Subway Case Study Solution

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The case is talking about Subway, the popular fast-food sub restaurant which was originated from North America and expanded in many countries over the past few years. When the founder of Subway, Fred Deluca opened the first Subway Sandwiches & Salads shop in Bridgeport, his primary goal was to just stay in business. Moving from one success to another, the expansion of Subway has been very steady alerting the need of international franchising and that’s how Subway’s first mission statement came up to life. Subway mission was to “provide the tools and knowledge that entrepreneurs to compete successfully in the quick service restaurant (QSR) industry worldwide, by consistently offering value to consumers through providing

Furthermore, the case was mainly tackling the intensity of competition for subway as a sub fast food restaurant demonstrating the growing direct competition among Subway’s rivals such as Arby’s, Miami Subs, and Schlotzsky’s and also the indirect competition with McDonald’s, Burger King, and KFC. In addition, the topic was talking about the competitors’ effort to enter the market by initiating upscale shops that go beyond the fast food service, offering eat-in business and family gathering along with a variety of menu offerings including salads, sandwiches, pastas, soups and desserts. Also, some restaurant went beyond the traditional sub offerings introducing a wide range food including gourmet burgers, gyros, chicken and shrimp platters, as well as hot and cold subs. Again, Subway was competing to offer the best value for the price paid to get over Arby’s, Blimpie and Jerry’s Subs who go head-to-head with

Other competitors was imitating what Subway was doing, for example when it offered the value pricing meals, others replied with better prices and offers that attracted more customers. Thus, I think some decisions need to be taken in order to improve what customers’ think about Subway. First of all, Subway need to position itself as the “Original” initiator of sub sandwich industry. It is the largest and oldest single-brand restaurant chain that specialize in sub sandwiches and also, the largest restaurant operator globally. Moreover, we can’t forget the tremendous success story of Subway back in 1993, when it reached 8400 stores and made $2.2 billion sales just in a few years. Therefore, people need to understand this well, this is what set Subway apart from any other competitor. Each and every industry has its own competitors who maybe satisfying the same needs for the same customers, but the question is, who is the original initiator and the master of the game? Originality is a very important aspect that consumers use to perceive the brand they are dealing with. Improving the positioning in such way will be based on improving the 6 brand building blocks by stressing on the identity, meaning, response and relationships and most importantly on imagery