Arby's - West Lloyd Ave. - Evansville, IN - Arby's Restaurants on Waymarking.com

Arby's was founded by Forrest and Leroy Raffel in Ohio in 1964, who were determined to own a fast food franchise based on a food other than hamburgers. The brothers wanted to use the preferred name of "Big Tex", but that name was already being used by an Akron businessman. They eventually decided on the Arby's moniker, based on R.B., the initials of Raffel Brothers,[5] thus Arby's, LLC, was born. 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.

After a long interim between successes, Arby's capital had been quite diminished, so a completely new franchise system had to be devised. The Raffel brothers opened the first new restaurant in Boardman, Ohio (located just outside of Youngstown), on July 23, 1964, where they initially served only roast beef sandwiches, potato chips and drinks. A year later, the first Arby's licensee opened a restaurant in Akron, Ohio. The famous Arby's 'hat' was designed by the original signmakers, Peskin Sign Co (they continue to make signs for Wendy's/Arby's Group). Expansion to other states began in 1968, beginning in Pittsburgh (the closest large out-of-state market to Youngstown) and Detroit.

During the 1970s the expansion of Arby's grew at a rate of 50 stores per year. During this time they created and perfected several menu items including the beef ‘n cheddar, jamocha Shakes, curly fries and Arby’s signature sauces, Arby’s BBQ sauce and horsey sauce. By 1981 they added chicken along with opening their store number 1000. They became the first in the fast food industry to offer a complete Lite Menu in 1991 with several sandwiches and salads under 300 calories and ninety four percent fat free. A further change occurred in the stores that banned smoking in 1994.[5]

In 1993 Arby's was purchased by Triarc companies. This resulted in further changes with the market fresh lineup being introduced in 2001 that included deli style sandwiches and salads. A further expansion of the line occurred with wraps introduced in 2003. This was further expanded in 2007 with the toasted sub line.[5]

On May 31, 2005, Triarc announced that it was purchasing RTM[6] and would move their headquarters from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Sandy Springs, Georgia. Later that year, Triarc officially bought out RTM. After the buyout the restaurants that were owned by RTM and Triarc were reorganized under the name ARG (Arby's Restaurant Group). Most of the primary leadership of RTM was retained by ARG in either their former role, or as consultants.[5]

Arby's is currently franchised by Wendy's/Arby's Group, 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 into the mid-1990s. At the time, this made Arby's one of the only major restaurant chains to sell a soft drink product other than Pepsi or Coca-Cola, with Pepsi itself at the time being mostly relegated to the three restaurants then-owned by Pepsi (KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut), Subway, and a small handful of sit-down restaurants.

On April 24th 2008, Wendy's announced that it would sell itself to Triarc. According to the New York Times, the stock swap will go for $2.3 billion.[7] Triarc plans to change its corporate name to include the Wendy's name. The headquarters of both Wendy's in Dublin and Arby's in Atlanta will stay in place with Wendy's/Arby's Group, Inc as the new corporate name and headquarters also left in Atlanta.[5]

Triarc and its Arby's franchise subsidiary, Arby's Restaurant Group, are the largest owners of Arby's franchises. With the 2007 Annual Report, ARG plans on opening 50 new stores for themselves on top of the over 300 franchise locations that are currently opening, proposed, or under development by franchises.[2]

While the restaurant has not been based in the Youngstown area for many years, the chain still has a major presence in the area, including a location on the campus of Youngstown State University as well as numerous sponsorship deals and events within the area.

The nearby Pittsburgh area is also a major market for Arby's, where for decades was the only overlapping area with Northeastern fast-food chain Roy Rogers. Until Hardee's unsuccessful purchase of Roy Rogers in 1990, Arby's had a very minimal presence in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area due to Roy Rogers fans supposedly preferring the taste of Roy Roger's roast beef over Arby's. However, since Roy Rogers' rapid decline after the Hardee's takeover (the two restaurants were separated when their parent company at the time, Imasco, sold Hardee's to Carl's Jr. in 1997), Arby's has since expanded their presence in these markets.

Location Type: Stand Alone Street Address: 4650 University Drive Does this location have a drive-thru window?: yes Is there seating available inside?: yes Hours Open: Not listed

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