Why Is It Called Arby’s?
Not roast beef. The name is the initials of the two brothers who founded it, and it only exists because the name they actually wanted was already taken.
The roast beef explanation is so tidy that almost everybody believes it. It is a coincidence, and a lucky one.
The brothers
Forrest Raffel, known as Fuzzy, and his brother Leroy Raffel came from New Castle, Pennsylvania. They were not casual operators who wandered into fast food.
Forrest studied at Cornell University’s School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration. Leroy studied at the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. By the 1950s they were running Raffel Brothers Inc., a restaurant equipment and consulting business, which meant they had spent years looking at other people’s restaurants before opening their own.
That background shaped the concept. They were not trying to compete with hamburger chains on price. They wanted a slightly more upmarket fast food restaurant, which is why the original product was roast beef rather than a burger.
The name they wanted first
The plan was to call it Big Tex. It suited the roast beef idea and the era.
The name was already in use, so it was unavailable. Rather than keep hunting, the brothers fell back on the simplest option available to them, which was their own surname reduced to initials. R.B. became Arby’s.
What happened after 1964
The first restaurant opened in Boardman, Ohio, just outside Youngstown, in 1964. Roast beef sandwiches were the whole offer.
The positioning was deliberately different from the burger chains that dominated the decade. Slower cooked meat, a slightly higher price, a slightly older customer. That stayed the chain’s identity for decades and is the reason its advertising eventually landed on the meats rather than on value.
Forrest Raffel died in 2008. Leroy died in 2023 at the age of 96. Speaking to a local television station in 2014, on the chain’s fiftieth anniversary, Leroy said he hoped people would remember the concept as serving high quality food, taking good care of customers and treating everybody nice.
Other names people get wrong
Arby’s is not alone in this, and the pattern is usually the same: a plausible reading arrives after the fact and beats the real one.
| Brand | Common assumption | Actual origin |
|---|---|---|
| Arby’s | Roast beef | R.B. for Raffel Brothers |
| Popeyes | Popeye the Sailor | A detective in the 1971 film The French Connection |
| KFC | Dropped to hide the word fried for legal reasons | A 1991 marketing decision about health perception |
The Popeyes story is covered in why is it called Popeyes and the KFC one in why is it called KFC.
So who owns it now?
Nobody named Raffel. The chain went through several owners and now sits inside a very large restaurant group, one that Arby’s itself did much of the buying for. That story is in who owns Arby’s.
The current lineup, prices and calories are on the Arby’s menu.
Related Questions
Why is it called Arby’s?
The name comes from R.B., the initials of the Raffel Brothers, Forrest and Leroy Raffel, who opened the first restaurant in Boardman, Ohio in 1964. It is a coincidence that R.B. also matches roast beef, and the company has never officially confirmed that reading.
Does Arby’s stand for roast beef?
No, despite how neatly it fits. The documented origin is the founders’ initials. Roast beef was the original and defining product, so the two readings overlap perfectly, which is why the roast beef explanation spread and why the company has had little reason to correct it.
Who founded Arby’s?
Brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffel from New Castle, Pennsylvania. Forrest studied at Cornell’s hotel and restaurant school and Leroy at the Wharton School, and they ran a restaurant equipment and consulting business before opening their own restaurant in 1964.
What was Arby’s originally going to be called?
Big Tex. The brothers discovered the name was already in use, so they switched to their own initials instead. If that name had been available, one of the best known fast food brands in America would have a completely different one.
Where was the first Arby’s?
Boardman, Ohio, just outside Youngstown, in 1964. The menu was built entirely around roast beef sandwiches, positioned as a slightly more upmarket alternative to the hamburger chains that dominated fast food at the time.
Why did Arby’s sell roast beef instead of burgers?
It was a deliberate differentiation. The Raffel brothers had spent years consulting on other people’s restaurants and did not want to compete with established burger chains on price. Roast beef allowed a higher price point and a different customer, and that identity stuck for decades.
Are the Raffel brothers still involved with Arby’s?
No. Forrest Raffel died in 2008 and Leroy died in 2023 at the age of 96. The chain has changed ownership several times since the brothers ran it and is now part of a large multi-brand restaurant group.
More on Arby’s
About this guide. USA Food Menu is an independent reference site and is not affiliated with Arby’s or Inspire Brands. Founding details come from published reporting and company history. Current prices and calories are on the Arby’s menu.
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