Arby’s

Arby’s is a quick-service restaurant chain headquartered in Atlanta and specializing in roast-beef sandwiches.

Arby’s was founded in 1964 in Boardman, Ohio, by Leroy and Forrest Raffel as an alternative to other fast-food restaurants — its menu featured roast beef instead of burgers, potato chips (and later potato cakes) instead of French fries, and its signature Jamocha shake (chocolate with coffee) instead of chocolate or vanilla. Arby’s famous curly fries were introduced in 1988. In 2001, Arby’s introduced its Market Fresh deli line.

Roark Capital Group acquired Arby’s Restaurant Group from The Wendy’s Co. (formerly Wendy’s/Arby’s Group) in July 2011. Paul Brown was named CEO of Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc. in 2013, and in 2018 the company acquired Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. for $2.9 billion and renamed itself Inspire Brands Inc. As of 2021, Inspire also owns Jimmy John’s, Rusty Taco, Sonic, Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins.

Paul Brown is now CEO of Inspire, and the Arby’s brand is led by Jim Taylor, who was promoted to president from chief marketing officer in 2019.

Arby’s is known for its marketing slogan “We have the meats.” In recent years, the brand has used social-media platforms such as TikTok to create viral marketing campaigns.

Key data: Arby’s

Headquarters: Atlanta

Segment: Quick service

Restaurant segment: LSR Sandwich/Deli

Number of U.S. locations: 3,374

2020 sales: $3.95 billion

Annual growth

Source: Datassential Firefly 500

CEO: Paul Brown (Inspire Brands)

Parent company: Inspire Brands Inc.