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Subway
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The Subman
18-04-2009
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.”

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.
Scrolllock
19-04-2009
Originally Posted by The Subman:
“Greetings! I'm an avid reader of these forums, although only recently started to contribute. As I've posted before, I'm a Subway franchisee (hence the name) and I always enjoy fielding questions about our food and stores!

I see a lot of divided opinions on Subway these days, especially given the rate at which we've grown. So, if you don't mind me doing a bit of cheeky research, what is it that you think we do well, or that makes you not want to eat at Subway? Feel free to ask me any questions you like!”

What makes me not want to eat there? Just one thing. The food is not fresh if it sits there unsecurely covered exposed to air as it typically does for hours on end . Meats and vegetables should also be sliced fresh at the time of serving, not pre-cut and left to sit out in containers exposed to air.
artnada
19-04-2009
Originally Posted by Scrolllock:
“What makes me not want to eat there? Just one thing. The food is not fresh if it sits there unsecurely covered exposed to air as it typically does for hours on end . Meats and vegetables should also be sliced fresh at the time of serving, not pre-cut and left to sit out in containers exposed to air.”

+1 also, Subway staff need training as far as vegetarians are concerned.

I'm not a veggie myself, but my nephew is, and last year, he asked for a cheese baguette. The person who served him, used the same "gloves" to pick up the cheese as he had for the meat roll he had just done for me!

He asked the bod to put new clean gloves on and the bod refused. Needless to say it was then a lost sale....from both of us!

Again, I was in a Subway last week (St. Ives, Cornwall), and again the bod used the same pair of gloves to make a salad roll, that he had just used to make a meat roll!!!

Subway really need to address this issue.
The Subman
19-04-2009
Keep them coming, I love answering your questions!

Quote:
“What makes me not want to eat there? Just one thing. The food is not fresh if it sits there unsecurely covered exposed to air as it typically does for hours on end . Meats and vegetables should also be sliced fresh at the time of serving, not pre-cut and left to sit out in containers exposed to air.”

Exposure to air is a relatively minor issue, as all products in the counter are kept refrigerated (or in the case of the meatballs, kept warm) at the correct temperatures, as required by law. Any store that's three years old or less will have flip down counter covers, meaning the food is covered when the counter is not in use. Older stores, with the fixed counter glass resulting in an open counter, in theory are supposed to keep lids on products when not in use. The reality though, is that this does not happen due to the time it adds to serving customers.

As for slicing meats and vegetables to order, that'd be absolutely wonderful, but in the real world it isn't something that's possible. Slicing products to order would, unfortunately, would grind our stores more or less to a halt and doesnt fit in with our business model.

Quote:
“Subway staff need training as far as vegetarians are concerned.

I'm not a veggie myself, but my nephew is, and last year, he asked for a cheese baguette. The person who served him, used the same "gloves" to pick up the cheese as he had for the meat roll he had just done for me!

He asked the bod to put new clean gloves on and the bod refused. Needless to say it was then a lost sale....from both of us!

Again, I was in a Subway last week (St. Ives, Cornwall), and again the bod used the same pair of gloves to make a salad roll, that he had just used to make a meat roll!!!

Subway really need to address this issue.”

I made a post about this on the previous page, and I do agree with you that this is an issue.

Subway staff DO recieve training on this and are all fully aware that if the Veggie Delite, Veggie Patty, Tuna or Seafood Sub is ordered, they should offer to change gloves for the customer.

The reason this often doesn't happen is that some customers are simply so horrible to staff about it although of course, I'm not suggesting you are! Glove changing seems to bring out the worst in so many customers however, often resorting to swearing or personally insulting staff.

There are two other reasons staff may not offer to change gloves when they should:

- On the whole, we find most vegetarian customers are not overly fussy with regards to glove changing, however Asian customers (primarily Muslims who do not eat our meat as it is not Halal) are often very fussy. Therefore, staff will often offer to change gloves only if it is an Asian customer ordering the vegetarian or fish Sub. I'm aware that doesn't sound awfully PC, but it is an accurate observation.

- Often there is confusion when staff offer, which puts them off doing so. Frequently, staff will say "are you a vegetarian?" or "would you like me to change my gloves?" and are met with a blank response as the customer hasn't considered why this is relevant or whether they would want the gloves changing or not. This can slow things down considerably sometimes.

Overall though, staff should offer to change gloves for any vegetarian or fish Sub and they are all trained to do this! I can't defend, or even find any reasoning as to why someone would actually refuse to do this! Personally, I'd say you should ask to speak to the manager if the staff are telling you they will not change their gloves.
michael,76
19-04-2009
Originally Posted by The Subman:
“
As for slicing meats and vegetables to order, that'd be absolutely wonderful, but in the real world it isn't something that's possible. Slicing products to order would, unfortunately, would grind our stores more or less to a halt and doesnt fit in with our business model.”

Aren't the meats processed and ready sliced anyway? The cheese definitely is. That's what I find disappointing about Subway. Proper, unprocessed meat and cheese obviously isn't in their business model!
Lemonhunny
20-04-2009
Originally Posted by bic:
“Really don't like the bread - it reminds me of nimble bread in the 70's and the smell as you walk past makes me dry retch.”

The stench from KFC makes me heave. There's a certain part of town I just can't walk past because of it.

And yet I love KFC, so long as someone else goes to buy it.

Subway...hugely expensive for the cost of the actual ingredients, although I do love the variety they offer. THAT is what makes me buy things like that...simply that it would cost and absolute fortune to have the indredients in the fridge to make a different sandwich every day.
Scrolllock
20-04-2009
Originally Posted by The Subman:
“Exposure to air is a relatively minor issue, as all products in the counter are kept refrigerated (or in the case of the meatballs, kept warm) at the correct temperatures, as required by law. Any store that's three years old or less will have flip down counter covers, meaning the food is covered when the counter is not in use. Older stores, with the fixed counter glass resulting in an open counter, in theory are supposed to keep lids on products when not in use. The reality though, is that this does not happen due to the time it adds to serving customers.

As for slicing meats and vegetables to order, that'd be absolutely wonderful, but in the real world it isn't something that's possible. Slicing products to order would, unfortunately, would grind our stores more or less to a halt and doesnt fit in with our business model.”

I disagree. I can taste the difference where meats are pre-cut as opposed to the meats being sliced fresh. It is one the reasons that I buy sandwiches from one of Subway's competitors, Port a subs, here in America, that cuts their meats and cheeses for each sandwich.

As for cutting vegetables fresh too that could easily be done through simple machines designed to do so easily and quickly. I understand that Subway wants to make the sandwiches as quick as possible but in the end it is the quality that matters and freshness has the biggest effect on the taste and quality of a sandwich.

Compare another American fast food restaurant in America, In-n-Out, to other burger joints they compete with and you'll easily see the difference in quality by them taking the time to prepare the food properly, everything freshly cut and prepared. It is why they are so popular and successful and why they can pay their workers so well.
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