Rax Roast Beef is fast food chain located in the midwest region of the US. As the name suggests, Rax specializes in roasted beef as well as other products. Their menu was similar to other roasted beef businesses. During Rax’s height, there were over 500 stores scattered all over 30 different states in the USA.
The menu of Rax was stable, which helped them gain a loyal customer base and generate steady growth. However, during the mid-80s and early 90s, Rax was adopting other fast food products.
The constant menu reforms neglected the quality of their core items, and that led their competition, like Arby’s, to get the upper hand while at the same it led them to face competition from other fast food markets with much more experience in their respectable areas.
With the menu changes, Rax had to adopt a new marketing strategy, one that was capable of leading them to greater customer exposure, but like their menu, their commercials were constantly fickle and eventually led them to a Mr. Delicious, one of the most bizarre but also ambitious advertisement.
Rax Origins with John.A Roshman
The foundations of today’s modern Rax restaurant were first established by a man named John A.Roshman, commonly known as Jack; John Roshman served as a sergeant during the Korean War and had a Business and Administration degree from the University of Illinois. As a teenager, John Roshman helped his father sell hardware at the Chicago Restaurant Show. It was during this time when John met with Ray Kroc, one of the future founders of McDonald’s.
After his graduation, John worked for Marathon Oil. However, he was still interested in the fast food industry. During his work, John tried to convince Ray Kroc to sell him exclusive rights to operate a McDonald’s restaurant in Ohio; however, Ray Kroc turned him down mainly because he believed John was too young for that position. Eventually, Rothman started working with General Equipment and was one of the founders of Burgers Chef.
At the same time, he established the Jax Roast Beef Chain, which is the earliest form of Rax. Jack sold Burgers Chef and Jax Roasted Beef to General Foods, but he still remained with Jax Roasted Beef throughout the 1970s, eventually witnessing the rebranding of the company to RIX by General Foods. Jack’s involvement with RIX ended in the 1980s.
Rax after John A Roshman
As mentioned above, John sold RIX Roasted Beef to General Foods in 1962. The restaurant was run by General Foods for an entire decade, but during the end of 1972, most of Jax Restaurants were closed while the remaining ten were under the ownership of RAC Restaurant Administration Cooperation.
RAC bought the remaining Jax stores from General Foods in 1972. RAC owned other brands similar to RAX, such as Wendy’s, Long John Silver’s, and Ponderosa Steakhouse. Because RAC wanted to create a great Steakhouse franchise, they started a whole marketing campaign that included rebranding. In 1977 RIX was renamed to Rax Roasted Beef, while RAC themselves changed their name to RAX Systems and Finally to RAX Restaurants inc in 1980.
Peak and Decline of RAX
With stores in 504 locations in over 33 states and foreign investment in Guatemala, RAX witnessed its greatest success in the early 80s. The success of RAX can be attributed to its stable and realistic fast-food business model. They had ordinary solid food fit for their normal working-class customer’s location vise they were heavily focused in the same areas from which RAX first started a business like Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois.
Their menu included roasted beef, potato sandwiches, a salad bar, and soft drinks. Overall at this period, rax vision was realistic and conservative, but not shortly after the early 80s RAX started experimenting with new methods for their business. In the mid-80s, RAX started reforming its menu.
They added new products such as tacos, pizzas, Chinese food, pasta bar, and other products. Most of these items can be considered foreign for their business model, essentially the identity of RAX. The menus were not the only changes. RAX started a great reconstruction effort of their locations, adding new wood elements and solariums. The purpose of these changes was to alter the old image of RAX.
Rax Marketing Strategy
Most of RAX’s early commercials were similar to the ones of their competition, but unlike their competitors, RAX attempted to create a more serious image focusing more on the older working demographic of consumers but at the same time pointing out that their meals were affordable and the costumers at RAX unlike other restaurants had a wider choice of the numerous fast food products. One of the most memorable parts of the RAX saga is the commercial for Mr. Delicious.
Unlike their previous ads, which were somewhat similar to other ads of the 80s, Mr. Delicious was more akin to an advertising parody rather than a traditional ad. Mr. Delicious was a cartoon character depicting a middle-aged depressed salesman from the 50s.
According to RAX officials, Mr. Delicious was supposed to generate controversy so people would discuss his appearance, but also he was supposed to be blunt and honest and reflect on the problems that the Rax consumers can relate to.
The Deutsch advertising company located in NY created Mr. Delicious; according to then the accounting director, they got the idea for Mr. Delicious after visiting Rax restaurants and interacting with both the customers and Rax staff after days on the field; they developed a strategy. From it grew Mr. Delicious.
Mr. Delicious was designed in a way that can fit in every media, so eventually, there were Rax ads aired on both tv and radio. The advertisement for Mr. Delicious was unique in a way because, in every ad, he told something about himself, so the collection of ads made Mr. D are telling one personal, realistic story that was often full of melancholic humor and sarcasm.
Even with the release of Mr. Delicious, he was not enough to save Rax from eventual bankruptcy. Three months after the release of Mr. Delicious, Rax filed for bankruptcy. Some say that Mr. Delicious was a marketing failure and aided the collapse of Rax; however, that cannot be said for sure. In the end, the remnants of Rax are still around today in their home region of the Midwest. There are only six restaurants left, and they have still managed to maintain their old 90s image.
Ironically, the bizarre Mr. Delicious advertisement was one of the main reasons why there is still interest in Rax’s story, and because of that advertisement push, Rax is not remembered as an ordinary failed restaurant but rather something more. Mr. Delicious can still be experienced today in the form of archives available on the internet or on platforms such as YouTube.
