8 minutes agoMcDonald's main rival closes 729 restaurants
Periskopi(2 months ago)
(2 months ago)McDonald's most impressive achievement is not that he climbed to the top of the fast food chain; it's that he managed to stay there.
The chain was established in 1940, but its true rise in fame came in the 1970 ' s. It was a simple model based on providing hot food quickly with an experience that was the same regardless of where you were, reports Thestreet.com, broadcast Periscope.
This pattern slowly expanded throughout the United States and eventually across the globe. Whether you're in Paris, France or Paris, Texas, a Big Mac and French fries served with a Coca-Cola will have exactly the same taste.
Our aim was to ensure repeat business based on the system's reputation and not on the quality of a single store or operator”, founder Ray Croc said in his book “Grining. It Out: The Making of McDonald's”.
And while Wendy's rivals and Burger King have closed restaurants, McDonald's has an aggressive expansion plan.
The McDonald's Corps is accelerating its global enlargement strategy with a clear objective: reaching 50,000 restaurants worldwide by the end of 2017. The company sees restaurant development as a major pillar of long-term growth, even though the fast-service restaurant industry is facing a challenging consumer environment”, according to Zacks.com.
It's a growth route that McDonald's would put on the right pace to overcome Subway as the world's largest brand of restaurants. This is a title that Subway has been holding since 2011.
Subway Holds the Global Crown
Subway is the world's largest restaurant network in the number of locations. The company exceeded McDonald's in the United States in 2002, but the sandwich network has now exceeded McDonald's worldwide, according to U. SA Today Network.
Subway took the US crown more than 20 years ago and did not give up.
The Milkford headquarters operates 13,247 stores in the United States, 148 more than McDonald's since December 31st. Subway, founded by Fred De Lucas in 1965, opened 904 units last year, while McDonald's opened 295”, Fox News reported in February 2002.
Even then, McDonald's was still, in some ways, a brand bigger than Subway.
The fact that there are more Subway restaurants in the United States may be an increase in visibility, but does not bring great financial benefits”, said Mark Kalinowski, a fast-food analyst at Solomon Smith Barney.
If you have a person walking on the street or driving his car, he will see more subways. Having many open units is a factor of comfort. But after all, from a financial perspective, it's not that big a problem”, Kalinowski said.
In recent years, however, Subway has moved in the wrong direction.
Subway is constantly reduced
Subway has closed nearly a third of its U.S. restaurants since 2016. The fall began after her longtime spokesman Jared Fogle's 2015 arrest on charges of child pornography and child sex.
“U.S. prosecutor Josh J. Minkler announced today the raising of official charges against Jared S. Fogle for the distribution and acquisition of child pornography as well as for plotting to do so and for repeated trips to engage in commercial and minor sexual acts. Fogle, 37, of Zionsville, Indiana, was indicted by Information and has announced the US District Court that he will plead guilty to all charges”, according to an FBI press release.
You can't blame Fogle's arrest for the fall of Subway, but that was a factor in the beginning of her fall.
“They must accept that they are in a terrible situation and then return to the fact that the spokesman's actions will in no way influence the brand's commitment to offering customers a healthy alternative to fast food”, said Marketing Diet Patrick Hillman, a deputy chairman in Levick Communications, a company of public relations specialising in crisis management.
The chain immediately severed ties with Fogle when his arrest became public.
Subway continues to close sales points
Subway's fall has been continuous.
The US Subway Shop number fell for 10th consecutive year in 2025, while the brand continues to properly expand its traces”, according to QSR magazine.
The number of network stores has been on the decline since it reached 27,000 in 2015.
“Midis 2016 and 2025, the network closed a network of 8,345 restaurants - only that figure would rank among the five largest chains in America”, industry publication said.
Subway Shop Closes by Year:
- 2016: 357
- 2017: 866
- 2018: 1,108
- 2019: 996
- 2020: 1,601
- 2021: 1,043
- 2022: 5,571
- 2023: 443
- 2024: 631
- 2025: 729
- Source: QSR Magazine
Why is Subway having trouble?
“The simple explanation for this decline is that sales at the same store have been on the decline since 2012, and the number of units has followed the same situation. The chain has cleverly reduced the growth of units while working to recover those lost sales, and entity closures result in a slightly smaller” concept, wrote Deputy Business Editor Jonathan Maze, in Nation's Department News.
The rapid expansion damaged the chain's Francis.
“Operators have told me privately that aggressive development during that period cannibalised existing countries and damaged the entity economy”, Maze wrote.
According to industry analysts, this decline reflects more than cyclical pressure. It points to a long-term problem with stocking of shops and Francising' lucrativeness.
«vests that were extremely strong five years ago are much weaker now», a French representative for Maze said.
Subway's message also became outdated, according to the personality of Food Network, Ali Khan.
In the early 2000s, Subway's 'new' brand was echoed by a health conscious public, in contrast with McDonald's. Jared Fogle (before his scandal) became the face of her marketing for weight loss. But over time, young fast-food competitors with a view to quality, such as Chipotle and Jersey Mike's, opened the door for a new era of higher quality fast food that offered a new opportunity: faster better food (although more expensive)”, he posted.
