Arby's
American sandwich drive-thru chain founded in 1964 in Boardman, Ohio, with more than 3,400 restaurants in seven countries, owned by Roark Capital-backed Inspire Brands.
Industry: Restaurants and franchising | Location: Sandy Springs, United States | Founded: 1964
About Arby's
Arby's is an American sandwich restaurant chain and one of six brands owned by Inspire Brands. Inspire's website lists more than 3,500 Arby's restaurants in seven countries, and the 2026 biography of Arby's brand president David Graves refers to over 3,400 franchise and corporate restaurants. Wikipedia gives a lower figure of 3,206 locations as of August 2026. Inspire lists Arby's as a sandwich drive-thru chain in the United States.
According to Wikipedia, Arby's was founded on 23 July 1964 in Boardman, Ohio, by the brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffel. It later passed through several owners, including Triarc, which became Wendy's/Arby's Group in 2008, and in July 2011 Roark Capital acquired 81.5 percent of Arby's Restaurant Group. Nation's Restaurant News reported in September 2026 that Paul Brown was hired as Arby's chief executive in 2013 and turned the chain around, and that this success led to the creation of Inspire Brands after Arby's acquired Buffalo Wild Wings.
Inspire Brands says it was launched in February 2018 and owns Arby's, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin', Jimmy John's and SONIC. Its site reports more than 33,400 restaurants in 55 global markets, about 650,000 corporate and franchise team members and 33.4 billion dollars of global system sales in 2025. Nation's Restaurant News describes Inspire as owned by Roark Capital and reported that it filed confidentially for an initial public offering earlier in 2026.
David Graves is brand president of Arby's. His biography says he previously served as president of Pizza Hut, spent four years at KFC and held roles at Procter & Gamble for 13 years, and that he holds a bachelor's degree from Purdue University. Brown is Inspire's co-founder and chief executive; in September 2026 Nation's Restaurant News reported that he was taking a leave and that Scott Murphy, Dunkin's brand president, would be interim chief executive.
Wikipedia lists Arby's locations in Canada, Costa Rica, Egypt, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Turkey, and records a Saudi Arabian franchise deal in 2009 and a January 2022 agreement for Riyadh restaurants.
Leadership
- David Graves, Brand President, Arby's
- Paul Brown, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Inspire Brands
- Neal Aronson, Founder and Managing Partner, Roark Capital; co-founder of Inspire Brands