Is it me, or are Subway franchisees getting screwed over?

[OverVolt]

It costs $75k-$200k to open a subway and $950k to open a McDonalds.

 

[Doppel]

if it is a failing idea, the franchisee probably won't jump in blindly

Tell that to the people who opened the 28,123,423,523 frozen yogurt bars in my area in the past year or two.

Subway is certainly a more stable brand than they are, though.

Subway would be dead today if it didn't start that $5 Footlong stuff.

I remember a time when eating at Subway was a luxury.

And I remember a time when $5 actually got you a foot long and cookies and a drink. They had stamps, and every 6 inches you purchased got you a stamp. 12 stamps = 12" of subsequent sub. What this meant was if you bought 6 subs you got a 7th free. Then they went to the subway card and made the return way, way less.

 

[AViking]

When I lived in the States the same guy (his family) owned like 6 subways. You don't just open one. He was working an incredible amount of hours but was doing pretty good for himself.

 

[AViking]

They had stamps, and every 6 inches you purchased got you a stamp. 12 stamps = 12" of subsequent sub. What this meant was if you bought 6 subs you got a 7th free. Then they went to the subway card and made the return way, way less.

The problem was that you had 16 year old employees there who would give those stamps out like candy. I had a cute girl working at the one by my work and I got hooked up. The stamps were a bad idea.

 

[Thebobo]

Notice the tomatoes are getting smaller - lke an inch now lol

 

[Newbian]

Tell that to the people who opened the 28,123,423,523 frozen yogurt bars in my area in the past year or two.

Subway is certainly a more stable brand than they are, though.And I remember a time when $5 actually got you a foot long and cookies and a drink. They had stamps, and every 6 inches you purchased got you a stamp. 12 stamps = 12" of subsequent sub. What this meant was if you bought 6 subs you got a 7th free. Then they went to the subway card and made the return way, way less.

Those were awesome as I would usually grab one each sunday back then as they had one across the way of the game store when I used to play mtg in high school.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Subways are no where near as bad as Dunkin' Donuts in my area. In some areas, there are literally 3 within a two minute walk from each other.

 

[marvdmartian]

The one I saw getting royally screwed was an owner that built across the street from one of our Super Walmart stores. At the time, that Walmart had some cheesy no-name fast food joint inside of it, which slowly died off.

After that, they opened a Subway in the store.....not even a quarter mile from an existing Subway! Our other Super Walmart stores both have a McDonalds inside, I believe.

If I were that franchise owner, I'd have been PISSED!!

 

[Kaido]

1. Quiznos is better
2. We have 3 Dunkin Donuts within half a mile of me. Three.
3. Starbucks are like on every corner now.

 

[Anubis]

Is is true they put cellulose into their bread?

cellulose is in pretty much everything

you eat out at a resturant that gets stuff from SYSCO? you are eating something that has cellulose in it

 

[KMFJD]

Subway is also never as busy as McDonald's and those other places, but still busy enough. so they probably don't make as much money as McDonald's but probably still make enough to live well. On the other hand maybe the operating cost is much lower too so maybe it comes up to the same. Deep fryers and burger clam shells use up lot of gas/electricity compared to the little microwave at Subway that only runs for 30 seconds per order (if the customer even chooses to get it toasted). Of course there's the fridges but that's a given for any food establishment.

One thing that is amazing is Tim Hortons. Does not matter how many of them you open they will all be busy. It's a freaking gold mine. Their operating costs are probably rather low too. Bulk coffee/donut products can't be all that expensive.

Especially when all the food is factory made and frozen...Tim Horton's sucks

 

[Eureka]

Subway corporate doesn't care about their franchisees as much as McDonald's corporate does. McDonald ensures that their branches aren't competing with each other and also that they are constantly getting customers (nothing worse for image than a dead store). Subway doesn't care as much and so it's up to the individual franchisees to manage that.

