Fancy a side order of curly fries with your roast beef sandwich? Perhaps you would instead prefer them piled on top of the sliced meat accented with cheddar, horsey and house sauce served between two sesame seed buns?
That’s the question diners at Arby’s quick service restaurants in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, have been pondering lately, as the American chain has been trialing the “Arbynator” in those locations for the past few weeks.
Of course, size matters, so customers have to decide whether to order the Classic, Double or Half-Pound version of the meaty menu offering. So far such weighty decisions are being made exclusively by folks in the two test markets. Management has thus far been mum about prospects for a national rollout, as netizens are increasingly asking them to “break their silence.”
Egypt Expansion Soon
Meanwhile, on December 12 the Atlanta, Georgia-headquartered Arby’s Restaurant Group (ARG) announced that a development agreement has been reached with Vantage Egypt for Tourism and Entertainment (Vantage Egypt) to build 50 Arby’s restaurants in the most populous nation in North Africa during 2018.
“We are excited to welcome Vantage Egypt into the Arby’s family and look forward to working with them,” said Paul Brown, chief executive officer of ARG. “They are experienced restaurant operators who will do a fantastic job expanding our brand throughout country.”
“I am very happy about working with a successful brand like Arby’s,” said Mohamed Halawa, owner of Vantage Egypt. “We are very determined to make Arby’s one of the most successful restaurant concepts in the Egyptian market.”
This agreement will add to Arby’s growing footprint in the region, where the brand is also opening restaurants in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia through its Kharafi Global franchisee.
ARG, a unit of the private equity firm Roark Capital Group, claims to be the second-largest sandwich restaurant brand in the world with more than 3,300 restaurants in seven countries. Earlier this month it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Minneapolis, Minnesota-headquartered Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant chain for $157 per share in a deal valued at approximately $2.9 billion.
