Kelly’s Roast Beef May Open 2 Local Restaurants

NATICK, MA — The iconic Boston-area Kelly’s Roast Beef restaurants may expand west into Worcester and Natick, according to a report.

Kelly's plans to open six new restaurants over the next two years in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to Franchising.com. The locations will be "express" style, and some may be located in mall food courts, according to the report.

The new locations will also be franchises, where business owners pay to license the name and signature food of the chain. Kelly's has four locations north of Boston in Saugus, Revere, Medford, and Danvers. The chain has larger goals of opening up to 50 new locations over the next five years.

Kelly's lays claim to having invented the roast beef sandwich when it opened its first restaurant in 1951 along Revere Beach.

Kelly's had a Natick location inside the Jordan's Furniture store for almost 20 years, but it closed in 2018 when the restaurant's lease expired.