Arby's
 | |
| Company type | LLC |
|---|---|
| Industry | Fast food |
| Founded | 1964 in Boardman, Ohio, USA |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
Key people | Roland Smith,CEO; Tom Garrett President/COO; Forrest Raffel and Leroy Raffel, Founders |
| Products | Roast beef sandwiches and other fast food |
| Revenue | 6,415,142 United States dollar (2016)  |
| Website | www.arbys.com |
Arby's is a fast food restaurant franchise in the United States and Canada that is primarily known for selling roast beef sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, potato cakes, curly fries, Jamocha milkshakes and chicken strips. The company's target market attempts to be more adult-oriented than other fast food restaurants. The Arby's menu also includes appetizers, salads, Market Fresh (deli-style) sandwiches, wraps, and french dip subs. However, their focus has always been roast beef. Arby's currently uses the slogan "I'm thinking Arby's."
History
Arby's was founded by brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffel, who were determined to open a fast food franchise based on a food other than hamburgers. The name "Arby's" came as a result of the brothers' inability to use their preferred name of "Big Tex," which was already being used by an Akron businessman. They eventually decided on the Arby's moniker, based on R.B., the initials of the Raffel Brothers. [1] (By coincidence, R.B. can also be short for roast beef, the company's main product, a point which was used when the backronym "America's Roast Beef, Yes Sir" was used as an advertising campaign in the 1980s.)
The Raffel brothers opened their first restaurant in Boardman, Ohio (located just outside of Youngstown) on July 23, 1964, where they initially served only roast beef sandwiches, potato chips and ice tea. A year later, the first Arby's licensee opened a restaurant in Akron, Ohio. Expansion to other states began in 1968. Triarc Companies, Inc. purchased Arby’s in 1993. As of 2006, there are over 3500 restaurants. Around that time, More Arby's franchises were operated by Atlanta-based RTM Restaurant Group than the franchisor, New York based Triarc.[2]
Arby's today
Arby's is currently franchised by Triarc, who also franchises T.J. Cinnamons and Pasta Connection and once owned Royal Crown Cola (better known as R.C. Cola), which Arby's sold until the mid-1990's.
On May 31, 2005, Triarc announced that it was purchasing RTM and would move their headquarters from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Atlanta, Georgia. Later that year, Triarc officially bought out RTM. While the restaurant has not been based in Youngstown, Ohio for many years, the chain still has a major presence in the area, including a location on the campus of Youngstown State University.
The chain's former mascot was an anthropomorphic oven mitt, who appeared on the company's television commercials and print advertisements. He was voiced by actor Tom Arnold.
In early 2006, Arby's Restaurant Group (ARG) signed a contract with Pepsi to be their exclusive soft drink provider. When franchisees' contracts expire with Coca-Cola, they will be required to switch to Pepsi-Cola,[3] the lone exception being the aforementioned Arby's located at YSU because of the University having its own contract with Coca-Cola.
In February of 2006, Arby's became the first national fast food chain to claim to not use any artificial additives in its chicken products; along with this claim came an advertising campaign which criticized Wendy's, McDonald's and Burger King for their use of additives such as water, salt and phosphates in their chicken products.
In November 2006, Arby's announced that they were eliminating all trans-fats from their menu, to be implemented by May 2007, being the first major fast-food restaurant to do so.
Triarc and its Arby's franchise subsidiary, Arby's Restaurant Group, is the largest owner of Arby's franchises.
Some Arby's restaurants were co-branded with Sbarro Italian Eatery.
Arby's is currently sponsoring Matt Kenseth. In accordance with this sponsorship, Arby's has promised to give away free medium curly fries on the Monday following any of his race wins. Customers need only bring in an official race result from a newspaper or website.[4]
Cultural References
- On the sitcom Seinfeld, Arby's is David Puddy's favorite restaurant, although his girlfriend, Elaine Benes, does not like it.
- Arby's seems to be a re-occurring subject of ridicule on the animated series The Simpsons.
- In the episode Das Bus, Bart Simpson's classmate Terri, (who has a twin sister, Sherri), once stated, "I'm so hungry I could eat at Arby's!" after being stranded on an island. After this was said, other children stranded on the island responded, "Wow, she must be really hungry." and "Ewww!"
- In A Milhouse Divided, Kirk Van Houten replied "Just throw it over the fence, let Arby's worry about it!" when asked what to do with a dead possum.
- In Old Yeller Belly, Marge Simpson said to Lisa Simpson, in reference to Lisa complaining about something outrageous they both saw on television, "People do crazy things in commercials. Like eat at Arby's."
- In Treehouse of Horror 17, after eating a green-alien-blob that tries to escape Homer's mouth, Homer says, "If I can keep down Arby's, I can keep down you."
- On the comedy series Reno 911!, Arby's is characterized by Lieutenant Dangle as being "delicious" and "piping hot."
- In the movie Saving Silverman, Amanda Peet's character requests an Arby's "Big Montana" sandwich as she is being held captive in the basement of a house shared by characters portrayed by Jack Black and Steve Zahn. Black's character also eats Arby's in a scene not long afterward, when he states "I never answer the door when I'm eating."
- Arby's is also mentioned in the movie Fargo.
- On 30 Rock, Jack Donaghy is the franchise owner of a Arby's in Telluride, Colorado.
See also
- Horseradish - the major ingredient of Arby's Horsey Sauce
- Fast food firsts