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Subway (restaurant)

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Subway
Company typePrivate
IndustryFast food
FoundedBridgeport, Connecticut, U.S. (1965)
FounderFred De Luca and Peter Buck
HeadquartersMilford, Connecticut, U.S.
Key people
Fred De Luca (President)
Millie Shinn (EVP)
David Worroll (Controller)
ProductsSubs
Salads
Pizzas
Other food products
RevenueIncrease $9.0305 billion USD (2006)
OwnerDoctor's Associates, Inc.
WebsiteSubway.com

Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches (subs), salads, and personal pizzas. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. (DAI). Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with approximately 33,246 restaurants in 92 countries/territories as of August 15, 2010.[1] It is the largest single-brand restaurant chain globally and is the second largest restaurant operator globally after Yum! Brands (35,000 locations).[1][2][3]

Subway's main operations office is in Milford, Connecticut, and five regional centers support Subway's growing international operations. The regional offices for European franchises are located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Australia and New Zealand are supported from Brisbane, Australia; the Middle Eastern locations are supported from offices located in Beirut, Lebanon; the Asian locations from Singapore; India and the Latin America support center is in Miami, Florida. In the UK and Ireland the company hopes to expand to 2,010 restaurants by some time in 2010.[4]

Eat frech, motherfucker!!

Doctor's Associates

Doctor's Associates was founded by Fred De Luca and Peter Buck, Ph.D. in 1965, when they opened the first Subway restaurant.[5] The sole purpose of this company is overseeing the Subway chain of restaurants. The term "Doctor's Associates" was chosen due to Peter Buck having a Ph.D. Despite Subway's image as a health conscious restaurant, neither Subway nor Doctor's Associates are affiliated with, nor endorsed by, any medical organizations or doctors.

History

Subway's logo used from 1968 to March 3, 2002.

Fred De Luca borrowed $1,000 from family friend Peter Buck to start his first sandwich shop in 1965, when he was only 17 years old. He was trying to raise money to pay for college. He chose a mediocre location for his shop, the corner of East Main Street and Boston Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut, but by noon on opening day, customers were pouring in. On the radio advertisement they had promoted the name as Pete's Submarines, which sounded like "Pizza Marines", so they changed the name to "Pete's Subs"; eventually it adopted the "Subway" name and decorating the store with maps of the New York City subway system; a theme that continues to this day. As of December 30, 2008, the company has 32,401 franchised locations in 91 countries and produced US$9.05 billion in sales every year. In 2007, Forbes magazine named De Luca number 242 of the 400 richest Americans with a net worth of $1.5 billion.

In addition to traditional restaurants, Subway operates in many non-traditional locations. For instance, there are over 900 Subway locations inside of Wal-Mart stores and 200 on military bases, including several in Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to three located inside The Pentagon, as well as an increasing number on college and university campuses. In UK and Ireland some Subways are located inside Londis stores.[citation needed]

Subway restaurants have been consistently ranked in Entrepreneur Magazine's Top 500 Franchises, and was selected as the #2 overall franchise in 2008. Additionally, it was ranked as the #3 "Fastest Growing Franchise", and the #1 "Global Franchise" as well.[6]

Products

A SUBWAY Club 6" sandwich.
File:Subway Cookies.jpg
White macadamia nut (left) and double chocolate with white chocolate cookies.

Subway's main product is the submarine sandwich, or "Sub". Many stores also offer Cookies, muffins, and Danishes which may be purchased in a variety of flavors.

In 2001, Subway added seasoned breads and a line of specialty items to its menu and in 2003, most Subway markets switched their beverage contracts to supply Coca-Cola products exclusively, having previously left it up to the individual market to decide whether to serve Coke or Pepsi.

In order to ink the current deal with Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola helped pay for the initial rollout of toaster ovens to all existing restaurants in North America. Subway gave customers the option to have their sandwiches toasted in response to increased competition from a rival sandwich chain, Quiznos, which popularized toasted submarine sandwiches. In Australia, the introduction of Fresh Toasting enabled the Subway Franchise to prevent Quiznos from gaining market share. The TurboChef and Merrychef toaster ovens are a microwave oven prototype; these are currently not available for retail. The Quiznos ovens work much like a normal retail microwave, except for the fact that they consume much more power and radiate their objects almost exponentially faster. The deal with Coca-Cola led to Quiznos switching to Pepsi chain worldwide, except in Canada. Subway in Mexico still serves Pepsi products, however.

