Tubby's facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Fast food |
| Founded | St. Clair Shores, Michigan (1968) |
| Founder | Richard Paganes |
| Headquarters | , |
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Area served
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Michigan (primarily metropolitan Detroit) |
| Products | Submarine sandwiches |
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Number of employees
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70 |
Tubby's is a popular American restaurant chain. It is known for its delicious submarine sandwiches. The company started in 1968 in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Today, its main office is in Clinton Township, Michigan. This is a suburb of Detroit, Michigan.
Tubby's has more than 70 stores. Most of them are in Michigan, especially around the Detroit area. They mainly serve submarine sandwiches and salads. They also offer their own special chips, soft drinks, french fries, and soup. Tubby's is famous for its grilled subs.
Contents
The Story of Tubby's: How It Began
Tubby's was started in 1968. The founder was a young man named Richard Paganes. He was 21 years old at the time. Richard had worked at another local sub shop before. He decided to open his own place.
Richard found the perfect spot for his first Tubby's. He had a flat tire in front of a building that was for rent. This seemed like a sign! The first Tubby's opened in early 1968. It sold 25 different kinds of sandwiches. Most of these sandwiches were grilled.
Richard quickly opened three more stores nearby. His brother, Robert, soon joined him to help. By 1977, Tubby's had grown to ten locations. The company officially became "Tubby's Sub Shops, Inc."
Growing the Business: Franchises and New Ideas
The very first Tubby's store that was a franchise opened in Madison Heights, Michigan. A franchise means that someone else can open a store using the Tubby's name and recipes. Many other locations began to offer dining inside. They also offered food to take out. The Tubby's in Westland, Michigan was the first to have a drive-thru window. This made it super easy for people to grab their food quickly.
By 1986, Tubby's had 50 locations. The company became public, which means people could buy shares in the company. Tubby's also bought another local restaurant called Ricky's Dairy Bar and Luxury Grill. They even started to franchise this new idea too.
Tubby's later joined with a company from New Jersey. The company's name changed to Tubby's, Inc. Richard Paganes became the head of the company. However, he was replaced by Alexander Bardy a year later.
Tubby's in the 1990s and 2000s
In 1994, Tubby's tried a new idea called Tubby's Café Express. These small cafes were inside five Sears department stores. They were in places like Fairlane Town Center and Oakland Mall. Tubby's also thought about opening stores that were only drive-thru.
They opened locations at universities like Wayne State University and Ohio State University. One Tubby's even opened inside a hospital in Detroit.
Later in 1994, Richard Paganes became the head of Tubby's again. The Café Express idea was stopped. Tubby's also opened stores in Florida and Ohio. They even started putting stores inside gas stations.
The first Tubby's outside the United States opened in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 1997. Stores in Indiana and Missouri followed a year later.
After a plan to join with another company didn't work out, Tubby's became a private company again in 1999. That same year, they opened stores in Arizona.
However, all the Tubby's stores outside Michigan eventually closed. The company decided to focus more on the Detroit area. They wanted to compete better with big national chains like Subway.
In 2001, the 100th Tubby's store opened in Macomb Township, Michigan. This was a special new kind of store. It was also the first Tubby's to serve pizza! In the 2010s, Tubby's bought a cupcake shop called Just Baked. As of 2019, Tubby's has about 55 locations in the Detroit area.
Images for kids
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Tubby's store (now closed) in South Lyon, Michigan
