Are SUBWAY Franchise Owners Happy?

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• I've been in the system for the longest. Dishonesty, looting, scams, and bribery is what describes this subway system specially in Chicagoland area. They play you, and your mind out. DA in Chicago at first sweet talks and, by far no professionalism, he starts acting up on you. He thinks he's the king of all Franchisee and that He can rule them. Come on now you are in f***** 21st century. Slavery ended far back. He finds ridiculous $h!t to screw you up. You don't do what you are told specifically BY HIM AND THE Office you are f*****. DA here thinks money is everything and he can play anyone in anyways. He opens all these stores so close that makes it harder for evEry franchisee to make $. He has is own price structure to fight competition. Wait are we talking about competition ? Now it's more like subway to subway competition that other QSR. You should hear what DA has to say when he is drunk. Yes I SAID DRUNK. Money is everything and he doesn't give a damn about anyone. He will f**** you up to make his living. KARMA IS A BITCH Mr. DA.
  Do your homework before signing the lease. Try dealing with LL directly instead of having the DAs office deal with LL. They make commission on just about every thing- even the air you breath inside your subway store.
  Finally, I thank god I'm out of the system.

• 2014 was a tough year for franchisee profits, especially those who were only marginally profitable because they became real losers and serious headaches for their owners. Many were put on the market in 2014 and 2015 will see even more.
  Lets debate the word PROFITABLE.(assuming no loan payments)
  If I make $5000 a year I am technically profitable, even if it is a pittance.
  If I make $30,000 a year I am certainly profitable but nothing worth writing home about.
  It is only when I lose $5,000 a year that I have an unprofitable store.

  None of this figures the time you spend trying to make a go of it, the less than minimum wage you make or the return on your initial investment. Or the additional funds you pour in to stay afloat. Watch for more store closures in 2015.

  Subway will not discuss store profits as nobody is allowed to for fear of lawsuits which come anyway.

  I have NO PROBLEM discussing profits of stores after reviewing some numbers and asking basic questions. Been doing it for 27 years and I am usually within 5% of actuality. Get your second opinion before buying a store! Lots of losers on the market in 2015...........but some mediocre stores make good buys when owner operated. Would you like to separate the winners from the losers?

  mrfranchiseman.com, Fayaz Karim, MBA,CPA, former Subway owner

• Fayaz,

  You are being paid by subway to give a professional opinion. Your boss Fred Deluca calls public relations.

  Deluca is a thief. The bible says when a thief is found out he must pay back 7 times what he stole. He will pay back 7 times what he stole

• There is a good possibility that Subway Corporate could face a class action lawsuit by it's franchisees. They had knowledge of this pervert spokesman Jared Fogle yet allowed him to be the face of their brand. Now sales are declining, and why
  wouldn't current franchisees file a class action as their investments become less and less valuable!!!

• Rosa, I am sorry, you are so wrong...I do not work for Subway nor paid by them in any manner. I am an independent business consultant who just happens to have specialized in the Subway brand because I owned some stores and was a DA. I have heard and seen it all. Same stories, different faces, different times and places.
  I have also seen many people become millionaires by putting up with everything and following the system(as long as they can stomach it). Depends on your tolerance level, your expectations, and your advisors.

  Rebecca...get off the class action mindset. Read the first few pages of their FDD where it spells out that your store can FAIL and no promises are made. Trouble is nobody reads it.

  This is 2015 Sept; great buying opportunities exist and the brand will not fail, just don't buy the really poor stores. Let them fail or close or move them.
  I can say this with confidence because I am a Business Buyer Coach (BBC) and I have seen much in my professional and practical business experience. Try opening a Subway in a foreign country with No Bread, No Pepperoni, No Bologna, No Salami, No Turkey, No meatballs, No Sauce. No olives....
  I did and succeeded until I had a personal issue to deal with. Divorce, and custody of two gorgeous kids.
  The Subway system works.....but you must understand it and follow it even if the generals are unpleasant at times.

• I have been the owner of subway for last 5 years and I finally came to know that this company will loot and exploit you so bad that you will have no option at the end. It is designed so subway definitely make money but NOT you. The field consultant will continuously harass you every month no matter how hard you try to be in compliance. My field consultant even went personal cause I fired her friend from one of my store and tried to make my store out of compliance and shut down. If you are wise, DO NOT own SUBWAY, think 10 times, its a fraud and created to make money for them only. Anyway you DO NOT make any money with the current labor cost and food cost at all.

• Wow .... After reading all comments I have one question in my mind ... Is it really that bad? If it is ... How come I see one owner owning multiple stores ? Any kind of help would be great ... I want to open store in Texas ? Is it a good idea or not

• I was a multiple franchise owner of Subway for 10 years. It was a horrible experience. They can force you out by giving you bad evaluations and sell your store to someone else. The evaluations are subjective. If you play the politics and are one of the favorites you are OK. But if the DA wants your store, you have very little choice when they start handing out the bad evaluations. Every discount or store upgrade is at the franchisee's dime. The $5.00 sub was a franchisee killer of profits. Fred Deluca never takes a loss on a discount it is all on the franchisee's back. The DA's are in bed with Fred. DON'T BUY A SUBWAY.

• Everybody wants to get rid from this loot company called subway, now most of its own franchisee hate this brand so bad. Subway opened 911 new locations in the U.S. last year, it closed 877. That means it netted just 34 restaurants in 2015. This will continue until subway treats its franchisee as its slaves not as business partners.

• Aamir: Look at all the different franchises on this site. Most if not all share one common thread. The franchisee is at the mercy of the franchisor because they are contractually bound to them. Franchising is a win win for the company. They collect the initial franchise fee, The royalties (most if not all agreements have minimum royalties), and the franchisee bears all of the cost of operating the business. The franchisor has discretion of how much they spend on advertising, product development etc. The franchisee has no say in what goes on at that level. That's why a company like Subway advertises a $5 foot long sub, they see it as good marketing, its the franchisee that has to cover the cost.

  In my view the business model of franchising may have been a good model back when Ray Kroch started McDonalds. But it's now gone from something of a mutually beneficial relationship to a scheme of exploitation by the franchisor.