Subway, the sandwich and salad chain franchise, has reached the milestone of 4,000 stores in Europe by opening a store in the Gara de Nord railway station in Bucharest, Romania.
The store is operated by LS Travel Retail, a travel retailer and food service business. The company already operates Subways in other railway stations in Europe.
Madalina Grama, the store manager, said: “It is a great honour to open and operate the 4,000th Subway store. Customers love the options they can find and always enjoy seeing the sandwiches made right in front of them, just as they like. It is the perfect meal option for people on the go.”
The first European Subway opened in Brighton in 1996. The franchise now has stores in 31 European countries, from Iceland to Russia. Its franchisees employ about 40,000 in Europe. In the UK and Ireland, there are over 1,600 stores, employing nearly 17,000 people. Worldwide there are more than 39,700 stores in 101 countries.
Marc Kreder, Subway’s regional director for Europe, said: “The level of growth we’ve experienced in Europe is a fantastic achievement and reflects the strong entrepreneurial spirit of the franchisees, who work hard every day to provide a great product and create an exceptional customer experience for every customer that walks into a store.”
He continues: “We are also particularly proud of the support system we have at Subway for our franchisees.”
The Subway Story
In 1965 in the U.S., 17-year-old Fred DeLuca approached a family friend, Dr. Peter Buck, at a picnic and asked him if he knew of a way to make money to go to college. Dr. Buck advised the young DeLuca to open a submarine sandwich shop. With a $1,000 cheque given to him by Dr. Buck, DeLuca opened a store in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and the rest is history.