tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption

CHAIN -- Arby's
Owner -- Triarc Restaurant Group
Primary Operating Region -- Nationwide
Number of Locations -- 3,450 (2005)

Fast food chains have tried a lot of tricks along the way to speed up service and cut payroll.  One of the more annoying ideas was self-serve ordering, where you inputted your order into a video screen then paid a single cashier.  My one experience with this silly farce was at an Arby's.

I walked in one evening and started giving the guy my order.  He shakes his head and points to the touch-screen.  "You put your order in there, then you pay me," he said.  This was especially annoying since I was the only customer in the building and I didn't see that he had anything better to do.  Sure enough, he just stood there and watched as I ordered.

I fumbled with the thing a bit...it wasn't exactly user friendly...got the order right after a few minutes, then paid the guy.  It took longer to order, it was annoying, and the process between commands on the touch-screen was slow.  From an employee perspective, the only thing I could see them gaining was they didn't actually have to say a word to the customers, and if the order placed was screwed up, they could just blame you because you put it in.

You know what "Arby's" means?  Say it out loud..."R. B. 's".  You will think it stands for "Roast Beef", but you're wrong...it stands for Raffel Brothers, the founders.  The brothers Raffel had a restaurant equipment business.  They were designing and installing kitchens, watching the fast food industry grow from the sidelines.  They decided to get in and find their own niche.  Upon discovering a successful roast beef sandwich shop, they had their model.  Arby's debuted in Boardman, Ohio in 1964.

Arby's succeeded because they simply featured a fast food alternative to hamburgers when few alternative sandwiches were available.  Today, Arby's is in a crowded marketplace with competitors from Subway to Quizno's to Panera Bread to Jason's Deli.  Even Hardee's offers a roast beef sandwich every bit as good as the Arby's product.  The more deli-like competitors have hurt the decidedly fast-food-like Arby's and made them appear a bit dated.  Still, Arby's has solid brand recognition, and there are parts of the country considered underdeveloped.  Store numbers actually continue to grow.

The Arby's menu extends from the original roast beef sandwich to larger roast beef sandwiches with cheese and bacon, chicken sandwiches, "Market Fresh" deli-like sandwiches, and original alternate sides like onion petals, baked potatoes, chicken fingers, and more.  Arby's is always trying out new stuff like salads, wraps, and other new ideas to keep customer interest up.  Yet at the end of the day, the truth is that Arby's is basically a burger joint that has roast beef sandwiches instead of burgers.   They could replace roast beef on the menu with a hamburger tomorrow and the whole thing would still make sense.

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