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Boardman Arby’s to have grand opening Dec. 7
By Kalea Hall
BOARDMAN
More than 50 years after Arby’s opened in Boardman, its chief executive officer is returning to formally celebrate the rebirth of that first restaurant.
On Wednesday, Arby’s CEO Paul Brown will come back for the grand reopening of the Boardman Arby’s at 29 Boardman-Canfield Road.
“It’s always nice to go back to where the brand began,” Brown said. “When I first saw this restaurant, [I thought] it would be nice to get this restaurant into the new brand image. It’s a good symbol of where the brand came from and where it’s going.”
Atlanta-based Arby’s was started in 1964 across the street from the current Boardman location by brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffel of New Castle., Pa.
Early on, the restaurant became well-known for its roast-beef sandwiches and Jamocha Shakes. By 1967, there were 150 outlets. Today there are more than 3,300 locations in four countries: the U.S., Canada, Qatar and Turkey.
Soon, Arby’s will make a move to the Middle East with locations in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
“We are really turning our attention to increase our pace of unit growth,” Brown said.
Earlier this week, the Boardman location had a soft opening, and 50 customers received free Arby’s meals for one year. The rebuilt eatery follows the company’s “Inspire” style, which it launched two years ago.
According to the company’s website, “Arby’s Inspire design features wood tones, white brick, upgraded lighting, upgraded landscaping, subway tiles, stainless steel finishes and chalkboard graphics.”
“It’s a very different look and feel,” Brown said. “It really has that nice comfortable feeling to it. We are very pleased with the results.”
The new image has given the transformed restaurants a boost in year-over-year sales of up to 15 percent.
“We will end this year with about 500 in the new image,” Brown said.
Arby’s also is pleased with the results from its ad campaign “We Have the Meats,” which also launched two years ago.
“We wanted to focus on the fact that we have these great proteins and great meats,” Brown said. “It got the message across. It makes you think of Arby’s.”
On Wednesday, Brown and others will be in town for the special grand-opening celebration for the Boardman Arby’s that includes a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m.
“It’s just really great to come back to the birthplace of the brand,” Brown said. “I am really, really happy we are going to have our latest, greatest concept where the brand started over 50 years ago.
“I want to say ‘thank you’ to the community for being a great customer of Arby’s.”