🠈  Arby's / Inspire Brands  🠊

Arby's / Inspire Brands

Arby's is an international chain of fast food restaurants known for its roast beef sandwiches. The company is currently held by Inspire Brands which, in turn, is owned by Roark Capital.

Corporate History

The corporate history of Arby's poses a challenge. The restaurant was acquired by a conglomerate that then changed its name to "Arby's Corporation." So, I decided to start this story with the conglomerate. You can skip to Arby's

The group came under the control of Victor Posner who was a pioneer in leveraged buyouts. Posner owned controlling interest in an investment firm. The investment firm bought controlling interest in DWG. DWG then bought controlling interest in other companies including RC Cola which owned Arby's. Posner would saddle the companies with debt and buy more companies. Possner created a mess of most the companies he bought.

The video talks explains the history of Arby's as a series of rises and falls. Essentially, when the owners view the chain as a cash cow, it goes down in quality. When the owners like Arby's the restaurants improve.

To make matters even more confusing: Arby's acquired Wendy's. Arby's then sold Arby's and changed its name to Wendy's. The company that bought Arby's, Roark, revamped the chain and introduced "We've got the meat" campaign. The new Arby's went on a buying spree. Arby's holding company changed its name to Inspire Brands. Inspire acquired Buffalo Wild Wings, Rusty Tacos, Sonic Drive Ins and Jimmy John's

• 1884: Deisel-Wemmer Co of Ohio began inporting cigars.
• 1929: An investment group aquired the firm and incorporated as Deisel-Wemmer-Gilbert Corporation (DWG).
• 1930: DWG purchased Odin cigars.
• 1939: DWB acquired Bernard Schwartz Cigar Corporation
• 1946: DWG shortened its name to DWG Cigar Corporation.
• 1948: DWG acquired Nathan Elson Company.
• 1955: DWG acquired A. Sensenbrenner & Sons.
• 1956: DWG acquired Chicago Motor Club Cigar.
• 1956: DWG acquired Yocum Brothers based in Reading, Pa.
• Suddenly, out of the blue, people realized that cigars smelled bad and caused health problems. So DWG decided to diversify.
• 1965: DWG was delisted from the NYSE.
• 1966: DWG closed factories and sold its cigar business and changed its name to DWG Corporation.
• 1966: DWG bought a 12% share in National Propane Corporation.
• 196?: Victor Posner, who headed Security Management Company acquired DWG with the idea that he could use it as a vehicle for leveraged buyouts.
• 1967: DWG acquired Wilson Brothers. Founded in Chicago in 1893, the company made shirts.
  • 1975: Enro Shirts acquired Wilson Brothers.
• 1969: Posner gained control of Sharon Steel which had little debt and well funded pension ... which Posner leveraged.
• 1969-1907: Posner gained majority interest in Southeastern Public Service Company.
• 1982: Posner gained control of Graniteville Company.
• 1984: Posner invested in Axia Incorporated
• 1984: Posner invested in Evans Products.
• 1984: Posner invested in Fischbach Corp..
• 1985: Southeastern Public Service Company gained control of RC Cola (which owned Arby's)

  History of Royal Crown Cola

  • 1901: Cole-Hampton-Hatcher Grocery Store opened in Columbus, Ga.
  • 1903: The Hatcher family took full control and shortened name to Hatcher Grocery Store.
  • 1905: Hatcher had a dispute about the price of Coca-Colo syrup. So he opened his own bottling plant called Union Bottling Works.
  • 1910: The company took the name Chero Cola.
  • 1924: Chero introduced a line with different flavors called Nehi.
  • 1925: Chero took the name Nehi.
  • 1934: A chemist name Rufus Kamm reformulated Chero which was rebranded as Royal Crown Cola.
  • 1958: The company introduced Diet Rite, the world's first diet cola.
  • 1976: RC acquired Arby's for $18 million.

