Subway Franchise

BSPOKE20

Hi, I'm seriously considering opening a Subway franchise and would love to hear your comments on whether or not it is a good franchise to get into. I know there is always a buzz about Subway, but are the franchises really lucrative for the franchisee/investor?

madmik

Theres got to be at least a bit of profit in it at the prices they charge

A subway sandwich thesedays is about €6.49

add in crisps ,coke or a cookie/muffin youre looking
at near €10 per customer

I live in dublin 2 and there are about 4 subways within a five minute walk of each other so id say a good location would be key to cashing in

its very popular though especially in an area where theres only macdonalds and bk as greasy rivals ,id say u could do a lot worse than open a subway in a good busy area

Patricide

Well my freinds parents run the one in Tralee and they seem to be doing pretty damm good with the place. Its always busy and another subway(that wasnt owned by them) managed to open up in tralee too so there must be serious demand, even in a town like tralee.

Bandara

Hi bspoke,

Ok, I'm going against the common opinion here....

I very seriously looked into this late last year, I met with them and had already lined up a location on Grafton street for the proposed outlet.

I was really really not impressed with them. I know this is only my own personal experience with them but I found them to be quite undynamic and rigid which imo in such a fast moving industry is not a good sign. It took me some considerable time to get them to come to view the site (as they have very little presence in the Republic using only NI and UK offices), this was despite my having all required financing in place and having a strong background in the business.

Also I was extremely put out to discover that after I spoke to them they purposely informed one of their franchisees about my intention and were trying to get him in onto the deal to cut me out of it in a very underhanded manner, a fact that was confirmed to me by the agent letting the site and from another Subway franchisee that I knew personally. From subsequent conversations with people in the industry this is not uncommon from them which I find extremely poor business practice and ultimately caused me to do something else with the unit as I could not trust them any further.

In saying that their business model acheives a margin of over 70% and it is a strong brand internationally. I do however have personal concerns about the quality of the food offering and the strength of the brand with Irish consumers. From the family and friends etc and joe public opinions I got, and my own existing involvement in food businesses, I came to the conclusion that a roll from subway is considered to be poorer quality than a roll out of a delicatessen, and its straddling too closely to the fast food bracket in this country and is essentially why it has never taken off as it should have. Some of these purely American concepts are not just going to be accepted here, Starbucks is a case in point, Irish people are a different animal in comparison to our American and even european counterparts.

Also Quiznos Subs are still not committing (after almost 3 years) as to how seriously they are going to enter the Irish market.



p.s. I also have issues regarding their non-negiotable policy of their name being on the leasehold on the property you get.


lol, christ I'm getting fierce negative in my old age....I just think there are far better franchise and even independent opportunities out there as Subway isnt strong enough in an Irish marketplace without tourists and student customers to prop it up.

BSPOKE20

Thanks Hammertime, very interesting & informative post, I had heard rumours that they were not all that they were cracked up to be. Better go do some more home work on the subject!! Thanks again.

DanOB

theres word of another subway opening upstairs in londis at the stephens green end of grafton street, was told by the londis manager there

Our man in Havana

p.s. I also have issues regarding their non-negotiable policy of their name being on the leasehold on the property you get.

Christ on a bike! That is a bit much in all honesty. What do they think they are playing at?

Bandara

DanOB wrote: »

theres word of another subway opening upstairs in londis at the stephens green end of grafton street, was told by the londis manager there

this won't be happening, trust me

ongarboy

interesting reading above as it is something I considered at one point last year. Their franchisee selection process does appear to be a bit restrictive. I work in the IFSC and the local Subway there has queues out the door literally each lunch time even though there are about 20 other sandwich outlets in the near vicinity. Looking at Subway's website, there are now 94 stores operating in Ireland with 6 opening soon meaning they soon will have 100+ outlets.. I guess they must be doing something right.

Personally, I prefer Quiznos - their menu choice is better and has less of a processed feel about it.

Third_Echelon

I definitely think Quiznos offers better quality as Subway does have that processed feel to it. Saying that, I do like Subway. The south Dublin area is quite lacking in Subway outlets. For example, a Subway in the Dundrum Shopping Centre area would be very successful I would imagine...

spectre

Bond-007 wrote: »

p.s. I also have issues regarding their non-negotiable policy of their name being on the leasehold on the property you get.

Christ on a bike! That is a bit much in all honesty. What do they think they are playing at?

What do they gain from this?

DubTony

Hammertime wrote: »

this won't be happening, trust me

Grapevine has it that Griffin is putting a Subway franchise in every shop.

Bandara

DubTony wrote: »

Grapevine has it that Griffin is putting a Subway franchise in every shop.

maybe, but nothing is happening until he sells the certain number shops he's been desperately trying too offload on the QT for the past 2 months.

except no one is going to buy any store off him that is been touted at a price that makes it overvalued by a million quid.

It would be a great move to put a SWay in, his Delis are a joke and shockingly badly run

DanOB

Hammertime wrote: »

maybe, but nothing is happening until he sells the certain number shops he's been desperately trying too offload on the QT for the past 2 months.

except no one is going to buy any store off him that is been touted at a price that makes it overvalued by a million quid.

It would be a great move to put a SWay in, his Delis are a joke and shockingly badly run

i know alot of people who are of the opinion that the deli's there are better than the subways

and i think they're staff are great.. hav alot of fun with them whenever i shop there

jerrysheahan

I felt I had to reply (not gloat) to a few comments. Hammertime, should we trust you at all about anything???? Griffin's Londis Grafton Street opened a Subway yesterday. Also, I can categorically state that none of Mr. Griffin's shops are up on the market, in fact there are two more coming online early next year.

