Why Subway Seems To Be Everywhere

Subway is embedded into the cultural memory so much that you may have your favorite sandwich order in mind the moment you cast eyes on its bright green and yellow sign. Subway's growth has become a focal point in recent years because it contrasts harshly with its thousands of closed-down restaurants. As it stands, the fast-food chain has around 37,000 restaurants situated around the world with an estimated 17,000 of those overseas. Despite the magnitude of this expansion, Subway's mammoth growth goals seem more than a little intense.  

The first Subway store opened in 1965 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, when Fred DeLuca, a 17-year-old with big plans to attend medical school, turned his attention to earning money to fund this dream. With financial help from Dr. Peter Buck, a family friend who was also a nuclear physicist, DeLuca set things in motion. The birth of Subway — then called Pete's Super Submarines — was one of the first of its kind to offer warm and toasty sandwiches on the go instead of cold ones. Over the years, its menu, its brand, and its stateside locations evolved, as did its potential for global success. Its first international store opened in Bahrain in December 1984. Today, the American franchise has over 20,400 stores in the U.S. and expects an additional 10,000 restaurant openings around the world. 

According to a press release, Subway is set to double its upcoming store openings in comparison to pre-COVID 2019 figures. This ambitious 2024 target is a combination of an increase in digital sales, a remodeled Subway restaurant experience with stores in airports, hospitals, and college campuses, and collaborations with brands such as Walmart and Aramark.

In 2024, Subway's international presence made its mark in Paraguay and Mongolia and planned for further expansion in Central America, South America, and Europe. But that's only a fraction of the plan because Subway wants to expand in China (a serious market for the store) with an additional 4,000 restaurants. Germany and Mexico can also expect more than double their number of Subway restaurants. Mike Kehoe, former president of international for Focus Brands (currently GoTo Foods), took on a new position as global chief development officer at the franchise. At the 2024 QSR Evolution Conference in Atlanta, he admitted that global influence is a huge goal for the chain and has shared plans to "double our restaurant count internationally."

Despite this vision of Subway eateries everywhere, the chain has battled some challenging controversies. In Ireland, Subway bread was deemed too sugary to legally be classified as bread. Also tough for the restaurant's reputation was a class-action lawsuit asserting that the footlong sandwiches were, in fact, not that long. The chain's global footprint will have to overcome these complications as it continues its commitment to accelerating at an unthinkable pace.