Arni's Restaurant: Multiple Indiana Locations

Anri's Restaurant, with 18 locations in Indiana, is a long-standing staple. Begun in 1965 by Arni Cohen in Lafayette Indiana the tradition is carried on by his two sons, Kurt Cohen, president and Bradley Cohen, vice-president. Boy how this restaurant has grown.

The original restaurant started as a 120 seat operations and over the years and many different renovations later, they restaurant is not almost to a capacity of 500. Other stores have opened as well, there are eight franchised stores and ten company owned stores located through out Indiana. These restaurants are located through out Indiana in mostly small towns like Columbus, Crawfordsville, Floyd's Knobs, Frankfort, Indianapolis, Lafayette (5), Lebanon, Monticello, New Albany, Pine Village, Rensselaer, Rossville, Williamsport and Greenwood.

Another sign of growth and prosperity for the franchise is the branching off of a distribution company called Linarco Distributing. It is used to control the quality of product with the ability to develop its own products like salad dressing, pizza dough, and chili. The distributing company is also used for storage and stocking of items for all locations.

The menu offerings are geared towards casual family dining. You can choose between appetizers, sandwiches, rolls and wraps, burgers, salads, pasta dinners and of course pizza. They also offer a children's menu and desserts. There is a lot to choose from and a lot of it is good. But honestly, if eating at Arni's I can't seem to order something other than pizza. I also like their famous junior salad. It is huge but if you are concerned, you can always order the Sr, version - it's larger.

I first became introduced to Arni's while in college at Purdue University. I know friends who grew up in small town Indiana and grew up eating Arni's pizza. It is one of those few and far between places that aren't really a chain restaurant. Many eat here because of childhood memories but the memories aren't tainted, the food is as good as you remember. Many of the locations are designed in memorabilia like toy rooms and an actual moving train that runs around the restaurant. The décor isn't the same in all the restaurants. The Indianapolis location is modern and up beat. Die-hard Arni's fans miss the tradition of themed rooms but the food makes up for it.

Arni Cohen believed in treating his workers right and in return they will treat you right. The server turn over rate at many of the Arni's restaurants is lower than the restaurant business averages. About fifteen percent of all Arni's employees have worked at Arni's restaurants for more than ten years, that's devotion. And you can expect that family friendly treatment to be passed along to its customers. As their slogan goes: "Meet you at Arni's!".