A few days ago, we told you about Mark’s Arby’s Roast Beef sandwich which was made with beef-confetti rather than the slices of beef which are normally served. Mark fired off a letter to Arby’s and actually received a reply. In case you were losing sleep thinking about how such an enigmatic sandwich came to be, Arby’s supplies an explanation. Original not-safe-for-lunch photo and Arby’s response, inside…
Mark writes,
I sent in a complaint through the Arby’s website and, shockingly, I got a really great, and fast, response. This may actually get me to eat at Arby’s more than once every other month…
Well… Maybe not.
Response below:
—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—–
Mark,
I want to apologize for the product you received at the Arby’s on San Mateo location. I just spoke to the manager and supervisor in charge of this location and informed me they had a mechanical issue with the slicer. They should have explained to you they were having an issue with this piece of equipment. We now have another slicer that is working. I know this is not an excuse for providing this type of product, however I am be putting a couple of free meals in the mail as I am writing this email.
Again, I do apologize and we have taken care of this equipment issue. I hope you will return.
Sincerely,
Gary Chaves
Vice President – Operations
Never having operated a commercial meat slicer it’s difficult to gauge the validity of this explanation which really leaves more questions than answers. How does a slicer go from “slice” to “puree?” Then again, maybe we don’t want to know the awful truth behind the beef-confetti.
PREVIOUSLY: Arby’s Roast Beef Sandwich, Now With Beef Confetti?
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YAY to Arby’s corporate for replying without using a robot.
BOO to them for lying.
Will consumers ever win?
Mmmm, beefetti
At least they were prompt about the apology and tried to make it right, though the explanation is doubtful. It sounds more like some lazy kid didnt want to slice up more meat and just used the nasty bits left over from other sandwiches.
I was a manager for Arby’s for about 4 years and I can tell you with absolute certainty that when a slicer needs new blades this is the result every time. Here’s the problem. With a sharp bladed slicer, you can cut beef very thin without a problem. With a dull slicer, you either make super-thick slices or you try to cut somewhat thin and get the slices torn up by the not-sharp-enough blade. Super-thick slices would result in every sandwich having 1 slice of beed and still being too big, so anyone would try to cut hem thin and result in the “confetti” that you see there. The real solution is new blades for the slicer.
@worksintheory:
Why do you think they’re lying?
Slicer breaks. They can’t immediately replace or fix it.
They choose to offer “chopped beef” sandwiches to customers instead of simply not selling their “signature” sandwich.
Maybe not the decision you or I would have made, and certainly not a great idea not to inform customers of this.
It’s pointlessly cynical to believe that every corporate message is a lie…
Arby’s… I had a terrible experience at Arby’s yesterday.
I ordered a beef and cheddar on a regular bun and minus the red ranch they usually serve it with. Instead, I got a usual beef and cheddar. When I asked for them to fix it the man threw the sandwich away after giving me the stink eye for about ten seconds, and then gave me a “fixed” order. It was just a regular roast beef. I told him it should have cheese and asked him to fix it again and he tells another employee to “Get this gringo some cheese” and they just gave me a plastic tub of cheese and told me to do it myself. I am never going to Arby’s again.
I work at a place with a meat slicer. I don’t a result like that is possible unless the person who was operating the meat slicer was not trained properly how to do it.
@Demonbird: Don’t blame all Arbys just because one cashier is a dickhead.
This individual probably has about a 100 things to do today but still felt it was important to answer the email personally. Sometimes when I get extremely busy and have to shoot out multiple emails, little errors slip by. I would hope the receiver would realize that I am busy but I felt it was important to communicate with them. Of course, really important emails will have more time and care put into them or, if they are that important, I won’t email but find a more appropriate means of communication.
@Demonbird: Gringo? I would report that to corporate. Hate speech, perhaps?
@Balisong: Not just your boss, huh? I find that most are more forgiving of their coworkers in these situations than they are of the bosses. I am not picking on you. I find it more balanced than most of the posts that concentrated on “my boss” or “that academic” or “educated person”.
Personally, I try to be careful. But in a situation of academic writing, I would rather get the research, review, analysis, etc. right because that is going up for peer review. Missing a period or comma (unless in terms of citations), is not as big of a deal as that is what proofreaders are paid for. And and proofreader can think I am stupid for missing that period, but try to explain to me the statistical analysis in the paper and we will see.
