Arby's is growing in the midst of the year's economic challenges. Arby's Restaurant Group Inc., a subsidiary of Wendy's/Arby's Group Inc., has announced that it has signed agreements in the first half of 2009 with 11 new and seven existing franchisees for the development of 47 new Arby's restaurants in the United States and Canada.
During the first quarter of 2009, Arby's signed development agreements with the following existing franchisees:
- Mike Melenchuk — A franchisee with one Arby's restaurant in Nova Scotia has signed a development agreement to open 11 more Arby's throughout Canada.
- Michael Brandy — A franchisee with Arby's since 1988, he owns and operates four restaurants in Ohio and Kentucky and has signed on to open three additional Arby's in Kenton, Kentucky.
- Abdul Malik Hashim — A franchisee who operates two Arby's stores in Los Angeles, has signed a development agreement to open two more in Houston.
- Love's Country Stores — An Arby's franchisee for 10 years, the company operates 36 Arby's stores in 19 states and has signed a development agreement amendment to add two more in South Carolina and Texas.
- J & J Ostrowski Enterprises — Brother and sister team Jeremy and Jennifer Ostrowski have been a part of the Arby's system since 1987. They own and operate 13 Arby's stores in Michigan and Wisconsin and have signed a development agreement to add one more in Michigan.
- John Nickle — A franchisee who operates two restaurants in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, has signed on to open one more in Red Deer, Alberta.
- Schiappa Restaurants Inc. — Franchisee Michael Schiappa operates four Arby's restaurants in the Buffalo, N.Y. market and has signed an agreement for the development of one more Arby's, in Depew, N.Y.
Arby's new franchisees who recently signed development agreements in the following locations include:
- Mourad Elayan — Seven Arby's restaurants throughout New Jersey
- James Hickey — Five restaurants in Honolulu
- Shamsuddin Panjwani — Three Arby's in Texas
- Mandhir Dhillon — Two Arby's in Ontario, Canada
- Rajiv Johar — Two Arby's restaurants in Kentucky
- Gregory Parish — Two Arby's stores in Colorado
- Kaushik Patel — One Arby's in Pennsville, N.J.
- Nick Menley — One Arby's in Colorado
- Chetan Parikh and Raju Shah — One Arby's restaurant in Texas
- Scott Stewart — One Arby's store in Simi Valley, Calif.
- Dalal Taouk — One restaurant in Westbank, British Columbia, Canada
