Michigan Sits at the Heart of America’s ‘Roast Beef Belt’ You’ve Never Noticed Before

Sure, you likely think of the Rust Belt when you think about Michigan. Live along the Lake Michigan coast and you may be familiar with the term "Fruit Belt." What about the Roast Beef Belt? It turns out Michigan is right in the heart.

Michigan may get credit for some fast food like the Hot n Now chain started in Kalamazoo. The state also gets credit for the "assembly line" modern pizzeria.

But much less attention is paid to how central Michigan is to America's Roast Beef fast food franchises.

Arby's, the best known purveyor of roast beef, got its start in Ohio and while the chain has a nationwide footprint (locations in every state except Vermont and the District of Columbia), the largest concentration is in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.

Arby's: A Great Lakes Concentration

Thanks to mapgeeks on Reddit, we can see just how much the chain is centered around the Great Lakes:

Arby's Per State
byu/VineMapper inMapPorn

Ohio leads the nation with Arby's locations at 271. Michigan follows with 176 and Indiana is the third highest concentration of Arby's at 169.

READ MORE: How Tiny Alpena, Michigan Is Becoming An American Fast Food Mecca + Northern Michigan is Truly a Fast Food Restaurant Desert

Texas, Florida and Georgia are all next in line with 145-155 locations per state.

Adding up the Arby's bullseye total of Michigan-Ohio-Indiana gives a total of 616 Arby's.

Other Regional Roast Beef Chains

Factor in the Rax Roast Beef chain that also came from Ohio and had a large footprint in Michigan, the Roy Rogers chain which was founded in Fort Wayne by the Big Boy chain and Beef-a-Roo which originated in Illinois has a small footprint in Michigan.

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So should you find yourself travelling and realize you haven't seen an Arby's in a while, know they'll be waiting for you when you get home to America's Roast Beef Belt.