The free meals are a good gesture. Unless they’re for more Arby’s, then that’s just adding insult to injury.
“however I am be putting a couple of free meals in the mail”
I am be laughing my ass off right now!!
@thelushie: Proofreaders didn’t think you were stupid. We thought you were lazy, or the grad student who typed the thing for you was. And we really didn’t hold it against you. It was job security, for as long as professional proofreaders had any job security.
How is that picture a puree? That is a picture of the guy’s food, right? I mean, it’s still meat, just not in strips. The complaint could be that it doesn’t look like it usually does, but I don’t see how small pieces of meat vs long strips of meat are a big deal…
Great to see the response from the VP.
I’m glad Arby’s stood up and admitted there was a problem, apologized and tried to make it right – but still disturbed that the store manager allowed that beef to be served to customers.
@theblackdog:
I wish it was a cashier… The manager was the one who I spoke with.
@thelushie:
I’m going to.
@gc3160 – that homo that u know:
Well…if you REALLY want to be a stickler for grammar…technically…you’re not putting in free meals in the mail. You’re putting in free meal coupons in the mail. HUGE difference, apparently.
I know this is a little late, but I worked at Arby’s 10 years ago when I was in highschool…
That doesn’t look like a “machine malfunction.” That looks like the chunks left over at the bottom of the slicer that pools over time of cutting during a busy shift… they probobly had to change the “beef” in the middle of making your order and rather than “make you wait” they grabbed that crap at the bottom of the slicer where it pools. I’m not 100% sure that’s “unsanitary” but I know I wouldn’t have eaten it or expected you to do so.
I’d also like to add, that although i can’t attest to that particular store’s quality (I’m from Lima, Ohio originaly) I can say that Arby’s is about the only fast food store I will eat at… The folks who own the store in that city were VERY passionate about taking care of the customer and having a quality product–they did not tolerate “taking shortcuts” and ensured thier management was 100% understanding of that policy (and enforced it).
I worked at McDonalds for 1 month after I turned 16 and not only quit (honestly due to several instances of watching them serve food to customers that they should not have) but will not eat anything at McD’s that didn’t come out of a frier to this day.
Awesome response from Arby’s. Quick, polite, understanding and personal. Bonus: a satisfactory resolution.
Really good on Arby’s!
This is a valid excuse. I cooked at a cafe for a year and if the slicer’s blade is old it’ll rip up the meat (grab it and tear rather than slice).
Also looking at the meat, it looks hand sliced and cubed.
@snoop-blog:
Then you were extremely lucky, or the employees took particularly good care of the machine.
I love how 50% of the consumerists here work with meat slicers.
@detraya: Does it count that I *used* to work with one?
@anonairman: I also worked at Arby’s about ten years ago and I had the exact same suspicion. It looks like the little bits that accumulate on the tray after slicing for awhile.
I must confess that on occasion the Roast Beef would get precariously low while the next roast was not due to come out of the oven soon. We would “stretch” some of the roast beef by tucking some of these scraps into the better looking slices, but never would I serve it straight up like this.
And as it has been said, the roast beef is not really gelatin. Its pressed meat and saline. Not real appetizing, but not completely fake either. Still, when I’m crazy I still crave it now and then– but only drenched in horsey sauce.
I’ve been reading this site for quite some time now, and I think it’s pretty awesome that a real person responded to this problem and attempted to make it better (free meal coupons). C’mon it’s not a perfect world out there; it’s pretty amazing when a company attempts to do the right thing. Right on, Arby’s!!
So it sounds like the OP wasn’t satisfied with that response? He says he was happy to get a response, then said he might eat there more often, then said…maybe not. I fail to see what was wrong with that response.
On a side note, about a year ago I went to Arbies and it took them 35 minutes to get me my order after asking about it several times. I emailed corporate and never got a response or apology.
Dear Arby’s,
Please bring back the homestyle fries. Not everyone likes curly fries.
I unfortunately had the pleasure of working at Arbys a couple years ago. And I had to use the slicer a lot because they refused to let me work up front (too many “pretty” vacant girls up there already) there is a knob on the slicer that has number settings (usually) that correspond with the thickness..somebody probably thought it would be funny to walk by and turn it..believe me, arby’s is very anal about the meat being to thin..at least the one i worked at was..i got yelled at often because people would do that to me when i was away