After almost 70 years, Kelly’s Roast Beef, an iconic Boston-area eatery, has announced that it plans to expand, opening as many as six new locations over the next two years.

Kelly’s Roast Beef is eyeing Worcester, Natick, Quincy and Providence, Rhode Island, for new locations, according to a news release. In addition to brick-and-mortar expansion, the company is looking at opening “express” locations in mall food courts and at local universities.

In total, Kelly’s Roast Beef hopes to have as many as 50 total locations open and operating in the next five years, the news release said.

“Kelly’s is a known brand that people love. People associate it with Boston similarly to the way people associate In-N-Out Burger with California," said Neil Newcomb, CEO of Kelly’s Roast Beef Franchising. “Customers have a passion for the brand and there are very few franchise opportunities out there founded on over 70 years of history.”

Currently, Kelly’s has locations in Revere, Danvers, Saugus, and Medford.

Including a franchise fee of $40,000, the total initial investment to open a Kelly’s franchise is $900,000 to $1.7 million. For the first 10 franchise agreements signed, the royalty will be 3% year one, 4% year two, and 5% for the remainder of the term, according to the news release.

Kelly’s Roast Beef founders Frank McCarthy and Ray Carey first worked together in 1951 at the Paul Roger House in Revere Beach. They decided to start a business together and opened a hot dog stand next door while continuing to work at the inn’s restaurant.

“The iconic roast beef sandwich was created on a whim one night after a wedding was cancelled, and the two took the roast beef from the event over to their hot dog stand and served it on a grilled hamburger roll,” the news release reads.

Today, it’s estimated that across multiple locations, Kelly’s sells one million sandwiches a year. During peak season, a busy location can sell upwards of 20,000 roast beef sandwiches a month, according to the news release.

“A carving machine thin slices 25-day aged, medium rare roasted sirloin-tip meat plopped on a buttered, griddled hamburger roll, and topped with any condiments the customer ordered plus a slice of cheese,” the news release reads. “A small sandwich gets five to six ounces of roast beef, while a large gets seven-and-a-half to eight-and-a-half.”

Each Kelly’s location roasts its beef in-house all through the day.

“It’s never sitting. It’s a medium rare, melt-in-your-mouth roast beef," Newcomb said.

Other items on the menu at Kelly’s include fried clams, lobster rolls, crispy french fries, onion rings, hot dogs, and chicken finger plates.

Kelly’s Roast Beef has garnered national attention through a cult following and some pop-culture references.

The eatery has been featured on the Food Network’s show “$40 a Day with Rachael Ray,” a PBS Special called “Sandwiches You Will Like,” “Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland” by Ace Atkins, NBC’s three-time Emmy award-winning “30 Rock,” and in the movie “Good Will Hunting.”

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