Subway Considers Sale

[Alpha8472]

Subway might be sold to a private equity firm. The sale would yield billions of dollars for heirs of its late founders.

https://nypost.com/2023/01/12/subway-re ... valuation/

[pseudo3d]

Subway might be sold to a private equity firm. The sale would yield billions of dollars for heirs of its late founders.

https://nypost.com/2023/01/12/subway-re ... valuation/

I'm not sure what they could do with Subway. They have basically no real estate, and their real problem is managing their franchisees.

[storewanderer]

Subway might be sold to a private equity firm. The sale would yield billions of dollars for heirs of its late founders.

https://nypost.com/2023/01/12/subway-re ... valuation/

I'm not sure what they could do with Subway. They have basically no real estate, and their real problem is managing their franchisees.

Keep collecting those franchise fees, I guess...

More international expansion?

[Super S]

Subway might be sold to a private equity firm. The sale would yield billions of dollars for heirs of its late founders.

https://nypost.com/2023/01/12/subway-re ... valuation/

I'm not sure what they could do with Subway. They have basically no real estate, and their real problem is managing their franchisees.

Subway has very few standalone locations, and the few standalone locations I have seen have no consistency to building design/layout, no consistency in whether or not they have a drive-thru, etc. This suggests that the standalone buildings are owned/leased by the franchisee and not Subway itself.

A new owner could take steps to establish standards to better manage the brand and franchisees, and take steps to be more consistent. There is a lot of room for improvement here. Subway is an established brand, and you know for the most part what kind of food you will get, but you never know what the experience will be from one location to the next as far as what kinds of cheese are available (Swiss is very rare at Subway, and I have recently noticed many no longer have Cheddar) how many employees are on hand during busy times (some have one employee and long lines during lunch rushes) or how clean a location is. (I have been to a few which had mold growing in the restrooms, leading me to decide not to eat there)

There are some well-run locations, so I think the brand has some value if they can improve on consistency a bit.

[bryceleinan]

Subway is going to go one of two ways: one, private equity, or two, to an exsisting franchisor. Considering Inspire has Jimmy Johns and RBI has Firehouse, Fat Brands, MTY/Kahala, or Yum are about the three groups that would make sense, and this seems like a Yum-size acquisition.

[storewanderer]

Subway is going to go one of two ways: one, private equity, or two, to an exsisting franchisor. Considering Inspire has Jimmy Johns and RBI has Firehouse, Fat Brands, MTY/Kahala, or Yum are about the three groups that would make sense, and this seems like a Yum-size acquisition.

YUM is an interesting proposition for this...

I think this is out of the league of FAT or Kahala.

[retailfanmitchell019]

Maybe Kroger will buy Subway.

Just kidding...

[storewanderer]

Maybe Kroger will buy Subway.

Just kidding...

Kroger has always struggled to run a custom sandwich program. Promising programs at Ralphs and QFC that should have been rolled out chainwide seem to have been partially scrapped over at Ralphs but still used at some stores and still used at QFC. This may alleviate their problems with that.

[retailfanmitchell019]

Kroger has always struggled to run a custom sandwich program. Promising programs at Ralphs and QFC that should have been rolled out chainwide seem to have been partially scrapped over at Ralphs but still used at some stores and still used at QFC. This may alleviate their problems with that.

Do any Marketplace/Fred Meyer stores have a Subway? It would make sense, considering the endless amount of Walmarts with a Subway. I think a few Real Canadian Superstores may also have a Subway.

[storewanderer]

Kroger has always struggled to run a custom sandwich program. Promising programs at Ralphs and QFC that should have been rolled out chainwide seem to have been partially scrapped over at Ralphs but still used at some stores and still used at QFC. This may alleviate their problems with that.

Do any Marketplace/Fred Meyer stores have a Subway? It would make sense, considering the endless amount of Walmarts with a Subway. I think a few Real Canadian Superstores may also have a Subway.

I am not sure on this. Long ago some Kroger units in I believe Atlanta had either Popeyes or Churchs inside run next to the deli counter and run by Kroger. I don't know of any Subways.

In Mesquite, NV there is a gas station of Smiths. This was previously a Chevron, Smiths bought it. The c-store building is a typical c-store (still a c-store, with same prices as the big Smiths Store) and there is a Subway in there also. I am not clear if Smiths runs that Subway. It seems to have its own employees and a Subway cash register.