Originally Posted by whatfreshhell:
“As a franchisee, can I ask if to be one you have to have several branches of Subway in one area?
I live in a small town, and in the last two years, we've had four open. I won't start slagging Subway off, as you sound very pleasant and hard-working, but, well, I just don't like that sort of food. So it's a bit annoying that most empty shops are turned immediately in Subways. It kind of pushes other eating establishments away.”
“As a franchisee, can I ask if to be one you have to have several branches of Subway in one area?
I live in a small town, and in the last two years, we've had four open. I won't start slagging Subway off, as you sound very pleasant and hard-working, but, well, I just don't like that sort of food. So it's a bit annoying that most empty shops are turned immediately in Subways. It kind of pushes other eating establishments away.”
There are many reasons why Subway stores seem to be grouped together, and why we often open so many in the same area.
To answer your question, well yes and no really! Unlike most franchises, Subway do not grant franchisees an exclusive territory. This is probably the most common criticism of our system. So, when you buy a franchise you do not make a commitment to opening multiple stores in the same area as in theory, the area you trade in is open to other franchisees. However, Subway do expand very aggressivley and will open a store wherever they see fit. If they find a location close to an existing store, it will usually be offered to the franchisee closest to it on a "first refusal" basis.
Hard to explain really as it is somewhat complex, but in a nutshell you do not have to have several branches in some area, but could be "forced" to do so.
I frequently see and hear people saying "our town doesn't need X number of Subway restaurants". The fact is though, it isn't a case of needing them. If it doesn't make more money for Subway and the franchisees, then they won't open! In the North of England, I personally find that Greggs are far worse when it comes to saturating town and city centers than Subway are!
To shed some light on why you often find several Subway stores in the same area:
- Opening more stores in the same area increases the number of customers visiting the stores overall.
- Unlike competitors such as McDonalds, Burger King etc, a Subway store has a fairly low "ceiling" with regards to customer numbers. The way our stores operate means that in order to serve everyone who wishes to eat our food, we need to operate at several locations.
- The sandwich market is very competetive, more so than hamburgers, chicken, pizza etc. The more stores we open in the same area, the more our brand can "take over" and reduce the number of potential customers visiting our competitors.




