According to an article which appeared on the Wall Street Journal on March 7, 2011, McDonald’s Corp. is no longer the largest restaurant chain in the world. By the end of 2010 the Subway sandwich franchise had 33,740 restaurants worldwide while McDonald’s had 32,737. However, with a reported $30 billion in revenue last year McDonald’s is still leading in sales, according to Bloomberg Business Week.
Like many companies, Subway, has been expanding overseas and is looking to the Far East to expand its growing market; it expects to open new restaurants in China where the franchise should have more than 500 outlets by 2015. According to Bloomberg, Subway has added 9,500 locations in the past five years for a total of about 32,000 outlets. Subway’s current growth rate is about 40 new sandwich shops a week.
Subway
Back in 1965 a university student, Fred DeLuca, opened a submarine sandwich stop to help pay for his education and fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor. The first store was opened in Bridgeport, Connecticut and DeLuca and business partner, Dr. Peter Buck, who lent him $1,000 for the business, set a goal of opening 32 stores in 10 years. In 1974 the two business partners launched the Subway® brand and began franchising.
Subway owes its growing success to a number of factors. The $5 footlong sandwich introduced about two years ago has been a huge success. At a time when sales had slumped introducing Subway’s footlong sandwich with a dollar discount was appealing and sales immediately doubled. According to NDP Group, a global provider of consumer and retail market research information, the $5 footlong success generated $3.8 billion in sales and placed the footlong sandwich among the top 10 fast food brands in the U.S in 2010.
The menu at Subway has also been offering a healthier alternative to the traditional fast food in well known restaurant chains. The growing concerns about America’s obesity epidemic, the ingredients in processed foods, among which trans fats hold the title, and Subways’ low-cost franchising model have also contributed to its growing success. A sandwich with fresh, visible ingredients seems to make more sense these days than processed, fried food with mystery ingredients.
McDonald’s Corp.
Founded in 1955, McDonald’s is the result of a small restaurant run by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald and the entrepreneurial spirit of Ray Kroc who pitched his vision of creating McDonald’s restaurants all over the U.S. after visiting the small but successful restaurant the two brothers ran in San Bernardino, California in 1954. McDonald’s took fast food to another level with effective marketing. Rather than quality food the iconic company has been selling a lifestyle and has become a household trademark worldwide.
The growing concern over food-related health problems and the slow decline of popularity of fast food have turned McDonald’s scepter into a double-edged sword. Fast-cheap-and-tasty has long masked the evils of fast food and it is gradually making way for fast-inexpensive-and-healthier - not to mention tasty.
Giovanna De Gennaro - Giovanna is a Canadian citizen who has travelled and worked abroad. She speaks four languages and has worked as an EFL teacher in Italy. ...
Join the Conversation