Subway menus vary by store, by country and by market. These are considered COP (country optional program), SOP (store optional program), MOP (market only program) but retain core items which are included at every store. The main food sold by the store is Submarine sandwiches, sold in "Six-inch" (15 cm), "Footlong" (30 cm), and the four inch (10 cm) "Mini Sub" sizes. All Subway stores offer customers lettuce, tomato, onions, bell peppers, cucumbers, olives, jalapeños and pickles, as well as market selected options such as carrot, corn, radish and avocado. Like other fast-food restaurants, they offer "limited time offers" or LTO from time to time. In addition to their standard menu, Subway also offers catering for all types of occasions. They offer "Giant Subs", which are a minimum of three feet long. These giant sandwiches can be ordered in bulk and to nearly any specification, something which Subway has promoted as a part of their campaign to tailor every sandwich to the individual customer's taste. Subway also offers sandwich platters, which consist of 5 footlong sandwiches per platter. Cookie platters are also offered. Each platter consists of 3 dozen freshly-baked cookies.

One of the chain's best-known sandwiches is the BMT, which originally stood for Brooklyn Manhattan Transit, but now stands for Biggest, Meatiest, Tastiest.[7] The sandwich contains salami, pepperoni and ham. As of 2004, it was Subway's most popular cold sandwich in the United Kingdom.[8]

In 2006, the first kosher Subway restaurant in the United States opened in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Subway spokesman Jared Fogle was in attendance at the opening. "With slight modifications, such as no pork-based products, and the use of soy-based cheese, the menu is virtually identical to that of any other Subway restaurant."[9]. Since then, kosher Subways have opened in New York, Los Angeles, Kansas City, and Baltimore[10], as well as Livingston, NJ, and plans have been announced for Milwaukee, Boston, and one inside the JCC in West Bloomfield, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.[11] Some of these locations serve soy cheese, but most don't serve any form of cheese at all.

All Subway restaurants in Muslim countries serve a halal menu. There are also at least two Subway restaurants in the United States that do the same, three in Canada, and over one hundred in the United Kingdom. The success of these stores has been mixed, with many locations reporting reduced sales as a result, but the company will open more halal stores.[12]

Subway also offers items other than sandwiches; breakfast items include such baked goods as bagels, egg & sausage sandwiches, and as of July and August 2006, "personal pizzas" are available in select markets to their menu. The personal pizzas are made upon order (as with their sandwiches) and heated "in less than 90 seconds" (cooking for 85 seconds) as advertised on televised commercials. Breakfast and pizza items are only available in some stores. Most stores offer additional toppings upon request. In November 2009, Seattle's Best Coffee announced that they'd signed an agreement to serve freshly brewed coffee as part of Subway's breakfast offerings.[13]

The 2009 Zagat Fast-Food Survey rated Subway as the best provider of “Healthy Options” in the Mega Chain category. Subway was also first in the "Best Service" and "Most Popular" categories, although it was second overall behind Wendy's.[14]

Advertising

See also: Jared Fogle
File:5dollarfootlong.jpg
Advertisement of the $5 Footlong promotion in a SUBWAY restaurant.

Subway uses the advertising slogan "Eat Fresh Everyday" to explain how every sandwich is made on freshly baked bread, using fresh ingredients, in front of the customer to their exact specification, by employees whom Subway terms "Subway Sandwich Artists".

In November 2007, Subway's US commercials featured the Peter Griffin character from Family Guy in which he extols the virtues of its new Subway Feast sandwich.[15] Subway has also used instant win competitions based on the game Scrabble as promotional tools.

Subway also notably has a product placement television advertisement campaign for the US series Chuck, ongoing since its first season. As ratings dwindled in the second season, a campaign to "save Chuck" was launched by fans, which involves purchasing a foot-long sandwich from Subway on April 27, 2009, the date of the season finale. Tony Pace, Subway's marketing officer, reportedly called it the best product placement the restaurant chain has done "in several years."[16]

$5 Footlongs

In 2008, Subway began to offer "Five Dollar Foot-long" submarine sandwiches in the continental United States as a limited time only promotion. All footlongs were available for $5, excluding premium and double meat subs. "Five Dollar Footlongs" quickly became the company's most successful promotion ever. Upon the initial program's completion, customer response prompted Subway to create a permanent "Five Dollar Foot-long Everyday Value Menu" that includes 8 footlong sandwiches (Spicy Italian, Cold Cut Combo, Tuna, BLT, Black Forest Ham, Meatball, Veggie Delite & Oven Roasted Chicken).[17]

In early 2009 and 2010, Subway brought back the original $5 Footlong promotion for a limited time.

