Where’s the beef? Arby’s has lots of it

In an age when fast-food restaurants feel pressured to tout healthy fare, one chain stands unabashedly apart with a focus on what it perceives heartland diners want most: Meat.

Lots of it, and not just the roast beef sandwiches that gave Arby’s its start 53 years ago. Now, with the advertising tag line of “We have the meats,” it offers everything from poultry to pork.

“Our brand has always been about big meat, high-protein sandwiches,” said Arby’s president Rob Lynch. “We probably were not doing as good a job of promoting that. We got caught in the rut of being just a roast beef place.”

An emphasis on meat looks like a winning strategy. Last year, Arby’s says it saw annual U.S. sales of $3.7 billion up from $3.5 billion in 2015. At the same time, sales at restaurants open at least a year rose 3.8 per cent last year compared to the year before.

Arby’s takes a no-apologies approach to its menu. To fend off fast-food critics and freshen its image, some major chains promote items that offer a counterpoint to their grease bombs.

Burger King sells sliced apples. McDonald’s serves kale. KFC offers grilled, not just it namesake fried, chicken. Taco Bell has a “Fresco” option that replaces mayo-based sauces, cheeses and other higher-calorie condiments with pico de gallo. Before spokesperson Jared Fogle went to prison in an sex scandal, Subway plugged its sandwiches as a way to lose weight. Lynch doesn’t buy it. “Some of our competitors have struggled the last few years. They’re trying to be everything to everyone,” he explained. “We’re sticking with our strategy.”

The fast-food industry is known for incestuous copying and Arby’s is now seeing other chains take aim at their equity. Lynch cited McDonald’s new Signature Crafted sandwich line and Chick-fil-A’s limited-time Smokehouse BBQ Bacon Sandwich as examples.

Analysts have taken notice as well. They see Arby’s as a winner for carving out a unique position in a crowded fast-food market.

Arby’s is squarely back in the quick-service restaurant sandwich category, a segment of the industry which visits increased by seven per cent in the year ending June 2017 compared to a year ago, according to the NPD Group.

“The increase in customer traffic at these restaurants is evidence that there is a large segment of customers who like a lot of meat on their sandwiches,” said Bonnie Riggs, a restaurant industry analyst at the research firm.

“It comes as no surprise that this group is primarily made up of men,” she added.