Rising labor costs, changing millennial tastes, and an oversurplus of restaurant chains are heightening the turf war within the fast-food industry. It is estimated that there are 194,723 franchised quick-service restaurants in the U.S, up from 151,887 a decade ago. To stay in the game, brands are modernizing, pushing discounts, enhancing conveniences, adding healthier fare and more to get customers in the door. But for Arby's, one of their biggest recipes for success was simply to pull back on the corporate speak and substitute it with a little humor. The quick-service sandwich chain, founded in Ohio in 1964, was recently ranked No. 3 in the sandwich category behind Panera and Subway by QSR magazine's list of the nation's top quick-serve and fast-casual brands. Arby's currently has 3,450 locations in eight countries, with a total of 80,000 employees. Annual sales: $3.9 billion. Arby's is under the wing of multibrand restaurant company Inspire Brands — whose portfolio also includes Buffalo Wild Wings, Sonic Drive-In, and Rusty Taco, for a total of 8,300 locations worldwide.

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Rollin' with the jokes

Beyond improving its menu and instituting a new tagline, it was actually a social media stint that helped catapult the sandwich chain into the forefront of pop culture: On the night of the 2014 Grammy Awards, Arby's tweeted about Pharrell Williams' hat and how it looked like Arby's own brand icon.

Recording artists Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (L), Pharrell Williams and Thomas Bangalter at the 2014 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Pharrell's hat prompted the famous Arby's tweet: "@Arbys: Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back? #GRAMMYs". Mark Davis | Getty Images