Write An Essay On Arby's

Not only is Arby’s my father’s favorite fast food restaurant, but also I feel as if I’ve see an Arby’s every mile and a half during every road trip I have taken. Arby’s is a common household name in most homes. Once someone says “Arby’s” I automatically think of the roast beef sandwich my dad made me taste when I was younger. But, why is it that so many fast food restaurants and even food companies leave such an impression on us? Everyone knows about the infamous McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, Red Robin’s, etc., but what makes these companies imbed in our minds? Marketing. The genius (and sometimes not-so-genius) marketing has helped these companies thrive and succeed for the many years they have been around. What made Arby’s one of the most

successful fast-food chains in the country?
Arby’s began with two brothers, Forrest and Leroy Raffel, purchasing their uncle’s restaurant equipment company in the 1950s.

Raffel Brothers Inc. started off as a small company and became one of the leading foodservice consulting firms in the country. Their company designed and built many foodservice businesses all across the country. Because of working so closely with various fast-food restaurants, the brothers noticed the potential that the fast-food industry had to offer. They wanted to branch out and do something other than the norm of every fast-food chain having a signature hamburger. While visiting a small sandwich shop in Boston, Leroy and Forrest gained inspiration form a 79 cent roast beef sandwich. Once the brothers figured out their special idea they had the trouble of thinking of a name. “Big Tex” was the original idea for the name of the franchise, but was an unsuccessful one because of the company Akron who was already using that name. The brothers liked the name Arby’s, which stands for R.B., Raffel Brothers. As said by Forrest Raffel, “We came up with Arby’s, which stands for the initials of Raffel Brother, although I guess customers might think the initials stand for roast beef”. The first Arby’s opened up in Boardman, Ohio on July 23,

1964.
Arby’s offered a new and innovated menu, separating them and giving customers more of a variety other than hamburgers.

During the 1970s, the Arby’s chain expanded an average of 50 restaurants a year. At this time the chain was perfecting and creating the timeless menu that is still known to this day: Beef’n Cheddar, Jamocha Shakes, Curly Fries, and its signature sauces. How did Arby’s become so popular so quick? Not only was the menu very different from any other fast-food menu, but also the logo and design from the inside to the outside was different as well. Of course, this brought a lot of attention because of how they differentiated themselves. In 1981, they introduced chicken to their already extensive menu and in 1993 they were the first chain fast-food restaurant to have a “Lite Menu”, which included salads and sandwiches under 400

calories.
The marketing history of Arby’s wasn't always perfect. Of course, like almost every business they experienced some issues with their marketing techniques. But, where did it all begin? Arby’s signature logo that everyone recognizes is its Hat. The first Arby’s logo was a cowboy hat with the words "Arby's Roast Beef Sandwich Is Delicious” written on the inside. This hat has been the symbol for the chain since 1969 and still is to this day, just more modernized. Arby’s has always wanted to keep their way of advertising fun, different, and informative. Coming out with the first fast-food roast beef sandwich had helped them to make a statement in a very simple way in their first commercial. The first Arby’s commercial appeared in 1972 and had a very homey feeling featuring a woman cooking and cutting a piece of roast beef in a kitchen. They proceeded to try and gain the people’s interest by telling them they cook the roast beef for four hours. This helped to explain that they (Arby’s) are the ones who are going to put forth the effort into making your experience different and amazing while eating at the franchise. Arby’s continued to express their difference in many other commercials that they created, such as the 1977 commercial. In this commercial customers repeatedly said “Arby’s is a BIG change of taste”. What would this tell you? That they were a change, a good change that people would want to taste and try. Trying to gain the customers curiosity was one of their marketing strategies and it definitely worked towards their benefit. Also they captured the friends and family aura, including kids, of Arby’s to make it seem more approachable. This continued on until the early 1990s-2000s. In the early 2000s, Arby’s changed its commercial tactic to be more funny than informative like the 2003 oven mitt commercial, which introduce more chicken sandwiches.
Arby’s went through what people have called an “Identity Crisis”. They started to die down in the fast-food industry losing almost $150,000 in sales per restaurant. Quickly after joining Arby’s, brand president and marketing boss Rob Lynch noticed there were so many issues with the way the restaurant was portraying itself and its lack of diversity. Lynch remembers hearing a customer saying she wanted chicken on the menu, so he put chicken on the menu. He explains Arby’s as “hiding in plain site”. They were stuck on what they originally were known for, not wanting to let that go. The franchise already had went through the era of them being different, but now customers wanted something that was known to them like all the other fast-food restaurant, such as a plain burger, a chicken sandwich, etc.. They started to become not that much of a big change of taste and people were already tired of the fact they were always advertising roast beef.
Lynch realized that they needed to be appealing to a wider range of customers. He saw potential in what Arby’s could become and executed those ideas. He added change to the menu and different recipes that he was sure would bring in new customers. He changed the types of commercials to be more of an in your face approach to gain more attention. The menu started to create more deals such as the 5 for $5.95 and was shown in a commercial in 2008. Arby’s started to become more and more popular again, gaining new customers and attention. Their commercials became bigger and better like the 2011 song they made up for the franchise. Being catchy and funny made it one of the most popular Arby’s commercial to this day. The commercials started to get louder and more so as an “in your face” type of commercial. The voice in the background would yell rather than just talk. The pictured of the food got bigger and looked more appetizing. Since Arby’s has been continuously adding new items to the menu, such as the 2017 gyro, the commercials showcase those items to draw in more customers and add more attention to the franchise.
Robert Lynch wanted to create a new Arby’s that was different and out of the ordinary from it’s other competitors. In 2014, the “We Have The Meats” commercial debuted and caused and uprising in customers. Lynch realizes Arby’s needed something fresh and excited, something out of the ordinary to differentiate itself from every other fast-food chain. Meat was the main thing Lynch wanted to stress since that is the core of what Arby’s was created for. He also made it appoint to make sure they introduce Pepsi into their brand again since teaming up with Pepsi. This would not only gain meat lovers attention, but also Pepsi lovers. The fearless approach of the “We Have the Meats” commercial truly paid off and this is what Robert Lynch though was going to finally help Arby’s out if its identity crisis.
Arby’s carefree and fun approach proved to be the way the franchise was going to continue its marketing style, but they took it to the next level during the 2014 Grammy Award show. Singer, songwriter, and producer Pharrell Williams stepped on stage with an Arby’s logo looking hat. Arby’s tweeted at Williams saying “Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back?”. This caused an outburst of over 60,000 likes and almost 80,000 retweets. This made the Arby’s team notice they have to let loose and work with this idea of twitter being source of marketing for them. Arby’s continued to tweet out funny and amusing comments to almost everyone including famous actors and singers. Other chain restaurants started to follow in Arby’s footsteps and do the same. Since this uprising, Arby’s has had a 50% increase in customers up to this day and has also continued their tweeting fiasco to draw in even more. Robert Lynch and the whole Arby’s team has created a new brand for the restaurant that people thought was going to eventually die out, but critics have been proved wrong.
Like many other brands, Arby’s went through ups and downs. They started out as a completely different fast-food franchise and wanted to stand out. They did for a while but their marketing started to become repetitive and boring to customers causing them to lose many. With the right marketing team Arby’s has now become one of the most successful fast-food chains in the country. They played different and started to see results. Having a “let loose” attitude is what caused them to become great again. They started a marketing trend with twitter and now they have one of the most diverse menus in the fast-food market. Robert Lynch explained that it’s not just about sales. Him and the Arby’s team wanted to make a difference not only for their benefit, but in the world of fast-food. They wanted to leave their mark and as Robert Lynch said “this is just the beginning”.