The Fast Food Roast Beef Chain Piling Juicy Sandwiches Long Before Arby's

When you think of fast food chains doing roast beef sandwiches, it's almost certain that your mind leaps straight to Arby's. After all, it says "Roast Beef Sandwich" right there on the sign, at least sometimes. But one chain got there over a decade before Arby's, and you may well know it if you're from New England: Kelly's.

While Arby's was founded in 1964 in Boardman, Ohio with the roast beef sandwich as the centerpiece of its menu, Kelly's opened in 1951. Neither can claim credit for inventing roast beef sandwiches, though: They were around in Chicago at least another two decades earlier.

Business partners Frank V. McCarthy and Raymond Carey opened Kelly's as a hot dog shack on Revere Beach, Massachusetts (northeast of Boston), naming it after a friend. Roast beef came in early on, when the pair salvaged a bunch of roast beef from a canceled wedding nearby, turning it into a sandwich featuring thin-sliced roast beef piled high on a soft roll with barbecue sauce, mayo, and cheese. Kelly's built its reputation on fresh-roasting beef and carving it to order, rather than relying on pre-portioned deli meat.

It caught on, and roast beef sandwiches soon became ubiquitous around Boston's North Shore, many of which were from businesses competing with Kelly's. Kelly's took a different path than Arby's, which pretty much conquered the country, while Kelly's stuck to New England (with a brief foray into Florida much later). Perhaps surprisingly, it's not actually clear when the chain started expanding, but it seems to have never gone past around 15 locations in total.

Over time, Kelly's menu grew beyond roast beef to include seafood plates, burgers, and classic clam chowder, reflecting its New England seaside roots. Kelly's still exists, and its current-day menu is really quite broad, featuring those items alongside roast beef sliders, fast food staples like mozzarella sticks and chicken tenders, lobster rolls, salads, grilled chicken sandwiches, and even a Reuben. That said, it's still pretty broadly known for its roast beef sandwich above all else. There's even slang for ordering the classic version with barbecue sauce, mayo, and cheese: "Three-way." Yet Kelly's remained pretty firmly a regional chain, which Bostonians may nostalgically associate with summery beach trips.

Although Kelly's arguably has a nostalgic vibe, the restaurant is still going fairly strong. It remained family owned (that is, within the two founders' families) until 2025 when it was sold to a private equity firm. It had been expanding in recent years, most notably with several locations in Florida, but within about a year of the private equity takeover, these locations were mostly closed; none of them are listed on the chain's website anymore. However, it still has eight locations: Seven in Massachusetts and one in New Hampshire. Despite the closures, the chain may not be in decline: Its new owners reportedly planned a number of new locations, but sticking far closer to home in New England.