Sub Club

Sub Club Cards and Sub Club stamps

For many years, Subway restaurants offered a customer rewards program called the "Sub Clubers". Customers would receive special stamps with the purchase of a sandwich, earning one stamp for a six-inch sandwich and two for a foot-long; small cards called "Sub Club Cards" were also provided for customers to paste the stamps onto and keep them collected in an orderly fashion. Originally, stamps were redeemable for a free standard sandwich (charges for extras such as double meat or extra cheese still applied) with no other purchase required—twelve stamps for a free six-inch, and twenty-four stamps for a free foot-long. A Sub Club for kids was also established, with one stamp earned for every children's Value Meal purchased, ultimately earning a free children's meal for eight stamps. Later, the regular Sub Club was altered to eight stamps earning a free six-inch, and sixteen stamps for a free foot-long, with the added condition that a 21 fl oz (621 mL) or larger drink must be purchased to redeem the stamps.

In early June 2005, Subway announced that the popular customer rewards program would be phased out due to counterfeiting. Another reason, which was not stated by the company, for the discontinuation of the program was that there was a large amount of internal theft of stamps by Subway employees and affiliates, including the sale of rolls of the stamps online at places such as eBaycn. Officially the Sub Club program has been discontinued in the US and Canada by Doctor's Associates[18] and most other major markets such as Australia[citation needed] have also made local decisions to discontinue the program. The Sub Club program can, however, still be found in Germany and a small number of developing markets.

Participating Subway restaurants in U.S. and Canada as well as the UK now offer a "Subway Card" to customers, which functions as a stored-value cash card. In some states and provinces, the card also functions as a "Subway Rewards Card" allowing customers to earn points for free food and sandwiches. Each dollar spent earns one point on the Subway card. 50 points earns a free regular 6 inch sub or wrap and 75 points earns a free regular 12 inch sub or salad. Customers can also get a cookie for 10 points, chips for 15 points, a medium soda for 20 points, and a mini sub for 35 points. Unlike the Sub Club program, no other purchase is needed when redeeming points, and registered cards which are lost or stolen can be replaced.[19] Subway runs periodic promotions that provide free subs for preloading a Subway Card with certain dollar amounts, which are usually listed at mysubwaycard.com.

Current North American Subway markets that use the Subway Rewards Card are Tampa, Columbus, Salt Lake City, Fresno, Lexington, Buffalo, Dayton, Albany, Ottawa, Spokane, Savannah, Rochester, Plattsburg, Greenville, Boise, N Ontario, Yakima, Idaho Falls, Peterborough, Kingston, Fairmont, St Johns, Parkersburg, Twin Falls, Agat, Malone, Saipan, Bluefield, Tallahassee, Panama City, Philadelphia, Allentown, Manchester, Wilkes Barre, Monterey, San Jose, Roanoke, Boston, Berks Co, Cincinnati, Watertown, Providence Zanesville, New York, Preston and Puerto Rico (as of 4/11/10).

Sponsorship

Subway is the corporate sponsor for two NASCAR Sprint Cup series stock car races: the Subway Fresh Fit 500, held at Phoenix International Raceway; and the Subway 500, held at Martinsville Speedway. In addition, Subway has been the primary sponsor of the NASCAR Sprint Cup number 99 car, driven by Carl Edwards.In 2007, Tony Stewart has appeared with Jared Fogel in ads, and he has driven his #20 Home Depot Toyota with Subway primary sponsorship in the 2008 Subway Fresh Fit 500, he now drives the #14 Office Depot Chevy. Previously, Subway had sponsored Jeff Purvis' #51 car in at least one race in 2001. They also sponsor a pro-cycling team, and had their name on the shirts of Gretna F.C. before the club went bust in 2008. In the 1996 film Happy Gilmore, Subway was also the sponsor of the titular character. In July 2009, the Edinburgh Meadows baseball team announced that Subway will be their official sponsor for the forthcoming baseball season. Subway has also been a sponsor of the 2009 Little League World Series, where they advertised their Subway Fresh Fit Meals.

