History of Subway

Subway is a franchise fast food restaurant that sells primarily sandwiches and salads. It was founded in 1965 by Fred De Luca and Peter Buck and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Doctor's Associates, Inc. (DAI). The company has over 28,700 franchised units in 86 countries as of January 2008 and is the fastest growing franchise in the world. Currently, Subway is the third largest fast food chain globally after Yum! Brands (34,000 locations) and McDonald's (31,000 locations).

Subway's main operations office is in Milford, Connecticut, and five regional centers support Subway's growing international operations. The regional office for Europe's 1,000 stores is in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Australia and New Zealand, with over 2,100 outlets, is supported from Brisbane, Australia. The 300 Middle Eastern locations are supported from Beirut, Lebanon. Singapore supports the 300+ Asian locations. The Latin American Support Center in Miami assists over 1,100 restaurants. In the UK and Ireland the company hopes to have 2,010 restaurants by the year 2010.

Many restaurant analysts attribute Subway's fast growth to the growing concern on health by restaurant customers, a trend that Subway has taken advantage of in its marketing. In 1999, an Indiana University student named Jared Fogle lost 245 pounds (110 kg) with a diet made up mostly of Subway sandwiches combined with exercise. The story is used by Subway as a large part of their marketing campaign to this day. Jared has emerged as a spokesman for Subway, furthering their image as a health-conscious restaurant chain.

Fred DeLuca borrowed $1,000 from family friend Dr. Peter Buck to start his first sandwich shop in 1965, when he was only 20 years old. He was trying to raise money to pay for college. He chose a mediocre location for his shop, but by noon on the first day of the opening, customers were pouring in. On the radio advertisement they had promoted the name as "Pete's Submarines", which sounded like Pizza Marines, so they changed the name to "Pete's Subway"; eventually it was shortened to "Subway", as it is known to this day. As of 2007, the company has over 28,400 franchised locations in 87 countries and produces US$ 9.05 billion sales every year. In 2007, Forbes magazine named DeLuca number 242 of the 400 richest Americans with a net worth of 1.5 billion dollars.

When the company was founded, Dr. Peter Buck, co-founder, was a scientist with a doctoral degree, and Fred DeLuca had aspirations of becoming a medical doctor. Hence the name Doctor’s Associates, Inc.



Subway uses the advertising slogan "Eat Fresh" 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 who Subway terms "Subway Sandwich Artists®".

In 2000, Subway added seasoned breads and a line of specialty items to its menu. In 2003 Doctor's Associates Inc. (DAI) signed an exclusive contract to offer Coca-Cola products. Coca-Cola helped pay for the initial rollout of toaster ovens to existing restaurants. Subway gave customers the option to have their sandwiches toasted in response to increased competition from rival sandwich chain Quiznos Sub, which popularized toasted sandwiches. In Australia, the introduction of Fresh Toasting enabled the Subway Franchise to prevent Quiznos from gaining market share. The Turbo Chef toaster is a microwave and convection oven hybrid.


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, in addition to three located inside The Pentagon - as well as an increasing number on college and university campuses.

There is at least one adults-only Subway, located at Foxwoods Resort & Casino. It is accessible only after entering a gaming area which is restricted to guests 21 and over, but it also has a drive thru.

Exterior of a typical Subway restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

In 2006, the first kosher Subway restaurant opened in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Jared Fogle, who is Jewish, was in attendance at the opening. "With slight modifications, such as no pork-based products such as bacon or ham, and the use of soy-based cheese, the menu is virtually identical to that of any other Subway restaurant." . Around 15 further locations are planned for 2007, in places including Baltimore, Brooklyn, Kansas City and Los Angeles.

All Subway restaurants in Muslim countries serve Halal menu, There are also at least two Subway restaurants in the United States that do the same, and 31 in the United Kingdom. Local franchisees have plans to open seven more Halal operating Subway restaurants in the United Kingdom later in the year.