Angelina Zhao

The interior of Sonic Speed Cafe includes a painted mural of Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends.

The Sonic Speed Cafe recently had its grand opening on Friday, November 24 at the Shoppes. The pop-up quickly gained popularity due its Sonic-the-Hedgehog-themed interior and menu. As Chino Hills, a relatively quiet city, doesn’t often gain much attention, news of the cafe quickly spread as Sonic fans from across Southern California visited to embrace their favorite childhood character. 

Owned by the Secret Sauce Society (S.S.S.), the Sonic Speed Cafe is the very first and original Sega-licensed Sonic the Hedgehog restaurant. They take Sonic’s favorite foods including chili cheese dogs and french fries and reproduce them using the video game theme. 

“Sonic the Hedgehog is an iconic character. [It has] a huge fandom with a lot of Gen Xers to millennials and beyond. And now with this new wave from jet alpha, they absolutely love the cartoons and movies. And so for us we’re just a big fan of [the] Sonic the Hedgehog story [and] the video games, and as fans we wanted to create an experience for the community,” said Kevin Seo, owner of Sonic Speed Cafe.

Before the Chino Hills opening, the Sonic the Hedgehog Cafe had its first pop up in San Diego during the Comic Con season. Now that it’s available to Chino Hills residents, students from Ayala have picked up on the craze and tried the chili dogs.

“After hearing about this, I think it’s something worth visiting. I haven’t heard of a cafe that’s been open for a movie theme. So I was really surprised and genuinely shocked that there would be such a thing. I wouldn’t expect it to be Sonic,” Evelyn Tse (10) said.

Besides the chili dogs and french fries, Sonic’s menu also consists of smoothies, sandwiches, and sides.

“I was excited for the opening cause I’m a Sonic fan. I was excited to see all the decorations too. I [like] one of the drinks called Team Dark because it’s a mocha shake and it was very good,” Kyleigh Cusiona (9) said.

As the Sonic Speed Cafe grows, S.S.S. hopes to expand the business to other states in the U.S. through food trucks and other pop ups. They also plan on incorporating more characters into restaurants in the near future.

Instead of primarily focusing on food, the restaurant aims to infuse strong branding such as Sonic exclusive merchandise and themed packaging. One of the main attractions to the cafe is their apparel which is specially designed for the Sonic Speed Cafe. On top of the clothing, exclusive merch includes sticker charts and demon cookies. The two Ps5s in the restaurant further draw in customers and allow for an inviting atmosphere.

“And one of the things that we focus on is street wear as well, so we understand apparel. We bring a lot of that exclusive vibe to the designs and we have limited drops that we restock,” Seo said.

The Sonic Speed Cafe pop up plans to stay open for around three more months, planning to leave around February and continue its journey across the U.S. As the business caters to Chino Hills residents for the next few months, Seo hopes the community can find joy and kinder their love for Sonic as they try his favorite food and experience the themed elements of the restaurant.