What do the letters in the name Arby's refer to?

The letters in Arby's refer to Raffel Brothers, the surname and relationship of the chain's founders.

Forrest Raffel and Leroy Raffel founded the restaurant in Boardman, Ohio, in 1964. The brothers had experience in food-service equipment and wanted to create a restaurant focused on roast beef sandwiches rather than the hamburgers dominating the fast-food market. The name Arby's was formed from the initials of “R” and “B,” representing Raffel Brothers.

The name is not an abbreviation for roast beef, although the chain became closely identified with that food. Its first restaurant marketed sliced roast beef as a distinctive alternative to standard fast-food burgers. The business expanded through franchising and later added a wider range of sandwiches, sides, and desserts.

A common misunderstanding is that the apostrophe-s means the chain is named after a person called Arby. It is a possessive-style rendering of the initials in the founders' company name. The founders were brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffel.