Talk:Subway (restaurant)/Archive 2

Belize

I served overseas in Belize twice. They had a Subway in Belize City in 2007 but when I returned in 2012 it was no longer there. Locals told me there was a dispute with the government over supplies but I can not verify. I do know it was there in 2007 and not there in 2012 and it upset me. Please show Belize in red on map. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.53.27.183 (talk) 01:57, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:

• Jared Fogle (2007).jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 22:52, 29 June 2019 (UTC)

Wrong number of countries/territories

Cuba was not included, its the 92th country/territory. But Hong Kong and Macau should be removed, as they are not territories, but integral parts of China. So the real figure is 90.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.199.36.10 (talk) 20:04, 20 February 2010 (UTC)

Video sources

If/when the history of Subway is separated, it may be good to add this to a further reading list:

• "The Rise And Fall Of Subway". Business Insider. 2019-07-28.
• "Subway - Not Starbucks Or McDonald's - Has The Most Locations". CNBC. 2018-08-15.

Remember videos on official accounts are OK to post on Wikipedia. Frankly more videos should be posted in further reading lists because readers generally prefer videos over text articles. WhisperToMe (talk) 06:16, 9 November 2019 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 4 October 2020

Please add at the end of the topic: Franchise relations the following update:

In 2018, Subway initiated the equivalent of 29 litigation actions (mostly arbitrations) per 1,000 franchisees, compared to 1.4 actions for McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Pizza Hut, Burger King and Wendy’s combined.

Some of Subway's franchise terms are illegal in certain states. The agreement requires arbitration of all disputes in Connecticut--it doesn't matter if your store is in Canada or Costa Rica--and caps awards at $80,000. (Subway has found a way to skip arbitration by signing leases with landlords and then subletting stores to franchisees; as de facto landlord, Subway can quickly evict owners in a dispute.)

Franchisees complain that Subway Development agents use to shut down competing stores and take over profitable ones by manipulating inspections. Many franchisees who have lost their restaurants say that they have recouped little of their original investments.

Intervention from Subway’s headquarters in Connecticut is rare.

References: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/28/business/subway-franchisees.html#:~:text=Unlike%20at%20chains%20such%20as,compared%20to%20%2445%2C000%20at%20McDonald's.

https://nypost.com/2019/05/05/subways-arbitration-for-minor-infractions-is-out-of-control-franchisees/

https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1998/03/16/239302/ Jorge33165 (talk) 01:45, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

 Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{edit semi-protected}} template. Eggishorn (talk) (contrib) 22:23, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

"Subway®" listed at Redirects for discussion

An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect Subway® and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 April 15#Subway® until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. BD2412 T 05:15, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

No Subways in Greece.

As far as I know all Subway restaurants have closed in Greece. Still the map shows Greece as a current location. Lidistat67 (talk) 20:48, 22 March 2023 (UTC)

Locations section updates

Hi Wikipedia editors! My name is Paige, I currently work at the Subway corporate office and as an editor with a conflict of interest, I will be posting some suggestions here for volunteer editors to review.

My first proposal takes a look at the current Locations section. It updates some of the information in this section and for data that could not be updated, adds "as of" statements for clarity. Here is some text I took the liberty to draft based on reliable sources for editors to consider:

As of February 2023, Subway had approximately 37,000 locations in more than 100 countries, all independently owned and operated by a network of franchisees. Subway has the highest concentration of locations in North America with more than 20,000 in the United States, 2,881 in Canada, and 758 in Mexico, as of 2019. This was almost as many U.S. locations as McDonald's and Starbucks combined, as of 2018. Outside North America, the countries with the most locations are Australia (1,215), Brazil (1,643), and the United Kingdom (2,195), as of 2019.

References

I am looking forward to working with editors on this! I am happy to answer any questions. Thanks, PHSubway (talk) 15:53, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

 Done Spencer^T•C 22:02, 20 May 2023 (UTC)

Thank you! I'll be back soon to request more updates to the Corporate structure section. PHSubway (talk) 01:55, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Protection Request

Since this is a large restaurant chain in the United States and since it has been hit with vandalism as per the page history, I would like to recommend semi-protection for this page. Thanks. Conservative Steve (talk) 00:02, 7 August 2023 (UTC)

Sold to Roark

Don’t know where to put this. But it was just sold to Roark Capital. They own Dunkin’ Donuts and lots of other brands. Elemperor1 (talk) 11:43, 24 August 2023 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 14 October 2023

want to change the number of locations that Subway has in the UK as the data on the page is from 2019. There are more stores in the UK now. LuckyLuka26 (talk) 22:34, 14 October 2023 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. UtherSRG (talk) 11:33, 15 October 2023 (UTC)

Operations request

Hi Wikipedia, this is Paige from Subway. Spencer: Are you available to review this request? I am currently working on drafting an Operations section that would incorporate information on Subway's business model, corporate structure, and restaurant locations. I envision an Operations section that includes Business model, Corporate structure, and Restaurants and digital subsections.

While I'm still working on polishing up all of my updates due to recent changes at the company and the upcoming move of Subway's headquarters, I thought it would be a good idea to get started by proposing these edits:

• Create a new section titled Operations
• Create a new subsection under Operations titled Business model with the following text:

Subway restaurants are independently owned and operated by a network of franchisees. This began when founder Fred DeLuca began franchising the brand in 1974. By 1975, Subway had become a regional fast-food chain and by 1984, it had international operations. Subway is considered to have had some of the lowest franchise costs in the industry, as of 2022. All of the company's U.S. locations are franchise-owned. The estimated total cost for a franchisee includes a $15,000 fee to open the Subway business and an additional $222,050 to $506,900 in startup costs, as of 2023. Subway additionally charges a royalty fee of 8% and advertising fees of 4.5%.

• Note: Information on franchisees and start-up costs is currently spread out among the Corporate structure and Locations sections. This aims to bring it all together in one spot.

• Change Corporate structure heading to a subheading of the new Operations section
• Change Locations to a subheading of the new Operations section

To help illustrate what I'm asking for, it would look like this (this request only deals with the content highlighted light green; requests to fix and update the other content are forthcoming):

Extended content

Operations Business model Subway restaurants are independently owned and operated by a network of franchisees. This began when founder Fred DeLuca began franchising the brand in 1974. By 1975, Subway had become a regional fast-food chain and by 1984, it had international operations. Subway is considered to have had some of the lowest franchise costs in the industry, as of 2022. All of the company's U.S. locations are franchise-owned. The estimated total cost for a franchisee includes a $15,000 fee to open the Subway business and an additional $222,050 to $506,900 in startup costs, as of 2023. Subway additionally charges a royalty fee of 8% and advertising fees of 4.5%. Corporate structure As of 2017, the Subway Group of companies was organized as follows: Subway IP Inc. is the owner of the intellectual property for the restaurant system. Franchise World Headquarters, LLC leads franchising operations. FWH Technologies, LLC owns and licenses Subway's point of sale software. Franchisors include Doctor's Associates Inc. in the U.S.; Subway International B.V.; Subway Franchise Systems of Canada, Ltd.; etc. Advertising affiliates include Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust, Ltd.; Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust, B.V.; Subway Franchisee Canadian Advertising Trust; etc. IPC Europe (Independent Purchasing Company Europe Limited), manager of the Subway franchisees and the Subcard loyalty scheme in European countries. Subway's global dual headquarters are located in Shelton, Connecticut and Miami, Florida in the US, with five regional centers supporting the company's international operations.The regional offices for European franchises are located in Amsterdam (Netherlands); the Australian and New Zealand locations are supported from Brisbane (Australia); the Asian locations are supported from offices in Beirut (Lebanon) and Singapore; and the Latin American support center is in Miami (US). In 2023, Subway was sold to Roark Capital, the owners of Dunkin Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, in a deal that Reuters estimated Subway's value as $9bn. The new owners plan 23,000 store global expansion. The deal's reported value would make it the third-biggest US acquisition in restaurant history, behind Burger King's 2014 acquisition of Tim Hortons for $11.4 billion and Roark's purchase of Dunkin’ Brands in 2020 for $3.7 billion. The startup cost of owning a Subway franchise is significantly lower than competitors, beginning at around $200,000 to $500,000. However, Subway franchisees also pay some of the highest percentages of profits (around 12.5%) back to Subway compared to competitors. Locations Distribution of Subway restaurants around the world   1000 and more   100 to 999   10 to 99   1 to 9   0 A Subway restaurant located in Washington, D.C. As of February 2023, Subway had approximately 37,000 locations in more than 100 countries, all independently owned and operated by a network of franchisees. Subway has the highest concentration of locations in North America with more than 20,000 in the United States, 2,881 in Canada, and 758 in Mexico, as of 2019. This was almost as many U.S. locations as McDonald's and Starbucks combined, as of 2018. Outside North America, the countries with the most locations are Australia (1,215), Brazil (1,643), and the United Kingdom (2,195), as of 2019. References

I am happy to review any feedback. Thanks PHSubway (talk) 17:40, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

Community Involvement

Hi Wikipedia, I have another suggestion I would like to make. This is to add an entirely new section called "community involvement" that incorporates the currently existing "animal welfare" section.

Extended content

Community involvement The Subway Cares Foundation is a non-profit organization that allocates grants to groups that provide youth access to nutritious food and tuition assistance. In 2022, a promotional campaign launched through this foundation for a footlong cookie for "National Cookie Day". Subway and its franchisees support food security through various initiatives. These donations include local food banks and charity organizations. Local relief continued during the COVID-19 pandemic as communities faced food insecurity. In 2023, Subway had its fifth annual "Never Miss Lunch" donation day. This is a Canadian program that partners with Food Banks Canada to send children food. In 2022, the program delivered 175,000 packs. Subway has supported Feeding America's in a National Sandwich Day food drive and in 2016, Sandwich Day was determined to be the single largest meal donation day in Feeding America's history because of a pledge of 11 million meals that year. In 2020, as a part of COVID-19 pandemic relief, Subway said it would donate up to $1.5 million for those facing food insecurity, equivalent to 15 million meals, through the partnership to at least 200 Feeding America food banks across the United States. The Subway Fresh Start Scholarship awards funds to student employees from the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and Australia. Animal welfare In December 2015, Subway released a commitment to move to a 100% cage-free egg supply chain in North America by 2025. In April 2017, Subway released a chicken welfare policy that states that by 2024 or sooner, 100% of its U.S. chicken products will be produced in alignment with Global Animal Partnership (GAP) standards for higher welfare breeds, enhanced living environments (including lighting, litter, and enrichment), increased activity levels and optimized stocking density, and improved slaughter methods. To ensure compliance, Subway's chicken suppliers will be third-party audited with updates communicated annually. The policy announcement followed a nationwide campaign led by high school animal activist Lia Hyman in coordination with the animal protection NGO The Humane League. On April 20, 2017, Hyman and a group of activists traveled to Subway's global headquarters in Connecticut to deliver more than 53,000 signatures from campaign supporters and held a demonstration outside the building after they were denied entry. References

I am happy to review any feedback. Thanks PHSubway (talk) 17:52, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

The "community involvement" is almost certainly inappropriate to include - these are just bog-standard public relations initiatives and the sources are low-quality. SmartSE (talk) 17:55, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

SmartSE is correct. While some of these sources appear to be local journalism (KHON2, Dayton daily, KCTA, KOKH, WFXR, FOX2, FOX10Phoenix, etc.) many of them are based on press releases issued by the company. I wouldn't think any of it is based on reporting that originated from these stations own accord. Another worrying addition would be an Operations section that would incorporate information on Subway's business model, corporate structure, and restaurant locations Subway's Wikipedia article is not meant to be a mirror of the company's Annual & Quarterly Financial Statement nor to act as a franchise directory. I believe this request would benefit from spending a bit more time on the drawing board, taking care to ensure that the references used are ones where the coverage of the company spontaneously originates from the reporters of this information, and not the company itself. I see a sprinkling of references from the Wall Street journal, and the information in the proposal that is referenced by that is definitely the direction you want to go as far as content. Regards,  Spintendo  05:21, 7 November 2023 (UTC)

Remove promotional language about startup costs

Hi Wikipedia, this is Paige again.

I noticed that the language about the startup costs is a bit promotional ("significantly lower than competitors"). I would like to propose a change that updates this information and makes it more neutral. Here is the suggestion laid out:

• Replace "The startup cost of owning a Subway franchise is significantly lower than competitors, beginning at around $200,000 to $500,000. However, Subway franchisees also pay some of the highest percentages of profits (around 12.5%) back to Subway compared to competitors" in the Corporate structure section with "The estimated total cost for a franchisee includes a $15,000 fee to open the Subway business and an additional $222,050 to $506,900 in startup costs, as of 2023. Subway additionally charges a royalty fee of 8% and advertising fees of 4.5%." in the same spot.

References

• Not only is this information more recent and neutral, but it gives more transparency about the costs.

Let me know what editors think. Thanks PHSubway (talk) 20:25, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

Reply 9-NOV-2023

  Unable to review  

• All requests to remove text from the article need to be given as verbatim descriptions of the text to be removed along with any accompanying references to be removed. Currently, the request describes only the text to be removed but does not address the fate of the accompanying reference. Please advise.
• When ready to proceed, kindly change the {{Edit COI}} template's answer parameter to read from |ans=y to |ans=n. Thank you!

Regards,  Spintendo  03:04, 10 November 2023 (UTC)

Per the user Spintendo's request, I have added clarity to my request, which is as follows:

• In the Corporate structure section, delete "The startup cost of owning a Subway franchise is significantly lower than competitors, beginning at around $200,000 to $500,000. However, Subway franchisees also pay some of the highest percentages of profits (around 12.5%) back to Subway compared to competitors."

• The purpose of this deletion is to remove redundancies, assuming approval of the proposed sentence below
• Please note I am seeking the deletion of the current Guardian source, which is not used elsewhere in the article and contains older information than the replacement source I provided below

• Replace the deleted sentence in the same exact spot at the very bottom of the Corporate structure section with: "The estimated total cost for a franchisee includes a $15,000 fee to open the Subway business and an additional $222,050 to $506,900 in startup costs, as of 2023. Subway additionally charges a royalty fee of 8% and advertising fees of 4.5%."

References

• Editors should find that the linked source will verify the information of both of the proposed sentences in this paragraph.
• The purpose of adding these sentences is to make the language more neutral and add further transparency to the startup costs and fees.

Please let me know if there are any more questions or concerns. Thanks PHSubway (talk) 20:21, 15 November 2023 (UTC)

Thank you for providing the clarification about the reference, it's much appreciated. Two quick questions: - as far as the reasons provided for making the change, I just wanted to confirm, it's not due to any issues with the Guardian source, correct? Also, I'm curious how removing this information makes it more neutral if we're removing critical information while leaving in place pricing information which may or may not benefit the company (by communicating that price to readers). I'm not sure why pricing information is even included in the article, per WP:NOTCATALOG. Perhaps removing this paragraph would be a better solution. Thoughts? When ready to proceed, please change the request template's answer parameter to read from |ans=y to |ans=n. Regards,  Spintendo  19:36, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

Spintendo, thanks for the response! No, it is not due to issues with the Guardian source; when I had read the Wikipedia article, I had found the phrasing to be a bit promotional, specifically "significantly lower than competitors" and only giving the beginning costs without delving into more of the costs franchisees experience. I also thought my proposed update is more neutral because rather than simply provide a comparison to others, it sought to provide transparency on the breakdown of "percentages of profits" by explaining what those fees are in a fact-based, straightforward manner. The reason I changed the source was just because a newer one with updated info was available and with the new source, The Guardian article became redundant.

Looking at WP:NOTCATALOG, I am not sure this entirely fits, as this isn't product pricing (such as listing out how much subs on the Signature menu are) and I think is important context considering that Subway is unique in that 100% of stores are franchises (where as something like Burger King is only mostly, not all) and franchising is an important part of Subway's history and growth. PHSubway (talk) 15:42, 22 November 2023 (UTC)

Thank you for your reply, it's much appreciated. And while I understand your point about pricing of products, my view of it is that the franchise—while not exactly the same as an edible sandwich—is still in many ways a purchasable product that the company offers for individuals to acquire, just as any item on one of their menus. It stands to reason that the price of these franchises is not fixed in stone and thus can fluctuate over time (meaning the price is open to market variations just as any other good, commodity, or property would be). Those qualities lead me to believe that WP:NOTCATALOG may apply here. Regards,  Spintendo  02:11, 28 November 2023 (UTC)