The SUBWAY® Brand Opens its 5,000th Store in Europe
The SUBWAY® brand has recently reached the milestone of 5,000 stores open and operating in Europe, with the opening of a brand new store in a shopping centre in Livingston, Scotland.
The milestone opening highlights the more than £500 million investment that SUBWAY® franchisees contribute to their local economies, alongside providing over 50,000 jobs in stores across Europe.
The first SUBWAY® store in the UK and Ireland opened in Brighton, UK in 1996, since then the brand has expanded its operations and increased its presence across Europe with stores now open in over 30 European countries, from Iceland to Russia. In the UK and Ireland there are more than 2,300 SUBWAY® stores, employing over 23,000 people.
As the largest Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) brand worldwide – there are more than 44,000 SUBWAY® stores in over 110 countries – the expansion of the brand across Europe continues at a fast pace, with 300 stores opening in the UK and Ireland alone throughout 2015. That’s an average of more than five SUBWAY® stores opening every week.
Justin Goes, regional director – Europe for the SUBWAY® brand, comments: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be announcing the 5,000thSUBWAY® store in Europe. It is a fantastic achievement and reflects the strong entrepreneurial spirit of our franchisees who work hard in their local communities providing a great product and excellent customer service to all our customers. The SUBWAY® brand has an incredible support system for franchisees, which allows them to benefit from over 50 years of the brand’s experience.”
The new SUBWAY® store is in The Centre, a shopping centre in the heart of Livingston. The store covers an area of over 1,400 sq ft, seating more than 50 customers and employs 15 members of staff.
All SUBWAY® stores are owned by local business people who operate their shops on a franchise basis.
One of the largest areas of growth for the SUBWAY® brand currently is the development of stores in non-traditional locations, such as on forecourt sites, within convenience stores, universities and hospitals. Partnerships with organisations including Welcome Break, Euro Garages, Applegreen and Sodexo have helped the brand to open more than 500 non-traditional locations in the UK and Ireland.
The UK and Ireland is the SUBWAY® brand’s third largest market, behind the US and Canada. In all, there are more than 15,000 international locations in over 110 countries outside of the US, now with 5,000 stores across Europe. Over 70% of all new SUBWAY® franchises sold worldwide are sold to existing owners, a testament to the strength of the brand and the solid support offered to franchisees.
