Oh deer, Arby’s sells out venison sandwiches

Apparently, Nashvillians love the idea of a deer steak on a bun.

The Nashville Arby’s that was the first of 17 locations in the country to offer venison sandwiches sold out on the first day — Monday — effectively ending a promotion that was scheduled to continue through Thursday.

“We struck a nerve, in a good way, with hunters,” said Luke DeRouen of Arby’s, confirming that the Nashville site went through more than 250 sandwiches in 5 hours. “Some people drove from an hour away to try it,” he said.

The promotionmoves to Atlanta later in the week and then on to Wisconsin andMinnesota.

The venison comes from farm- raised red deer in New Zealand because the USDA won’t allow restaurants to sell wild- harvested animals.

“Everyone thought we we were going to serve shaved venison,” said Luke DeRouen, Arby’s senior director of brand communications, who was in town for the sandwich launch. Instead, the company chose 5.5- ounce cuts of top and bottom round steak.

According to DeRouen, the steaks are cooked sous vide ( vacuum- sealed and slow- cooked in hot water baths) at 135 degrees for 31⁄ hours, shipped to the restaurants for reheating and served with a Cabernet sauce seasoned with crushed juniper berries and crispy fried onions on top.

The sandwich is part of a promotion to meld Arby’s “We have the meat” slogan with “It’s meat season” to attract customers that hunt. The Nashville store sported a camouflagemotif.

Arby’s limited the sale to two sandwiches per customer. After an hour and 15 minutes on Monday, the store had sold 100.