founded 1968 founder richard paganes headquarters clinton township macomb county michigan united states area served michigan primarily metropolitan detroit products submarine sandwiches number of employees 68 website tubby.com tubby s store south lyon michigan tubby s is an american restaurant chain based in clinton township michigan a suburb of detroit michigan . founded in 1968 in nearby st. clair shores the chain operates more than 70 stores throughout michigan primarily in the detroit metropolitan area . the chain primarily serves submarine sandwiches and salads along with soft drinks french fries and soup and is known for its grilled subs . contents 1 history 1.1 1990s and 2000s 2 menu 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit tubby s was founded in 1968 in st. clair shores michigan . founder richard paganes who was 21 at the time had previously worked at another local sub shop called super sub shop and decided to open his own sub shop . the site of the first tubby s was chosen after paganes found himself stopped with a flat tire in front of a building that was for rent . 1 by early 1968 the first tubby s was opened . it sold twenty five different varieties of sandwich most grilled . 1 he soon opened three more locations nearby and eventually enlisted the help of his brother robert . by 1977 the chain had grown to ten locations and was incorporated as tubby s sub shops inc. the first franchised location opened in madison heights and several other locations began offering dine in as well as carry out ; the westland location was the first to feature a drive thru window . 1 by 1986 with fifty locations at the time the company had gone public . shortly afterward the chain acquired a local restaurant called ricky s dairy bar and luxury grill . this concept was franchised as well . 1 tubby s merged with new jersey based stuff yer face inc. and was renamed as tubby s inc. paganes then became chairman and ceo of tubby s inc. although he was replaced one year later by alexander bardy as ceo . 1 1990s and 2000s edit in 1994 tubby s also started a concept called tubby s caf express which operated inside five local sears department stores including the ones at fairlane town center in dearborn and oakland mall in troy . 2 they also proposed another prototype drive thru only location and opened locations on the campuses of wayne state university in detroit and ohio state university in columbus ohio as well as one located inside a detroit hospital . 2 later in 1994 however bardy was ousted and replaced with paganes as ceo and the caf express concept was abandoned . 1 locations were also opened in florida and ohio and the chain began opening locations inside gas stations as well . 1 their first location outside the united states opened in edmonton alberta canada in 1997 followed by outlets in indiana and missouri a year later . 1 after a failed merger with florida based interfoods of america tubby s returned to private ownership in 1999 . that same year the chain expanded into arizona as well . 3 all of the locations outside michigan were eventually shuttered however as the chain chose to focus more on the detroit area to compete with national chains such as quiznos and subway . a prototype store the 100th in the chain opened in macomb township in 2001 . this was also the first location in the chain to serve pizza . menu edit tubby s offers more than twenty different types of submarine sandwiches most of which are served grilled . 4 5 in addition the chain serves several sides including french fries onion rings potato chips cheese sticks and soft drinks . see also edit companies portal list of submarine sandwich restaurants references edit a b c d e f g h tubby s inc. . funding universe . retrieved 2008 08 22 . a b walkup carolyn 1994 04 11 . tubby s targets nontraditional sites . nation s restaurant news . retrieved 2008 08 22 . tubby s inc. chooses phoenix market as first expansion west of the mississippi 25 stores planned over the next five years . pr newswire . 1997 06 20 . retrieved 2008 08 22 . tubby s menu . tubby s subs . archived from the original on may 9 2008 . retrieved 2008 08 22 . boyer ann scholl 2000 12 23 . fill er up at tubby s . cedar rapids iowa city gazette . retrieved 2008 08 22 . external links edit official website v t e fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the united states chicken chains coffeehouse chains pizza chains hamburgers a & w back yard big boy burger king carl s jr. checkers rally s cook out fatburger five guys freddy s fuddruckers the habit hardee s in n out jack in the box johnny rockets krystal mcdonald s roy rogers shake shack smashburger sonic steak n shake wayback wendy s whataburger white castle asian l & l hawaiian barbecue manchu wok panda express pei wei asian diner pick up stix sarku baked goods au bon pain auntie anne s bruegger s cinnabon corner bakery cafe dunkin donuts einstein bros. great american cookies honey dew donuts krispy kreme mrs. fields nestl toll house panera bread pretzelmaker pretzel time shipley do nuts tim hortons t.j. cinnamons wetzel s winchell s beverages argo tea biggby coffee caribou coffee bean & tea leaf coffee beanery dunn bros gloria jean s jamba juice juice it up orange julius peet s planet smoothie robeks seattle s best coffee smoothie king starbucks teavana tropical smoothie cafe tully s frozen desserts baskin robbins ben & jerry s braum s bruster s carvel cold stone culver s dairy queen dippin dots fosters freeze friendly s golden spoon graeter s h agen dazs handel s kiwi yogurt maggiemoo s marble slab menchie s pinkberry red mango rita s sweet frog tastee freez tcby tropical sno tutti frutti yogen fr z yogurtland hot dogs hot dog on a stick nathan s famous portillo s wienerschnitzel mexican style tex mex baja fresh cafe rio chipotle del taco el pollo loco freebirds green red burrito moe s pancheros qdoba rubio s taco bell taco bueno taco cabana taco del mar taco john s taco mayo taco time wahoo s fish taco noodles fazoli s noodles & company sandwiches arby s atlanta bread blimpie capriotti s charley s cos cousins d angelo daphne s erbert & gerbert s firehouse subs great wraps jason s jerry s subs jersey mike s jimmy john s lenny s sub mcalister s deli miami subs mr. hero newk s eatery penn station port of subs pdq potbelly quiznos rax runza sandella s schlotzsky s steak escape subway togo s tubby s tudor s biscuit world which wich seafood arthur treacher s captain d s h. salt esquire ivar s long john silver s skippers seafood & chowder house defunct bresler s ice cream brigham s burger chef carrols d lites druther s henry s hamburgers hot n now hot sam pretzels naugles red barn sandy s zantigo retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title tubby % 27s & oldid 743437304 categories restaurants established in 1968fast food chains of the united statessubmarine sandwich restaurantsrestaurants in detroitregional restaurant chains in the united statescompanies based in macomb county michigan1968 establishments in michigan navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 17 19 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers 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