The Sonic drive-thru restaurant has been a Fort Stockton staple since 1976 under the ownership of Travis Lewis. The location has been successful in its 40-plus years of operation.

Caleb Jantz became manager of the Fort Stockton Sonic last March.

“Caleb has been around the Sonic brand all his life and has worked in a drive-in for several years” said Tom Clifton, Supervising Partner of Tom Lewis Investments. “He brings a fast and friendly service commitment to our drive-in at Fort Stockton.”

A graduate of the University of Houston where he studied Hotel and Restaurant Management, Jantz started working for Sonic in Houston in 2019 as a crew leader manager. The owner of that location needed Jantz to manage the Sonic in Sonora, so he moved west, and came to Fort Stockton this past March. Jantz is the grandson of Fort Stockton location owner Travis Lewis. “The reason I’m here is just to continue the legacy,” Jantz said. “I hope my brother comes and follows my steps, too.”

Sonic believes there’s always room for improvement, and Jantz was brought to Fort Stockton to help make those improvements.

“They believe there’s always room for improvement,” Jantz said. “I changed things around in Sonora so they believe that I can do it here.”

Sonora is considered a profitable store under Jantz’s leadership, and he hopes to do that in Fort Stockton. It starts with hiring new crew, cleaning the property, building a good atmosphere, and having good expectations for new recruits.

“The turnover rate is way better than Sonora,” Jantz said. “I get a better working crew (in Fort Stockton), a more eager working crew. There’s a lot more potential, there’s a lot more traffic.”

Jantz said when he arrived there were 11 employees, which he has since increased to 26.

“It’s not the same labor as you’ve had, so you get what you get,” Jantz said. “But we train them well, we keep them going, we keep them motivated. The key is eagerness.”

Among the improvements needed are the stalls. Jantz said when he started in March, 12 stalls weren’t working, so those were replaced.

“It was a good fix,” he said, adding that the restaurant will eventually be getting new, bigger screens.

“It’s going to almost look like flat screen TVs, they’re going to be huge. Hopefully that improves hearing the order-taker or them hearing you.”

Jantz said that he’s also replaced two headsets to improve communication.

The new manager welcomes feedback, whether it’s negative or positive.

“If it’s negative, we want to work on it, if it’s positive, we appreciate it,” Jantz said.

Jantz added that Sonic wants to be more active in the community, sponsoring events.

“There’s a future in Sonic,” Jantz emphasized. “My plan is to expand, hopefully.”

“We have been a part of the Fort Stockton landscape for 43 years, and Caleb and his crew will continue to provide quality service to our customers,” Clifton added.