American restaurant chain Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc., which began in the 1960s selling roast-beef sandwiches and is controlled by private equity firm Roark Capital Group, is looking to expand in the Middle East starting with 25 locations over the next seven years, starting with Saudi and Kuwait. According to the company’s CEO, Paul Brown, US brands do well in the Middle East which he described as a meat-oriented culture, adding that the restaurants will substitute beef for pork in bacon and will also sell chicken. The new restaurants, which would mostly be stand-alone, will be located on the bottom floor of urban office buildings, will be owned and operated by Kharafi Global, which also runs Johnny Rockets restaurants in the region. This marks the first international expansion for Arby’s since 2010, when it agreed to open 100 restaurants in Turkey. (Bloomberg)