Subway Industry Analysis

Company Description

Subway chain restaurant started in 1965 by Fred DeLuca and his family friend Dr. Peter Buck. When he was 17, Fred was searching for a business to pay for his education since his dream was to be a medical doctor. His friend Dr. Buck suggested to him to open a restaurant that served submarine sandwiches. Dr. Buck did not stop with giving him the idea; he also became a partner by loaning him 1000 dollars (Subway.com).

On August 1965, they opened the first restaurant in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Their initial goal was to continue with the business and also to open 32 restaurants in a ten-year period. In fact, their strategies were to serve a high quality food for customers besides having good relationships with them by offering good customer services (Subway.com).

Strategic Focus and Plan

Mission:

"To provide the tools and knowledge to allow entrepreneurs to successfully compete in the QSR industry worldwide by consistently offering value to consumers through providing great-tasting food that is good for them and made the way they like it" (Subway.com, 2006).

Goals:

“SUBWAY® restaurants’ goal is to be ranked the number one restaurant by consumers and number one in restaurant count in every market that we serve” (Subway.com, 2008).

Core Competency and Sustainable Competitive Advantage:

Subway established a well-known brand that competes in the fast food industry. Subway is always working in how to improve both services and the taste of food. For many years, Subway seeks customers’ satisfaction by presenting a high quality food for them. One of the major strategies that Subway uses is to work as a team in order to be successful among other restaurants (Subway.com, 2006).

The fast food industry is facing a real challenge of maintaining their sales and profit because of all the criticism of how the fast food is affecting individuals’ health. But Subway achieves a sustainable competitive advantage by offering a low calorie, fast, fresh,...