Controversies

Sandwich size

A SUBWAY restaurant in Dawson, Texas.
File:Subwayinwalmart.jpg
A SUBWAY restaurant in a Walmart location.

On February 2, 2007 KNXV-TV with the help of the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures, reported that three Subway sandwiches, nominally each 3-foot (91 cm) long, were only 2 feet 8 inches (81 cm), 2 feet 8+1⁄4 inches (81.9 cm), and 2 feet 8+1⁄2 inches (82.6 cm) long. The maximum variance in length allowed in that state is 3%, which on a 3-foot sub is 1.08 inches (2.7 cm). Upon further study, the report showed that the box designed to store Subway's 3-foot sandwiches were only 2 feet 10+3⁄4 inches (88.3 cm) in length; shorter than the maximum allowable variance. In response to the report, Subway stated that they are currently in the process of reevaluating their advertising, promotional, training and packaging materials with regard to the specific or implied length of Giant Subs and are taking steps to advise their franchisees to only discuss with customers the approximate number of expected servings and not a specific length of measurement.[20]

Franchise relations

The Dallas Morning News reported on Subway's seizure of a soldier's Subway stores while he was deployed to Afghanistan in 2006.[21] The stores were owned by Leon Batie, Jr., an Army reservist, who was called up to Operation Enduring Freedom in March 2005, three years after he bought his first Subway.[21] Batie alleged that Subway violated the U.S. Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. A federal lawsuit filed by Batie against Subway, was dismissed. Batie then filed suit in state court in Dallas County, Texas. The litigation was settled and dismissed with prejudice in December, 2009.

The 2001 book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser criticizes Subway's franchising policies. It claims that in the 1990s, Subway was involved in many legal disputes with franchisees, usually over encroachment (overly aggressive expansion, in which two restaurants are so close in location that they end up competing with one another).

The book blames the "Development Agents" who are given the task of growing the company regionally. They retain a percentage of the franchise fee for their local area, and so it is in their best interest to saturate markets with Subway restaurants in a region, despite the effect it will have on that region's Subway locations. Although this may lead to lower profits per Subway location, it leads to overall higher profits in the region, and therefore higher profits for the entire chain and the Development Agent.

Much of Subway's rapid growth can be attributed to its uncommon business model. Unlike most franchisors, the parent company does not operate any restaurants. Local franchisees operate the stores, and in most markets Subway enters into a contract with a franchisee to be its Development Agent for that market. The Development Agent is then responsible for developing new locations, evaluating stores on at least a monthly basis, and assisting franchisees with whatever needs they may have. DAI takes an 8% royalty on all net sales from each store.

A percentage of net sales is also collected for the Franchisee Advertising Fund, commonly referred to by the abbreviation FAF. The most common rate is currently 4.5% of net sales, but in some markets the rate can range from 3 to 5%. In the United States, Canada and Australia, the Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust, also known as SFAFT controls the use of this fund for advertising, while in other markets it is controlled by the International Franchisee Advertising Fund, also known as iFAF. SFAFT is an independent private trust which is operated by a board of directors voted on by Subway Franchisees, while iFAF is operated by DAI. Local markets also elect a local board of franchisees to decide on advertising specific to their market. Contrary to other major franchisers, Subway's parent company does not make any contribution towards advertising the chain.

DAI and SFAFT are in legal battles with one another over claims of excessive administrative and staffing costs incurred by SFAFT and unilateral decision making, not ultimately beneficial to existing franchisees, by DAI. As a byproduct of this dispute, a new organization, the International Franchisee Advertising Fund was created for markets outside of the United States, Canada, and Australia. As of January 1, 2009 SFAFT is no longer involved in advertising in those markets.

Nutritional content of breads

Subway has come under criticism for its prevalent use of high fructose corn syrup in its breads. Its "9-grain" bread has especially been cited for containing more corn syrup than whole grains.[22].

