An Arby's franchise with vintage sign in Midland, Michigan. Very few locations still carry this sign.

Arby's former location inside Kilcawley Center on the campus of Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio, Arby's home market. This location closed in July 2012 when construction began to convert the space into a Wendy's.

Arby's Restaurant Group, Inc. is the second largest quick-service sandwich chain in the U.S. with more than 3,400 restaurants system wide. Roark Capital Group acquired the company in July 2011 and owns 81.5% of the company, with Wendy's Company owning the other 18.5%. In addition to its classic Roast Beef and Beef 'n Cheddar sandwiches, made in store daily, Arby's is also known for its deli-style Market Fresh line of sandwiches and salads, Curly Fries and Jamocha Shakes. In 2011, Arby's introduced Ultimate Angus, a premium, 100% Black Angus beef featured in freshly prepared sandwiches. In 2012, Arby's launched a line of premium turkey sandwiches called Hot Turkey Roasters. Its headquarters are in Sandy Springs, Georgia.

As of January 9, 2013, there were 1,013 company-owned restaurants and 2,347 franchised restaurants. There are also locations in Canada, Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. It also owns the franchise T.J. Cinnamons that, as of December 2012, has 85 locations worldwide.

History
Arby's was founded in Boardman, Ohio, in 1964 by Forrest and Leroy Raffel, owners of a restaurant equipment business who believed there was a market opportunity for a fast food franchise based on a food other than hamburgers. The brothers wanted to call their restaurants "Big Tex", but that name was already used by an Akron business. Instead, they chose the name "Arby's", based on R. B., the initials of Raffel Brothers.

The Raffel brothers opened the first new restaurant in Boardman, Ohio, just outside Youngstown, on July 23, 1964. They initially served only roast beef sandwiches, potato chips, and soft drinks. A year later, the first Arby's licensee opened a restaurant in Akron, Ohio. The famous Arby's "hat" was designed by the original sign makers, Peskin Sign Co. Expansion to other states began in 1968, beginning in Pittsburgh (the closest large out-of-state market to Youngstown) and Detroit. The restaurants were initially designed to be more upscale than their hamburger competitors.

During the 1970s, the expansion of Arby's took place at a rate of 50 stores per year. During this time it created several menu items, including the Beef 'n Cheddar, jamocha shakes, curly fries and two signature sauces: Arby's BBQ sauce and horsey sauce. In 1981 it added chicken along with opening store number 1,000. It became the first restaurant in the fast food industry to offer a complete "lite" menu in 1991 with several sandwiches and salads under 300 calories and 94 percent fat free.

In 1984, Southeastern Public Service Company, a DWG Corporation subsidiary, purchased Arby's. With a new owner of DWG Corporation and a new name, Triarc Companies, Inc., a former PepsiCo executive, Don Pierce, was brought in to "resurrect" Arby's. With $100 million additional funding, Pierce moved to a new "Roast Town" concept, similar in format to Boston Market. In 1997, the Roast Town concept received poor marks in market tests. Pierce and his team left the company and it sold all of its 354 company-owned locations to RTM Restaurant Group, an existing Arby's franchise, for $71 million.

In 2002, Arby's returned to operating restaurants by purchasing the second largest Arby's franchisee, Sybra Inc., with 293 locations out of bankruptcy outbidding RTM so as to prevent RTM from becoming too large. RTM was purchased by Arby's on July 25, 2005.

In 2008, Triarc purchased Wendy's, and changed its name to Wendy's/Arby's Group, to reflect their core businesses. In January, 2011, it was announced that Wendy's/Arby Group were looking into selling the Arby's side of the business to focus on the Wendy's brand. It was officially announced the companies would split on January 21, 2011. On June 13, 2011, Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc. announced that it would sell the majority of its Arby's chain to Roark Capital Group, maintaining an 18.5% stake in the company.