Kelly's Roast Beef is a regional

fast food restaurant A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast-food cuisine and has minimal table service. The food served in fast-food restaurants is typically ...

chain located in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. It is known for its roast beef sandwiches, lobster rolls, and other seafood. It was founded in 1951 in the city of Revere,

, on

Revere Beach Revere Beach is a public beach in Revere, Massachusetts, located about north of downtown Boston. The beach is over long. In 1875, a rail link was constructed to the beach, leading to its increasing popularity as a summer recreation area, and in ...

shoreline by two partners, Frank V. McCarthy, and Raymond Carey. Neither partner wanted to be the namesake of the restaurant, so they decided to name it after a mutual friend, Thomas Kelley, a florist from Dorchester. The chain's menu consists primarily of

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

es, seafood, and shellfish, as well as its signature

roast beef Roast beef is a dish of beef that is roasted, generally served as the main dish of a meal. In the Anglosphere, roast beef is one of the meats often served at Sunday lunch or dinner. Yorkshire pudding is a standard side dish. Sliced roast beef ...

. The restaurant features a

drive-thru A drive-through or drive-thru (a sensational spelling of the word ''through''), is a type of take-out service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was pioneered in the Unite ...

at every location except at Revere Beach. To compete with fast food giants like

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

and Burger King, the company added

chicken fingers Chicken fingers (also known as chicken goujons, chicken strips, chicken tenders, chicken nuggets or chicken fillets) are chicken meat prepared from the pectoralis minor muscles of the animal. These strips of white meat are located on either side ...

and french fries to their menu. Kelly's claims to have invented the modern roast beef sandwich, stating it was unknown before they introduced it in 1951.

Menu and recognition

Despite its name, Kelly's Roast Beef is also noted for its

lobster roll A lobster roll is a dish native to New England. It is made of lobster meat served on a grilled hot dog-style bun. The filling may also contain butter, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper, with variants made in some parts of New England replacin ...

, with frequent mentions on reader contributor websites like

Yelp Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in San F ...

and

Chowhound Chowhound (or chowhound.com) was a food website owned by Red Ventures. It ceased operations on March 28, 2022. History Chowhound was a popular online food community founded by jazz trombonist and food writer Jim Leff and Bob Okumura in 1997, k ...

, and placings on top ten lists of the area's best. Kelly's has become nationally known and has been featured in the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

documentary ''

Sandwiches That You Will Like ''Sandwiches That You Will Like'' is a 2002 PBS documentary by Rick Sebak of WQED. The unique sandwich offerings of cities across the United States (although excepting two from California, the remaining sandwiches all originate no further we ...

'' and on the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

show ''

$40 a Day ''$40 a Day'' was a Food Network show hosted by Rachael Ray. In each episode, Ray takes a one-day trip to an American, Canadian, or European city with only $40 US, to spend on food. While touring the city, she finds restaurants to go to (often b ...

''.

Locations

Massachusetts locations include the flagship restaurant in Revere, Danvers, Medford, and Saugus. In 2022, Kelly's opened in New Hampshire and Florida, with further expansion in the works.

References

External links

* {{Commonscatinline, Kelly's Roast Beef
Official website
Fast-food chains of the United States Restaurants in Massachusetts Restaurants established in 1951 1951 establishments in Massachusetts Revere, Massachusetts Roast beef restaurants in the United States