Ok this may look a bit like an advertorial but I was rather pleased to see this story in today’s Oz. My pleasure is of course due to the fact that one of my best friends has Subway franchise which gives me a small insight into the way that they do business.
Regular customer Susan Rogers places her order at a Subway franchise on Oxford Street in the inner-Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst yesterday. Picture: Alan Pryke. Source: The Australian
Since Subway opened its first store in Perth in 1988, the franchise has grown to about 1260 stores in Australia, exceeding the number of McDonald’s stores by about 430 and more than double that of KFC. “We are very happy with the way things have gone,” said Subway Australia-New Zealand regional director Brian Tap. “We’ve got a very good product and a strong value message out there and consumers have reacted positively.”
Outside of the US, Mr Tap said Australia was Subway’s biggest market based on store numbers, serving more than 1.5 million customers a week.
One of those is Susan Rogers from North Sydney. A regular for the past five years, Ms Rogers said she liked it because “it’s a healthy option, it fills you up and it’s a good price when you compare it to what else is out there”.
I have a reputation for defending Macca’s and I don’t retreat from any thing that I have said about that fast food chain but its clear to me that Subway are like their bread on the rise and Maccas is effectively just treading water these days. Probably because it sells a more “healthy” product. As far as I can tell the businesses that rise up the ramparts of success are those that tap into the times they operate in. McDonalds built their market share in a time when what mattered was calories per dollar. They developed a market model that worked but now we are much more conscious of the fact that we should not eat lots of fat or sugar so the maker of a more “healthy ” product is bound to succeed. The good thing for those who still enjoy a burger is that the likes of McDonalds are now offering some better (healthier ) products in their menu as a response to the rise of Subway that is a win win situation.
Over all I think that the rise of Subway and the the influence that it has had on the the fast food market in general shows that capitalism can work and it can adapt to the needs of a society by a process of innovation and evolution.
Cheers Comrades
One of the side effects of a society, that is becoming more health aware, is that for years icons like Mackas’ have relied upon their fast service, never mind about the health of the product. We are no longer living in the “hamburger and chips” era. Multitudes of healthier choices are readily available now. Even their supposed healthier choices can’t compete with what is out there.
We have nothing here locally, but a lovely old greek chap, with his fish shop. But when away, it is difficult not to indulge. I sometimes envy you guys living near all these wonders of the modern take away age.
Watch the waist lines tho, and make sure the meat is halal ?