company industry restaurants genre fast food founded august 28 1965 ; 51 years ago 1965 08 28 as pete s super submarines bridgeport connecticut u.s. founders fred deluca peter buck headquarters milford connecticut u.s. number of locations 44 852 restaurants in 112 countries 1 key people suzanne greco president ceo products submarine sandwiches soup & salads pizzas some locations website www.subway.com en us subway restaurant in portland oregon subway ip inc. stylized as subway is an american fast food restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches subs and salads . it is owned and operated by doctor s associates inc. doing business as subway ip inc. subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 44 852 restaurants in 112 countries and territories as of september 11 2016 . the united states alone has 26 646 outlets . 1 it is the largest single brand restaurant chain and the largest restaurant operator in the world . 2 3 4 subway s international headquarters is in milford connecticut ; five regional centers support subway s international operations . the regional offices for european franchises are located in amsterdam netherlands ; the australian and new zealand locations are supported from brisbane australia ; the asian locations are supported from offices located in beirut lebanon and singapore ; and the latin american support center is in miami florida . 5 contents 1 history 2 locations 3 products 3.1 regional variations 3.2 nutritional content 4 advertising 4.1 jared fogle 4.2 5 footlongs 4.3 sub club 5 controversies 5.1 hepatitis a contamination 5.2 sandwich size 5.3 franchise relations 5.4 united kingdom vat treatment 5.5 casey s trademark case against subway 5.6 ingredients 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit subway logo used from 1968 2002 . subway logo used from 2002 2016 . in 1965 fred deluca borrowed 1 000 from friend peter buck to start pete s super submarines in bridgeport connecticut and in the following year they formed doctor s associates inc. to oversee operations of the restaurants as the franchise expanded . 6 the holding company derives its name from deluca s goal to earn enough from the business to pay tuition for medical school as well as buck s having a doctorate in physics . 7 doctor s associates is not affiliated with nor endorsed by any medical organization . 8 in 1968 the sandwich shop was renamed subway . 6 subway restaurant in pittsfield township michigan 2011 the first subway on the west coast was opened in fresno california in 1978 . 9 the first subway outside of north america opened in bahrain in december 1984 . 10 the first subway in the united kingdom was opened in brighton in 1996 . 11 in 2004 subway began opening stores in walmart supercenters and surpassed the number of mcdonald s locations inside u.s. walmart stores in 2007 . 12 since 2007 subway has consistently ranked in entrepreneur magazine s top 500 franchises list . it ranked 2 in 2012 . it also ranked 2 on the fastest growing franchise and global franchise lists . 13 at the end of 2010 subway became the largest fast food chain worldwide with 33 749 restaurants 1 012 more than mcdonald s. 14 in 2016 subway announced a new logo for the franchise which will be implemented in 2017 . 15 locations edit countries with subway restaurants countries with plans for subway restaurants countries that formerly had subway restaurants products edit a subway club 6 sandwich subway s core product is the submarine sandwich or sub . in addition to these the chain also sells wraps salad and baked goods including cookies doughnuts and muffins . while some menu items vary between countries and markets subway s worldwide signature sub varieties include 16 b.l.t chicken chicken pizziola chicken teriyaki chicken tikka chipotle chicken ham italian b.m.t. meatball marinara roasted chicken spicy italian steak & cheese subway club subway melt tuna turkey veggie delite veggie patty subway s best selling sandwich 17 the b.m.t. contains pepperoni salami and ham . the name originally stood for brooklyn manhattan transit but now stands for bigger meatier tastier . 18 subway also sells breakfast sandwiches english muffins and flatbread . in 2006 personal pizzas debuted in some us markets . these are made to order like their subs and heated for 85 seconds . breakfast and pizza items are only available in some stores . in november 2009 subway signed a deal to serve exclusively seattle s best coffee coffee as part of their breakfast menu in the us . 19 a 2009 zagat survey named subway the best provider of healthy options in the mega chain category . subway was also first in top service and most popular rankings . it placed second in top overall behind wendy s. 20 regional variations edit subway s menu varies between countries most significantly where there are religious requirements relating to the meats served . in 2006 the first kosher subway restaurant in the united states opened in a suburb of cleveland ohio in the mandel jcc of cleveland . former subway spokesman jared fogle attended the opening . a press release stated with slight modifications such as no pork based products and the use of soy based cheese product the menu is virtually identical to that of any other subway restaurant . 21 other openings soon followed briefly making subway one of the largest u.s. kosher restaurant chains . 22 at their peak 12 kosher subway locations were open in the u.s including kansas city and 5 in new york . as of 2011 only five remain cleveland miami los angeles and two stores in maryland . 23 franchisees who failed noted a lack of support from the parent location in advertising higher costs of kosher food and supervision the inability to remain open on saturdays and that customers who do not keep kosher prefer the original menu and prices . 