRG and for having the opportunity to serve and support all our restaurants.”

Quality Restaurant Group was founded in 2017 with a strong focus on developing a world-class multi-branded quick service and fast casual restaurant franchising business. Our leaders have a vision of becoming QUALITY franchisee entrepreneurs that believe in a QUALITY PEOPLE-FIRST culture that drives an unparalleled spirit of customer service for our guests in our restaurants. QRG owns and operates over 350 restaurants in 15 states across the Pizza Hut, Arby’s, Sonic Drive-In, and Moe’s Southwest Grill brands.

Want to join our rapidly growing company? Learn more about us and check out our open positions

Greensboro, NC (June 2, 2021) – Quality Restaurant Group, one of the country’s largest and fastest growing quick service and fast casual restaurant franchise owners, announced the acquisition of two additional Sonic Drive-In locations this week. Quality Restaurant Group operates its wholly owned Sonic subsidiary as Quality Drive-In.

The additional restaurants are located in Demopolis and Livingston, both in Alabama. Quality Drive-In now comprises 64 Sonic locations across Alabama and Florida.

Jason McNeill, Vice President of Quality Drive-In commented “We are excited to bring in two additional Sonic Drive-In locations to our portfolio. We welcome the new employees in Demopolis and Livingston and are excited about their future with us. We plan to make significant capital improvements in these locations and operate them as best in class Sonic Drive-Ins in the state of Alabama.”

According to Matt Slaine, CEO of Quality Restaurant Group, “I am excited to continue to grow our business under the leadership of Jason and his team and to grow the partnership with Sonic and Inspire Brands. We believe in the Sonic brand leadership and are excited about all of the future opportunity and growth for this brand.”

The two restaurants will host grand reopening celebrations the week of June 7th and will strive to be great contributors to the towns of Demopolis and Livingston. The entire team at Quality Restaurant Group looks forward to supporting the growth of our teams in these new locations.

Quality Restaurant Group is based in Greensboro, North Carolina, employs more than 9,000 people and is the parent company for Quality Huts, Quality Fresca, Quality Meats and Quality Drive-In.

For more information on Quality Restaurant Group, visit www.qualityrestaurantgroup.com.

Media and Press Inquiries: Curich Weiss
John Weiss John@Curichweiss.com

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Quality Restaurant Group
Quality Restaurant Group, LLC is based in Greensboro, North Carolina and was founded with a strong focus on developing a world-class multi-branded quick service and fast casual franchising business. The company’s leadership have a vision of becoming QUALITY franchisee entrepreneurs that believe in a QUALITY PEOPLE-FIRST culture that drives an unparalleled spirit of customer service for our guests in our restaurants. The company owns and operates 67 Moe’s Southwest Grill restaurants in Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia; nearly 200 Pizza Hut restaurants in Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Pennsylvania; 27 Arby’s locations in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota; 64 Sonic Drive-in restaurants in Florida and Alabama. Check out www.qualityrestaurantgroup.com for more information.

First Responders, hospitals, and shelters in the Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Indianapolis markets received a special holiday surprise from their local Pizza Hut as close to 200 locations gave away over 4,000 pizzas on Tuesday, December 3rd.

“A Day of Giving” is offered by Quality Huts, LLC (“Quality Huts”), a Pizza Hut franchisee, which employs 3,600 team members in the greater Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Indianapolis regions and operates 196+ units. Quality Huts views the event as a way to give back to the local community and say “thank you” to area residents, civil servants, and first responders.

Quality Huts originated in 2017 and quickly became the top 5 largest Pizza Hut franchisee in the US.
“We are so honored to be a part of our local communities, and we wanted to take an opportunity during the season of giving to give something back to our neighbors,” said Don Dalton, Chief Operating Officer of Quality Huts. “We recognize that it’s a difficult time for many, and we hope ‘a day of giving’ will set an example that inspires other local businesses to lend a hand as well.”
This is the first year of “a day of giving” and Quality Huts aspires to continue the tradition for many years to come.

