Skip navigation
Arby’s looks overseas for expansion

Arby’s looks overseas for expansion

Sandwich chain signs its first international development deal in six years

Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc. has reported strong sales in the U.S. in recent years. Now it wants to see the same strength overseas.

The Atlanta-based sandwich chain revealed Tuesday an international franchise development agreement for 25 locations in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, marking the chain’s first international push since 2010.

International development is a logical strategy for Arby’s. Yet CEO Paul Brown told Nation’s Restaurant News that the chain is in no hurry to expand, promising a “very slow, deliberate approach.”

[CHARTBEAT:3]

“We’re starting to rebuild the brand internationally,” Brown said. “But we’re looking for the right markets and the right franchisees.”

Arby’s is a predominantly domestic brand, with the vast majority of its 3,300 locations in the U.S. — although it has some success in Turkey, where it has 50 locations, as well as Canada. 

International development would be a potentially fruitful endeavor for a chain like Arby’s, which sells a variety of sandwiches that could be easily tailored to fit local tastes. After all, just about every culture has its own sandwiches.

“There’s a lot of interest,” Brown said. “But we’re in no rush.”

Brown said the biggest immediate growth opportunity is domestic, where Arby’s is also restarting unit growth amid an ongoing, five-year, same-store sales growth streak.

The chain opened 69 units worldwide last year, and announced agreements for 138 locations in the first quarter of this year. Unit growth is a key element in the chain’s plans to get its systemwide sales past the $4 billion mark by the end of 2018. 

The Kuwait-Saudi Arabia agreement is with Al-Kharafi Global, for General Trading & Contracting Company-WLL, or Kharafi Global. The operator will open 25 new Arby’s restaurants in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia over the next seven years.

Contact Jonathan Maze at [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter: @jonathanmaze

Hide comments

Comments

  • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <blockquote> <br> <p>

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Publish