Slogans

"Eat Fresh", first used in 2000 is the Subway chain's current worldwide slogan. Past slogans and regional variations include:

  • "When You're Hungry, Make Tracks for Subway" (1979–1985)
  • "Subway, My Way" (1985–1990)
  • "The Place Where Fresh is the Taste" (1990–1995)
  • "What a Sandwich" (1994–1995)
  • "Right Before Your Eyes" (1995–96)
  • "The Way A Sandwich Should Be" (1996–February 29, 2000)
  • "Eat Fresh." (March 1, 2000–present)
  • "Mangez Frais.(which is French for "Eat Fresh")" (March 1, 2000-present in Quebec)
  • "Choose Well." (2004–present)
  • "Think Fresh. Eat Fresh." (2008–present in Canada)
  • "Fresh is best" (2006)
  • "I feel good" (2009–present in Australia/New Zealand)
  • "You can have it my way, or Subway" (2005–present in Edinburgh SAS)
  • "Subway, Where Winners Eat" (2009–present, During the 2009 Little League World Series and Subway's Scrabble competition [citation needed])
  • "We've Got A Sub For That" (2009 in the UK and Ireland)
  • "Play Hard, Eat Fresh" (2009 in Australia on ads targeted at children)
  • "Race Hard, Eat Fresh" (2009–present, Used in NASCAR subway commercials)
  • "Five Dollar Foot Long" (2009)
  • "Any, any, any" (2010 Used in Five Dollar Foot Long any regular foot long commercials)
  • "Only at Subway" (2008)
  • "We've got a Sub for that!" (2009)
  • "Have a Fresh Fit Day!" (2010)

Global locations

Subway operates 33,246 stores in 91 countries and territories

See also: List of countries with Subway franchises

References

  1. ^ a b Subway publication (2010). "Official SUBWAY Restaurants Web Site". Subway Restaurants. Retrieved 2010-8-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ^ Joe Bramhall. "McDonald's Corporation". Hoovers.com. Retrieved 2007-08-23.
  3. ^ Joe Bramhall. "YUM! Brands, Inc". Hoovers.com. Retrieved 2007-08-23.
  4. ^ Subway UK publication. "About Us". Doctor's Associates. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
  5. ^ Doctor's Associates Inc. - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information
  6. ^ "2008 Fastest Growing Global Franchises". Entrepreneur Magazine. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  7. ^ "Official SUBWAY Restaurants FAQs". www.Subway.com. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
  8. ^ Dennis, Guy (2004-04-25). "Subway sets out to torpedo McDonald's". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
  9. ^ First Kosher Subway Restaurant Opens in Cleveland - PR.com
  10. ^ "Kosher Subway opens to rave reviews". Kansas City Jewish Chronicle.
  11. ^ "Glatt kosher Subway list". TiyulTalk. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  12. ^ "Subway goes halal". the Manchester Evening News (Manchester, England). 2007-03-08. Retrieved 2008-02-24. SANDWICH chain Subway is to open two Halal-only stores in Manchester.
  13. ^ Subway Restaurants to Brew Seattle's Best Coffee Exclusively
  14. ^ http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/features/129/zagat-1.phtml?microsite=bytopic_finance&utm_campaign=20090609&utm_source=jolt&utm_medium=email
  15. ^ Gail Schille (2007-11-17). "Subway in 'Family Guy' promotion". the Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2008-02-24. Fox's "Family Guy" has lined up its first national quick service restaurant promotion with Subway Restaurants, which will air a TV spot featuring the show's Peter Griffin and will promote the hit animated series online and in more than 22,000 locations.
  16. ^ "Subway: Good Night, and Good 'Chuck'". TV Week. 2009-04-27. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
  17. ^ Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance
  18. ^ SUBWAY Operations Manual (2008 ed.). Doctor's Associates. 2008. p. 17.25.
  19. ^ "Subway Card FAQ". Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  20. ^ Joe Ducey (2007-06-26). "Sub-Standard". KNXV-TV (Phoenix, Arizona). Retrieved 2008-04-08. His [Dennis Ehrhard] office [Phoenix Dept. of Weights and Measures] recently warned Subway, for shorting a customer and the ABC 15 Investigators found Subway was the biggest offender in our test. Video
  21. ^ a b Karen Robinson-Jacobs (June 21, 2009). "Soldier suing after being stripped of Subway restaurant franchises". Dallas News. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  22. ^ http://www.slashfood.com/2010/06/22/subway-sandwich-lettuce-tomato-high-fructose-corn-syrup/
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