Subway (restaurant) facts for kids
Logo used since 2016
|
|
|
Trade name
|
Subway |
|---|---|
|
Formerly
|
|
| Private | |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Genre | Fast-food restaurant |
| Founded | August 28, 1965 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters |
,
U.S.
|
|
Number of locations
|
37,000 (September 2023) |
|
Area served
|
Worldwide (100+ countries) |
|
Key people
|
Jonathan Fitzpatrick (president & CEO) |
| Products |
|
| Revenue |  US$16.1 billion (2019)US$10.2 billion (U.S.) |
| Owner | Roark Capital Group |
|
Number of employees
|
410,000, including franchises (2022) |
Subway, officially known as Subway IP LLC, is a huge American fast-food company. It's famous for its delicious submarine sandwiches, often called "subs," and wraps.
Subway was started in 1965 by Fred DeLuca with help from his friend Peter Buck. It began as "Pete's Super Submarine Sandwiches" in Bridgeport, Connecticut. After a few name changes, it became "Subway" in 1972. The company started letting other people open their own Subway restaurants (this is called franchising) in 1974.
Subway grew very quickly. By 2015, it was the fastest-growing franchise in the world. As of September 2023, there are over 37,000 Subway restaurants in more than 100 countries! More than half of these are in the United States. This makes Subway the largest single-brand restaurant chain and the biggest restaurant operator globally. Its main office is in Shelton, Connecticut.
Contents
History
.svg)
.svg){kind=small}
How Subway Started
In 1965, Fred DeLuca borrowed $1,000 from his friend Peter Buck. He used this money to open "Pete's Drive-In: Super Submarine Sandwiches" in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The next year, they created a company called Doctor's Associates Inc. to manage their growing business. Fred wanted to earn enough money from the business to pay for medical school, and Peter had a doctorate degree in physics, which is how the company got its name.
In 1968, the sandwich shop was renamed Subway. The first Subway outside of North America opened in Bahrain in 1984. The first Subway in Canada opened in St. John's in 1986. The first Subway in the United Kingdom opened in Brighton in 1996.
Subway's Growth and Changes
In 2004, Subway started opening restaurants inside Walmart stores. By 2007, it had more locations in U.S. Walmart stores than McDonald's. Subway has often been listed among the top franchises in the world. In 2010, Subway became the largest fast-food chain globally, with more restaurants than McDonald's.
In 2015, Suzanne Greco became the president and CEO. Her brother, Fred DeLuca, who was the first CEO, passed away that year. In 2016, Subway closed some restaurants in the U.S. for the first time, but it still had the most restaurant locations in the country.
In 2017, Subway updated its restaurants with a new look called 'Fresh Forward'. These new stores included self-order kiosks and charging ports for phones. They also added new items to the menu.
Subway faced some challenges in the late 2010s, with fewer customers visiting stores. To help, Subway invested money in 2018 to refresh its image and attract younger customers. In 2019, John Chidsey became Subway's first CEO who was not part of the founding family. He focused on making existing U.S. restaurants better.
In 2023, the families who owned Subway decided to sell the company. Several companies were interested in buying it. On August 24, 2023, Roark Capital announced they would buy Subway for $9.6 billion. The government's Federal Trade Commission looked into the deal to make sure it was fair, and on April 30, 2024, Roark officially bought Subway.
On March 19, 2024, Subway made a new 10-year deal with PepsiCo. This means that starting January 1, 2025, Subway restaurants will serve Pepsi products instead of Coca-Cola products. Subway's international locations had already switched back to Pepsi products between 2015 and 2018.
Corporate Affairs
_02.jpg)
Ownership and Management
As of 2024, Subway is owned by a company called Roark Capital. Before this, the founding families owned Subway for sixty years. In 2019, John Chidsey became the first CEO of Subway who was not from the DeLuca family.
Headquarters
Subway's main international office is in Shelton, Connecticut. This office opened in 2023. Subway also has five regional offices around the world to support its international restaurants. For example, there are offices in Amsterdam for Europe, Brisbane for Australia and New Zealand, and Miami for Latin America.
Franchising
Subway is a franchise business. This means that individual people or groups can buy the right to open and run their own Subway restaurant, using the Subway name and recipes. The cost to start a Subway franchise is lower than many other fast-food chains. However, Subway franchisees also pay a higher percentage of their profits back to the company compared to some competitors.
Locations
As of February 2023, Subway had about 37,000 restaurants in over 100 countries. All of these are owned and run by individual franchisees. North America has the most Subway locations. In 2019, there were over 20,000 in the United States, 2,881 in Canada, and 758 in Mexico. Outside of North America, countries with many Subway locations include Australia, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.
Products
Menu Overview
Subway's main product is the submarine sandwich, or "sub." They also sell wraps, salads, paninis, and baked goods like cookies and muffins. Some locations also offer breakfast sandwiches and "personal pizzas." These pizzas are made to order, just like the subs.
Subway's best-selling sandwich is the B.M.T. This stands for "Biggest, Meatiest, Tastiest" and has pepperoni, salami, and ham. The name also refers to the old Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit subway system.
In 2017, Subway added paninis to its menu. In 2024, Subway introduced "Sidekicks," which are footlong baked goods made with other popular brands like Cinnabon and Auntie Anne's.
SubDog
The SubDog is an American-style hotdog from Subway. It comes with mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, and a special tangy mustard. It started as an April Fool's joke in 2022, but people liked the idea so much that Subway made it a real, but limited-time, menu item. The SubDog returned to Australia for a limited time in 2024.
Regional Menu Differences
Subway's menu can be different in various countries. This is often because of religious or cultural reasons related to the types of meat served.
For example, in 2006, the first kosher Subway restaurant opened in the United States. Kosher restaurants follow special Jewish dietary laws, so they do not serve pork products and use soy-based cheese.
In India, Subway restaurants do not serve beef because of Hindu beliefs. Instead, they offer many more vegetarian options to serve the large number of vegetarians in the country. In 2012, Subway even opened its first all-vegetarian restaurant in India.
Healthy Options
Subway has worked to offer healthier choices. In 2011, they introduced gluten-free bread and brownies in some locations. They also reduced the amount of salt in their sandwiches by 15 percent that same year.
Marketing and Promotions
Subway is one of the biggest fast-food advertisers in the United States. They spent a lot of money on advertising in 2011.
Subway used the slogan "Eat Fresh." Their ads often showed how sandwiches were made right in front of customers with fresh ingredients. The employees who made the sandwiches were called "Subway Sandwich Artists."
Subway often has promotions. One popular one is "Sub of the Day," where a different sandwich is offered at a lower price each day of the week.
Sponsorships
Subway has sponsored many sports events. They have sponsored NASCAR races, like the Subway 300 and Subway 400. From 2009 to 2014, Subway also sponsored the Subway Super Series ice hockey tournament. In 2022, Subway became a partner with Football Australia, giving its name to the men's national football teams, such as the Subway Socceroos.
Animal Welfare
Subway has made commitments to improve animal welfare. In 2015, they promised to stop using eggs from chickens kept in battery cages in North America by the end of 2025. However, some animal welfare groups have said that Subway has not shared enough progress on this goal.
In 2017, Subway also faced a campaign about its use of fast-growing broiler chickens. Following this, Subway announced a policy to improve the living conditions and care for chickens used in its U.S. products by 2024. However, some groups have reported that Subway still uses lower animal welfare standards for chickens in its European supply chain.
See also
In Spanish: Subway para niños
- List of restaurant chains
- List of submarine sandwich restaurants
