Arby’s Is Being Sued for Allegedly Deceiving Its Customers

Arby’s is known for having the meat. While the roast beef sandwiches and curly fries are menu staples, the fast food chain recently made a splash with the return of the Loaded Italian Sandwich, then quickly amped up the hype with the debut of a brand-new menu item: steak nuggets. Now, the fast food chain is in the spotlight for a different reason—and it’s not quite as delicious as bite-sized beef. 

Arby’s Is Being Sued for Misleading Customers

It turns out that Arby’s may not “have the meats”—or at least a class action lawsuit in New York suggests so. In September 2023, Joseph Alongis filed a class action complaint against Arby’s Restaurant Group Inc. in the United States District Court, claiming that Arby’s engages in a widespread, systematic campaign of deceptive advertising when it comes to the quantity and quality of meat in several of its signature sandwiches. To the plaintiff, the brand is misleading consumers, enticing them to pay for a product that is significantly less valuable than advertised.

According to the case, Arby’s is falsely advertising both the quantity and quality of meat included in its sandwiches across its advertising channels, including in-store menus, drive-thru displays, on the chain’s website, and in featured photos on third-party fast food delivery apps.

When it comes to the quantity of the meat, the suit alleges that the sandwiches featured in Arby’s ads contain “at least 100% more meat” than those purchased in stores, which the plaintiff argues is false advertising. According to the plaintiff, Arby’s achieves this hyperbolic effect through several deceptive techniques, such as placing all of the meat at the front of the sandwich during photoshoots or using other props to exaggerate the portion size. Consumers are thus lured into purchasing “Overstated Menu Items,” expecting a large, meat-packed sandwich, but instead receive a product with significantly fewer ingredients. Consumers allege that they would not have purchased Arby’s sandwiches at full cost, if at all, had they known exactly what the sandwich looked like and how much meat it contained. 

As for quality misrepresentation, the photos in various Arby’s marketing campaigns show sandwiches with meats that look like rare roast beef, when the products from the fast food chain are actually “fully cooked.” While fully cooked meat may not seem like a major red flag in terms of health hazards, Arby’s sandwiches don’t feature rare roast beef as advertised. Thus, the sandwiches fail to meet the quality standard depicted in the promotional materials.

Arby’s filed a motion to dismiss the false advertising case, claiming that the photos “amounted to non-actionable puffery.” The court rejected the company’s argument, ruling that the featured photos do not consist of “subjective statements of opinion.”

Despite the 2023 filing date, Arby’s lawsuit is still up in the air—especially since the court denied the motion to dismiss the case just last week. As of right now, there is no settlement at this time, but the plaintiff is seeking two types of relief: Monetary Damages in compensation for the represented consumers who paid a higher price for sandwiches due to the false advertising, and Injunctive Relief, which is a court order requiring Arby’s to either correct its misleading advertisements or stop selling the overstated menu items altogether.

Litigation is ongoing, so be sure to check in and stay up to date. Hopefully, by the time this is all said and done, Arby’s will really have the meat—and it will be advertised as such.