About Quality Huts, LLC:
Quality Huts, LLC is a leading national restaurant operator and one of the largest Pizza Hut franchisees in the country, operating about 200 Pizza Hut locations in the greater Baltimore, Chicago, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and South Bend markets. Quality Huts is led by an operating team with a combined 120 years of multi-unit restaurant, private equity, and turn-around management experience. Quality Hut is part of Quality Restaurant Group (QRG), which additionally owns and operates Quality Meats, LLC. QRG is led by newly appointed CEO Matt Slaine.

We are very excited to once again be planning a Day of Giving! This event will occur on Tuesday December 3rd, which is “Giving Tuesday,” and also the same day we kick off the Literacy Project fundraiser.

Last year our Pittsburgh and Baltimore markets participated in the Day of Giving, and we are very happy that we are able to expand it to all Quality Huts regions this year. This is a wonderful opportunity during the holiday season to give back to the community with a big thank you in the form of a pizza. And who doesn’t love pizza! It was a big hit last year not just within our communities, but it really touched our team members as well. Below are some comments from our team members – – –

“That was super fun to do and a great way to give back to the community!!! Lots of very happy service men/women today! Thanks so much!”

“They were very thankful and excited that we thought of each and every one of their locations.”

“Everyone was so excited! A few places we surprised and they loved it! It felt great to give like that to our community.”

“I didn’t get any pictures but I do have one story that made my heart smile. I delivered to the records department for the sheriff’s office in and they were really grateful because they said no one ever remembers they are there, and that they are always forgotten. They were really touched.”

“It was a lot of fun getting out meeting our customers. Great idea!”

“Today was so much fun! I’m glad we did it.”

This year we will be giving away up to 20 medium pizzas from each location, 10 cheese pizzas and 10 pepperoni pizzas.

We would like to specifically target first responders. Your Area Coach will be asking you where in your community you would like to donate.

Quality Restaurant Group, LLC, owners and operators of more than 200 Pizza Hut locations operating as Quality Huts, LLC, appoints Matthew Slaine as Chief Executive Officer. The Company simultaneously announces the formation of Quality Meats, LLC with the acquisition of 27 Arby’s locations in 5 contiguous states led by long-time Director of Operations Jon Bentley. Bentley will report to Slaine.

“Since its inception, Quality Restaurant Group has rapidly grown to become a respected name in the QSR industry, and I’m confident with Matt Slaine at the helm, we will continue to exceed our guests’, employees’ and investors’ expectations,” said Matthew Ailey, managing partner of GenRock Capital Management. “Having at the core of our business two of the most respected names in the QSR industry, including the most well-known name in the pizza category, we are primed for success with a significant pipeline of growth opportunities across our current and future brands.

As the CEO of Quality Restaurant Group, Slaine will focus on building corporate leadership, culture, strategy, system integration, and franchisor relationships for the brands in the portfolio. In addition, Slaine’s role includes overseeing all operations, financial reporting, human resources, corporate development, and assisting with M&A and investor relations across all of Quality Restaurant Group.

“As a hospitality driven organization dedicated to our communities, my first priority will be to ensure a positive guest experience by continuing to build a world class team,” said Slaine. “I look forward to working with our approximately 5,000 employees across the country. As an employer of choice in the industry, it is my responsibility to make sure we are hiring and growing the very best talent out there.”

According to Bob Crumley, Chairman of the Board of Quality Restaurant Group, “I was fortunate to spend over thirty years in a senior leadership position at Boddie-Noell Enterprises, the largest Hardee’s franchisee in the country. The opportunity that QRG has in the quick service industry is one of the best I’ve ever seen. I am excited to be part of it and welcome Matt to the team.”

Prior to this appointment, Slaine served as the CEO of Progressive Business Media (PBM), a marketing services and communications company. During his tenure at PBM, Slaine worked with employees, clients, and vendors to build a leading communications company that was ranked as one of the regions fastest growing companies. PBM was acquired by Gatehouse Media (NYSE: NEWM).

Slaine also has a finance background, having worked at multiple financial services firms. He has an MBA with Distinction in Finance and International Business from NYU Stern School of Business and a BA Cum Laude from Dartmouth College. He and his wife have three children.

Quality Restaurant Group, LLC is based in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Company owns and operates over 200 Pizza Hut restaurants in the Chicago, Indianapolis, South Bend, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh areas and recently acquired 27 Arby’s locations in western states including Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota.