I was really surprised how dated some of those Portland/Seattle Arbys units were considering they were corporate operated units. A lot of franchise Arby's units closed 12-15 years ago that were just untouched inside from the 80's- orange booths, brown carpet, real throwbacks. Then the early 90's ones with lots of gray and pink inside. Again very dated. The mid to late 90's ones were much nicer, those don't seem to be getting remodeled much, and seem dated now but don't "scream" dated the way the 80's and early 90's units did (there is still one of those in Reno run by the Las Vegas/Chicago franchisee- they closed all of their other units up here and don't run many of the corporate promotions, they still use 1992 era Panasonic cash registers which I am shocked still work).Super S wrote: ↑October 31st, 2020, 7:00 pm
Some in this group were really dated, including several that were former Arctic Circle locations that still had outside access restrooms. Moving the restrooms inside has been part of the remodels, although the placement of these, as well as drink machines (which were previously behind the counter), is weird in a few instances as they have been crammed into an existing footprint. Some of those seem like they are at a point where a rebuild would have been justified.
There is a franchise Arby's in Carson City which over the years was absolutely horrible. It was dirty, run down, cold food. It only stayed in business as all the fast food surrounding it closed over the years as new roads brought a lot less traffic through the area (Long John Silvers, Burger King, and Carl's Jr. in immediate vicinity all closed) but there was still demand for some fast food and Arby's and Carl's were the last two standing. Carl's which actually did very well lost their location in a shopping center renovation (landlord would not give them a space elsewhere on the lot) so Arby's became last man standing. The former owner was looking to retire and put the location up for sale, but first did a light remodel on the location but the execution did not get much better (they put in a cement floor, real hack job). It was for sale for a while. I suspect it didn't make much money. Eventually, it got new ownership. The turnaround in the operation has been very impressive. The owning family is always in the location operating it and the employees are very well trained. The food is prepared correctly and served at the correct temperature. A full remodel was done on the location within a year of their purchase. They run all of the corporate promotions. The location does very well now. So it shows this Arby's system, if the unit is operated properly, can work. Limited competition certainly helps but that isn't the only factor.