Renovation ready

Roast beef sandwiches, curly fries and mozzarella sticks will be available again Monday.

Just three weeks after closing its doors, Arby’s at the corner of Meridian and Votaw streets in Portland is set to re-open at 6 a.m. Monday with a revamped look.

Renovations began at the restaurant after it closed on the evening of July 22. The new look features a white and brown exterior with red accents. Inside there is white tile with red booths and white chairs with red cushions for seating.

The goal was a clean, crisp look, said area supervisor Seth Brooks, who oversees Arby’s locations in east-central Indiana including Winchester, Decatur, Bluffton and Marion.

“I just feel the look of it is better,” said manager Elizabeth Wolford. “It’s very inviting.”

The changes are part of the company’s effort to improve its look and comes on the heels of a similar renovation at the Winchester site earlier this summer. More than 1,000 Arby’s restaurants nationwide have undergone similar renovations in recent years.

Along with the new furniture and facade comes the addition of two flat-screen televisions and USB ports for plugging in mobile devices.

“The dining room was made to be more friendly and inviting to customers, more relaxing for them,” said Brooks. “The whole point of it is to make a better guest experience.”

The large canopy that previously covered the drive-thru window is gone, and there are now smaller canopies over both the ordering area and window. The order confirmation board at the drive-thru has also been eliminated.

There are changes on the back end as well in an effort to create a more efficient system for employees. Warming ovens have been shifted for quicker employee access, and the line will also be visible to customers.

“The guests can actually see us making the food to see that everything is being made and prepared fresh,” said Brooks.

He estimated the renovation, the first at the restaurant since it was transformed from a Hardee’s into an Arby’s in 1997, at about $400,000. He said most renovations come in at about $120,000, but more work was required at the Portland site because it has a different footprint.

Some of that additional work included expanding and upgrading the restrooms. They are larger and will no longer be single-use, with multiple stalls in each. (Employees noted that patrons should be aware that the location of the men’s and women’s restrooms has been switched.)

Work is not quite complete, as the parking lot will be paved and lined this weekend.

While that’s happening staff will continue to undergo training, which began Friday, in an effort to make sure Monday’s opening of new-look restaurant will go smoothly.

In celebration of the upgrades, Jay County Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. Monday. Brooks noted that about 10,000 coupons will be distributed over the next few weeks via email and directly to local businesses in an effort to draw traffic to the restaurant, which now seats about 100.

“It’s very refreshing, very invigorating,” said assistant manager Justin Trinidad. “I’m excited to see everyone’s smiling faces when they come in and look at this brand new store.”