Kelly's Roast Beef Plans To Rebrand And Franchise

REVERE, MA —Kelly's Roast Beef is going to look a little different soon, as the North Shore staple plans to start a franchise for the first time.

The 71-year-old business with four locations scattered across the North Shore is famous for its roast beef sandwiches, hearty plates of fried seafood, and apparent "take-out girl" from "Good Will Hunting."

With locations in Revere, Saugus, Medford, and Boston's Logan Airport, the business now wants to compete with other well-known food establishments, expanding throughout Massachusetts and beyond.

Having survived the pandemic, the restaurant also has plans to remodel, as the company has hired Marlo Marketing, a marketing agency based in Boston to refresh and update the green pinstripes and carousel-themed dining rooms. According to the Boston Globe, the four current locations have no plans to change their original look - yet.

The firm even updated the logo - it's still a cartoon picture of chef Kelly, but this time it's in color, with him holding a frappe, a lobster, and a roast beef sandwich on a tray, the Globe first reported.

Original plans for expansion were first eyed in 2020, when franchising.com said the restaurant would open six new restaurants over the next two years in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but hinted that the chain has larger goals of opening up to 50 new locations over the next five years.

According to the Globe, those plans are already underway, as the first three franchise locations are expected to open later this year - two locations in Florida and one in Salem, NH.

Kelly's lays claim to having invented the roast beef sandwich when it opened its first restaurant in 1951 along Revere Beach.