23 subway opened its first restaurant in india in 2001 in new delhi . subway restaurants in india do not serve beef and pork products in deference to hindu and muslim beliefs respectively and sell an extended vegetarian range due to the large number of vegetarians in the country . there are 395 subway restaurants in 68 cities of india as of january 2013 . 24 on september 4 2012 subway opened its first all vegetarian outlet on the campus of lovely professional university lpu in jalandhar punjab . 25 on march 6 2013 subway opened its second all vegetarian outlet also offering jain food in paldi ahmedabad . 26 nutritional content edit in 2011 subway introduced gluten free bread and brownies to some locations in texas . 27 it also cut the salt content of its sandwiches by 15 percent . 28 in the united kingdom and ireland subway has reduced salt content across its entire range by 33 % and has committed to further reductions in line with government targets . 29 subway s range of low fat subs is endorsed by the charity heart research uk . 30 advertising edit subway in belo horizonte brazil . 2009 subway is the second biggest fast food advertiser in the united states behind only mcdonald s. it spent us 516 000 000 on measurable advertising in 2011 . 31 subway uses the advertising slogan eat fresh and focuses on how their sandwiches are made from freshly baked bread and fresh ingredients in front of customers to their exact specifications by employees whom subway calls subway sandwich artists . in november 2007 subway s us commercials featured the cartoon character peter griffin from family guy promoting its new subway feast sandwich . 32 subway has also used instant win games based on the game scrabble . subway ran a product placement campaign in the us tv series chuck since its first season . as ratings dwindled in the second season a campaign to save chuck was launched for fans encouraging them to purchase a footlong sub from subway on april 27 2009 the date of the season finale . tony pace subway s marketing officer called it the best product placement the restaurant chain has done in several years . 33 to celebrate national sandwich day on november 3 2015 subway offered a buy one sandwich give one sandwich free promotion . 34 jared fogle edit fogle in 2007 jared fogle was a national spokesman for the company in the us starting in january 2000 giving talks on healthy living and appearing in advertisements . fogle first came to attention in his native indiana by claiming that he lost over 200 pounds in part by eating at subway . from 2008 he was featured less often as the company marketed with more emphasis on their 5 dollar footlong campaign . 35 subway attributed between one third and one half of their growth from 1998 to 2011 to fogle the equivalent of a tripling in size . 36 subway cut ties with fogle on august 18 2015 amid expectations that he would plead guilty to child pornography and child molestation charges 37 which were confirmed the following day . 38 he has since been sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison . 39 in december 2015 following the removal of fogle from its marketing subway introduced a new marketing campaign founded on fresh . the campaign focuses upon subway s establishment and early history and features fred deluca as played by his son jonathon . the new campaign downplays the use of jingles and celebrity endorsements besides targeted sports marketing in favor of focusing upon the qualities of its products and specific products . chief advertising officer chris carroll explained that the focus on fat calories and weight loss were what fresh used to be and that the new campaign would focus more on the sourcing of subway s ingredients such as its phase out of antibiotic treated meat . carroll also explained that the new strategy was being developed prior to the controversy involving fogle . 40 5 footlongs edit for more details on this topic see subway 5 footlong promotion . in 2008 subway began to offer all foot long submarine sandwiches excluding premium and double meat varieties for five dollars in the continental united states and canada as a limited time only promotion . five dollar footlongs quickly became the company s most successful promotion ever . 41 upon the initial promotion s completion customer response prompted subway to create a permanent 5 footlong everyday value menu that offered some footlong sandwiches for 5 . as of 2011 there has been a monthly rotating 5 footlong . 42 which subs are permanently priced at 5 varies by market . in october 2011 a similar promotion was launched in the united kingdom . customers can buy one of nine subs and any drink for 3 for a six inch sub or 5 for a footlong . 43 on november 1 2014 subway discontinued the five dollar footlong promotion replacing it with the 6 six inch select with a drink and a choice of cookies or chips . sub club edit sub club cards and sub club stamps in early june 2005 subway announced its first customer reward program would be phased out due to counterfeiting . the sub club program was discontinued in september 2013 by doctor s associates . 44 participating subway restaurants in the u.s. and canada offer a subway card to customers which functions as a stored value cash card . in some states and provinces the card also functions as a subway rewards card allowing customers to earn points for free food and sandwiches . unlike in the sub club program no other purchase is needed when redeeming points and registered cards can be replaced if lost or stolen . 45 subway runs periodic promotions in which it gives away free subs to customers who pre load