Arby’s, the fast-crafted restaurant brand with more than 3,300 restaurants worldwide, achieved U.S. system same-store sales (SSS) growth of 9.6 percent in the third quarter of 2015, outperforming a sample of the larger quick-service chains by 7.4 percentage points. Comparable two-year SSS are up 20 percent.
A significant majority of the brand’s sales increase was attributed to traffic growth. This is the brand’s 20th consecutive quarter of SSS growth and 11th consecutive quarter of quick-service industry outperformance.
“Arby’s momentum in 2015 is driven by our proven formula of product innovation, breakthrough marketing, and ‘make it right’ service culture,” says Paul Brown, CEO of Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc. “I’m particularly pleased that the majority of our sales growth this quarter was driven by an increase in transactions, a key indicator of a vibrant and growing brand. We continue to see our long-time Arby’s fans visit our restaurants more often in addition to new guests experiencing our deli-inspired, delicious sandwiches for the first time.”
Highlights for the quarter include:
· Inspiring Culture and Service: Continued cascade of “Brand Champs” guest experience training to 21,000 company team members and to more than 30,000 franchise employees. Arby's Brand Champ training is designed to train, trust, and empower restaurant-level team members to deliver a “Fast Crafted” experience that serves, refreshes, and delights Arby’s guests.
· Product Pipeline: In September, Arby’s introduced Sliders, a lineup of five meaty mini sandwiches featuring four of the same high quality proteins offered on the core menu: chicken, corned beef, ham, and roast beef with or without jalapeños. During the month of September, Arby’s guests responded by purchasing 29 million Sliders—that’s nearly 1 million per day and roughly 300 Sliders sold daily per Arby’s restaurant across America.
· Revitalization & Development: Arby’s is continuing an aggressive revitalization and development effort. As of Q3, the Arby’s system has remodeled 95 restaurants, while building an additional 31 restaurants. The brand is on track to remodel more than 160 restaurants and build 60 new restaurants by the end of the year.
· Brand Visibility: Arby’s created several brand-defining programs in Q3 that drove significant consumer engagement and positive awareness. The first was the brand’s Vegetarian Support hotline, which was introduced to help protect vegetarians from the urges from the brand’s new Brown Sugar Bacon. Additionally, Arby’s inserted the brand into the pop-culture conversation of the year with its activation around Jon Stewart’s retirement from “The Daily Show.”
Arby’s remains on track with its goal to surpass $4 billion in total system-wide sales by the end of 2018. Arby’s has produced an 8.9 percent increase in U.S. system SSS through the first three quarters of 2015 versus one year ago.