 

[bignateyk]

obvious answer is obvious:

1 guy owns 13 subways in your city.

economies of scale + monopoly, bitches.

This. A friend of mine in highschool's dad owned like 10 subways in Pittsburgh. (and yes, they were indian) They must have been raking it in though because they lived in a massive house and drove benz's

 

[JTsyo]

Thing with something like Subway is that you don't plan go eat at one. When you want to get lunch and there's one nearby you might go. If there wasn't one nearby you wouldn't drive across town to the only subway for lunch.

 

[alangrift]

Subway probably have a lower buy in for franchises compared to the rest.

 

[gothamhunter]

They're successful because they cater to the "healthy eating" crowd.

Because Subway = "healthy"

 

[SP33Demon]

obvious answer is obvious:

1 guy owns 13 subways in your city.

economies of scale + monopoly, bitches.

Gus didn't even own 13 Los Pollos Hermanos.

 

[mmntech]

Nothing Subway sells is remotely equivalent to what Quizno's sells. The difference in quality and taste is night and day.

I agree. Few things quite as satisfying as a guacamole sub and a bowl of their gooey cheese and broccoli "soup". Especially the winter I worked in a store that had no heat in the office.

It costs $75k-$200k to open a subway and $950k to open a McDonalds.

McD's are usually in larger stand-alone buildings, have more equipment, and more staff. Where as Subways are usually in smaller rented strip mall units, have minimal appliances (bread oven, microwave, couple of fridges), and a minimal staff. Most locations only have only 3-4 people on per shift.

 

[SheHateMe]

They're successful because they cater to the "healthy eating" crowd.

Because Subway = "healthy"

And because they have a guy who used to be really fat pretending that he lost all the weight eating subway.


People should check the nutritional information. Subway is not healthy food. Especially considering that they sell people footlongs and those people are likely to eat the whole thing.

The portion size should be half of a 6 inch (depending on what sammich you get), a footlong has tons of carbs and calories that you don't need unless you're about to do crossfit right after.

 

[waggy]

The problem was that you had 16 year old employees there who would give those stamps out like candy. I had a cute girl working at the one by my work and I got hooked up. The stamps were a bad idea.

Lol a buddy of mine was a manager at subway. he would give me a bunch of t hose stamps.

 

[crownjules]

The problem was that you had 16 year old employees there who would give those stamps out like candy. I had a cute girl working at the one by my work and I got hooked up. The stamps were a bad idea.

Haha, yeah this. In college one of my friends worked at Subway and basically she would give me a ton every time I went. I'd get like two free subs worth of stamps every time.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Ever since I learned they use Azodicarbonamide (also used to make yoga mats) in the bread I picked every time I stopped eating there:

http://foodbabe.com/2013/09/23/are-you-eating-this-ingredient-banned-all-over-the-world/

 

[KeithTalent]

Ever since I learned they use Azodicarbonamide (also used to make yoga mats) in the bread I picked every time I stopped eating there:

http://foodbabe.com/2013/09/23/are-you-eating-this-ingredient-banned-all-over-the-world/

Your logic makes no sense, yoga is very good for you.

KT

 

[lxskllr]

Ever since I learned they use Azodicarbonamide (also used to make yoga mats) in the bread I picked every time I stopped eating there:

http://foodbabe.com/2013/09/23/are-you-eating-this-ingredient-banned-all-over-the-world/

I'm not convinced. There's a lot of food ingredients that could be considered harmful in large quantities, and comparing an overturned truck of ingredient to the quantity in a baked roll is disingenuous. It's worth noting it's existence, but whenever you eat out, you're at the mercy of the industrial food complex. Azodicarbonamide is one of many ingredients that may be bad for you, and avoiding it only is a false sense of security.

 

[smackababy]

It costs $75k-$200k to open a subway and $950k to open a McDonalds.

I think it is less than that. Something like only costing $10k for the franchise fee. To open a McDonalds, you need $500k in liquid assets, at least.