  The Founding of Arbys

  • 1964: Leroy and Forrest Raffel opened their first store in Youngston, Oh. It had the name "R-B" which stood for "Raffels Brothers".
  • 1967: The chain had 100 stores.
  • 1970: The chain had 300 stores in 37 states.
  • 1970: The company attempted to hold an IPO. The market collapse just before the IPO date and they withdrew the offering.
  • 1971: Failing to hold the IPO, the company filed Chapter 11.
  • 1975: They had 500 stores.
  • 1976: Royal Crown Cola acquired RBs for $18 million.
  • 1979: RC moved Arby's headquarters to Atlanta.
  • 197?: Arby's added burgers to the menu.
• 198?: Posner appointed Leonard Roberts, who had worked at Ralston Purina as chief executive of Arby's. Roberts pulled the burgers from the menu.
• 1989: Arby's grew to 2,100 restaurants with sales over $1 billion.
• 1987: Posner was convicted of tax evasion and received a $7 million fine and investigated for insider trading.
• 198?: Leonard and a group of franchises attempted to buy Arby's from Posner for $200 million. Posner rejected the bid and fired Leonard. Arby's began to clein
• 1991: Posner moved headquarters to Miami.
• 1992: Posner stepped down from DWG. He got $77 million for the sale of his shares.
• 1993: The New York Federal District Court barred Posner and his son from controlling public companies and forced them to repay money taken from the firms.
• 1993: The Train Group, led by Nelson Peltz and Peter May, acquired DWG
  • Previously, Trian owned Triangle Industries which owned American Can. Trian sold American Can to Pechiney S.A. for $1.36 billion.
• 1993: Trian changed the name of DWG to Triarc.
• 1993: The Arby's chain, which now had 2,600 locations, moved to Fort Lauderdale.
• 1995: Triarc acquired Mistic Brands which is a line of flavored drinks.
• 1997: Triarc acquired Snapple from Quaker Oats.
• 1999: Triarc sold National Propane
• 2000: Cadbury acquired Snapple, RC Cola and Mistic for $1.45 billion in cash and debt.
• 2002: Arby's acquired a bankrupt franchise called Sybra Inc. which had 293 Arby locations.
• 2005: Triarc acquired RTM Restaurant Group which held 775 Arby's in 22 states for $720 million.⁴
• 2008: Triarc aquired Wendy's and changed its name to Wendy's/Arby's Group.
• 2011: Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc sold Arby's to Roark Capital Group which created Arby's Restaurant Group, Inc. ARG.
• 2017: Roark acquired Buffalo Wild Wings which also owned Rusty Taco as subsidiaries of Arby's. Roark then changed the name of ARG to Inpsire Brands.
• 2018: Inspire moved its headquarters to Sandy Springs, Ga.
• 2018: Inspire acquired Sonic Drive-In for $2.3 billion.
• 2019: Inspire acquired Jimmy John's.

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References:

1. Funding Universe - Arby's (Drawn 10/29/2019)
2. Wikipedia - Arby's (Drawn 10/29/2019)
3. Wikipedia - Victor Posner (Drawn 10/29/2019)
4. BusinessWire - Triarc acquires RTM (Drawn 10/29/2019)
5. Funding Universe - Triarc (Drawn 10/29/2019)
6. Encyclopedia.com - Triarc (Drawn 10/29/2019)
7. Wikipedia - RC Cola (Drawn 10/29/2019)
8. Hospitality Tech - Roark Acquires Arby's (Drawn 10/29/2019)
9. CNN Money - Snapple Schwepped Up (Drawn 10/29/2019)

Directory Listings:

• Cochise County - Dining: Arby's
• Coconino County - Dining: Arby's
• Gila County - Dining: Arby's
• Graham County - Dining: Arby's
• Mohave County - Dining: Arby's
• Navajo County - Dining: Arby's
• Phoenix Color - Fast Foods: Arby's
• Pima County - Fast Foods: Arby's / Inspire Brands
• Pinal County - Dining: Arby's
• Yavapai County - Dining: Arby's
• Yuma County - Dining: Arby's
• Boulder Color - Fast Foods: Arby's / Inspire Brands
• Colorado Springs Color - Fast Food: Arby's
• Denver Color - Fast Food: Arby's / Inspire Brands
• Fort Collins Color - Fast Foods: Arby's
• Garfield Colorado Links - Dining: Arby's
• Grand Junction - Fast Food: Arby's / Inspire Brands
• Pueblo Color - Dining: Arby's
• Missoula Websites - Fast Food: Arby's
• Box Elder County - Dining: Arby's
• Carbon County Color - Dining: Arby's
• Cedar City - Dining: Arby's
• Davis County - Dining: Arby's
• Duchesne County - Duchesne Color: Arby's
• Juab County - Juab County Color: Arby's
• Logan Utah - Dining: Arby's
• Ogden, Utah - Fast Food: Arby's
• Park City, Utah - Fast Foods: Arby's
• Provo Utah - Fast Foods: Arby's / Inspire Brands
• Saint George - Fast Foods: Arby's
• Salt Lake Sites - Fast Foods: Arby's
• Sevier County - Sevier Color: Arby's
• Tooele - Dining: Arby's
• Vernal, Utah. US - Dining: Arby's
• Wasatch Color - Dining: Arby's
• Cheyenne, Wyoming. US - Dining: Arby's
• Laramie, Wyoming - Dining: Arby's

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