“All along, this growth in non-traditional areas, has allowed us to bring our product to where the customers are,” says Subway’s chief development officer.
Global quick-service restaurant chain SUBWAY restaurants is celebrating its latest developmental milestone in the brand’s growth with the opening of its 5,000th convenience store and truck stop location in Lima, Peru.
The brand has increasingly focused its growth in these attractive and opportunistic non-traditional locales due to flexible space requirements and adaptable floor plans, something that many competitors, who need much larger footprints, simply cannot do.
The SUBWAY brand now has 10,498 restaurants in non-traditional locations—nearly a quarter of the brand’s global portfolio falling under the category.
“The C-Store and Truck Stop category was an immediate winner for us in that it opened the door to the first and earliest growth for us because it let us go into small towns where the real estate was a little scarce and the build out costs were high,” said Chief Development Officer Don Fertman. “All along, this growth in non-traditional areas, has allowed us to bring our product to where the customers are. With 25 percent of our overall growth in non-traditional locations, it shows that the non-traditional has become the traditional.”
The first SUBWAY restaurant located in a c-store opened in 1990. Now 25 years later, there are more SUBWAY restaurants at c-stores/gas stations and truck stops than any other QSR. In addition to 5,000 c-stores and truck stops, Subways can also be found in the following unique settings:
597 Colleges and Universities
126 Grocery Stores
293 Hospitals
263 Department Stores
1,956 Wal-Mart locations
201 Airports
“We are fortunate that there is a lot of flexibility and adaptability in the Subway store model so we are able to fit in some of the more unique and unusual locations that many brands can’t,” said Jacqueline Jones, who owns the c-Store location in Peru and serves as a developer for the brand in Latin America. “Subway has a wonderful product to offer our customers and through these non-traditional locations we are able to reach as many customers as we can.”
Subway currently has more than 43,800 locations in 110 countries and plans to open a total of 2,500 new restaurants around the globe in 2015.