Subway

Subway builds every sandwich to order along a glass case, one ingredient called out at a time. Bread comes first, then protein, cheese, vegetables and sauce. No two orders have to look alike, and that is the whole proposition.

Subway History below covers the teenager who opened the first shop, the family friend who funded it and the estate the chain trades from now. Milford, Connecticut holds the head office. Almost every restaurant belongs to a franchisee, and there are more of them worldwide than any rival can claim.

Subway History

Fred DeLuca was seventeen and looking for a way to pay for college. A family friend named Peter Buck put up a thousand-dollar loan. The two of them opened a submarine sandwich shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1965. Pete’s Super Submarines went up over the door. Submarine sandwiches were the whole offer, wrapped to order. A second shop followed in 1966, and by 1968 both were trading as Subway.

Building the sandwich in front of the customer became the idea the chain is known for. Bread, protein, cheese, vegetables and sauce all get chosen aloud, in order, as the sandwich travels down a glass case. Nothing waits under a heat lamp, because nothing gets put together before somebody asks for it out loud. Franchising opened up in 1974, and the first franchised shop traded in Wallingford, Connecticut. That model spread the format across the country faster than company ownership ever could have.

Subway now trades from more than 37,000 restaurants across close to a hundred countries, with over 21,000 of them in the United States. Head office sits in Milford, Connecticut, a short drive down the coast from where DeLuca started. Numbered Subway Series sandwiches like #1 The Philly Steak and Cheese reorganised the lineup, and a permanent value tier followed them. Location count alone makes this one of the largest franchised restaurant businesses on the planet. Almost every restaurant is franchised, so the person setting the hours is usually the person behind the till.

Subway Menus and Details

Subway Menus below split three ways, one page each for the priced menu, the off-menu builds and the allergen list.

Subway Series subs at both lengths, plus classics, breakfast, wraps, protein bowls, salads and cookies, with a price and a calorie count beside every item.

The Pizza Sub, the Old Cut, the Wing Effect and the rest, with the words that actually work at the till.

The Contains line for every sandwich, wrap, bowl and salad, naming egg, milk, soy, wheat and gluten, fish, sesame, sulfites and mustard.