In relation to your assertion about the condition and management of the delis, I would disagree with you totally on that. If you go in to any of the Griffin shops and compare the customer service and hygiene to any other city centre conveneience store, there will be absolutely no comparison.

And yes, I do work for him. As to why we're doing it? Customer choice. Subway is a recognised name and lends itself greatly to our offering in the delis at the moment.

If you have any other "comments" or queries, I would love to hear them. I am not writing this to antagonise anyone, but I feel that I have to defend our company.

jerrysheahan

DanOB wrote: »

i know alot of people who are of the opinion that the deli's there are better than the subways

and i think they're staff are great.. hav alot of fun with them whenever i shop there

Thank you Dan!! You the man!

shels4ever

jerrysheahan wrote: »

Thank you Dan!! You the man!

I know they plan to open a few hundred more over the neext 2 years so get a good area. A friend of mine is doing very well out if it. But remember you wont have too much control they do have strick rules and checks.

Bandara

jerrysheahan wrote: »

I felt I had to reply (not gloat) to a few comments. Hammertime, should we trust you at all about anything???? Griffin's Londis Grafton Street opened a Subway yesterday. Also, I can categorically state that none of Mr. Griffin's shops are up on the market, in fact there are two more coming online early next year.

In relation to your assertion about the condition and management of the delis, I would disagree with you totally on that. If you go in to any of the Griffin shops and compare the customer service and hygiene to any other city centre conveneience store, there will be absolutely no comparison.

And yes, I do work for him. As to why we're doing it? Customer choice. Subway is a recognised name and lends itself greatly to our offering in the delis at the moment.

If you have any other "comments" or queries, I would love to hear them. I am not writing this to antagonise anyone, but I feel that I have to defend our company.

Hello Jerry,

Of course you can trust me, I would not lie to such a unbiased member of the organisation as yourself, who am I to critise the esteemed area manager of the Griffin group, however am quite happy to give you the "comments" and queries that you asked for.

I repeat again that there are several Griffin stores for sale in the city center, and seeing as your essentially calling me a liar I'll tell you exactly which ones they are. If you wish me to remove the details you can ask me to on here and I will do so, as I'd normally never post such specific information.

Both Griffin Stores on Dame street are discreetly for sale and have been hawked around for quite a while now - I challenge you to say that they are operating at the required profit level and are valued sites within the Griffin group that you would not offload if given half the chance. Also available to buy is the convenience store on Stephens Green beside where Habitat used to be, which is a nice setup but the location is a horrific kiss of death for the place, it will end up being a change of use unit. I'd imagine the store is doing about an absolute max of 40k a week ex-agency and as the rent is most likely in excess of 240k a year its never going to be a valid site for a cstore.

As for the Dame Street stores I'd imagine at this stage they are available for basically nothing as they really are doing extremely poorly, especially the one opposite the central bank, whcih is now in even more trouble with Charles McCarthy opening his new flagship Spar further up the street from it.

As for my comments on deli hygiene again I stand by them, can you confirm if your company policy is for all deli staff to wear best practice protective clothing ? As I have never observed this to be the case in the city center shops. I find Griffins city center stores far inferior in this regard to any of the other symbol groups (maybe to do with the very poor fresh food advisory team in the Londis group), but that is just my own personal opinion.

Examples, on multiply occasions I have observed deli staff without hairnets, hats/caps behind the deli area. The most shocking one being when I was in the store facing the central bank aboput 3 months ago when there were two male staff on duty. One was manning the till, the other was a male approximately 30 years old, of indian/pakistani origin who was quite well built about 6ft 1 and was standing behind the deli counter directly over the yellow chopping boards and combing his hair back with a comb he took from his pocket, his hair was quite long (hanging below the ear) and was slicked with some sort of gel. This person was wearing nothing in the way of protective clothing and neither was it just a case of him leaning against the deli, he was standing fully behind it and several minutes later made a sandwich for someone before which he just put on a pair of gloves and he did not wash his hands. This was while there were several people in the store and more than just myself noticed it. I'll leave that one with you to look into yourself as I presume you know the person I'm talking about.

Congratulations on opening the Subway in the Grafton street store (which sadly you refuse to sell), its a good move and as the cafe that you intially put in did no business whatsoever its nice to see the space being reinvented and tried again.

I'm not writing this to antagonise you either, but you called my comments into question and I am most definitely querying several of yours.

Good luck with the Subway.

DubTony

Hammertime wrote: »

Both Griffin Stores on Dame street are discreetly for sale and have been hawked around for quite a while now .... Also available to buy is the convenience store on Stephens Green beside where Habitat used to be,

I find Griffins city center stores far inferior in this regard to any of the other symbol groups (maybe to do with the very poor fresh food advisory team in the Londis group), but that is just my own personal opinion.

The strange thing is that the Centra people were very good when I dealt with them, so it should follow that the base was already there. If it's as bad as you say it's obviously operational issues and not necessarily ADM's fault.* Maybe Subway has been brought in to bring a uniformity and standards to the whole thing which is not a bad idea.

*I'm not defending ADM, my first hand experience is that it's not just the fresh food advisory person / people that are sorely lacking. They're way behind in many areas including administration. A damned good Fruit & Veg advisor recently took a buyers position and as far as I know, wasn't replaced. The company has lost people by the bucketload and they don't seem to be replaced or replaced effectively. Expect Paddy McGarry to step down soon leaving O'Riordan to steer the ship. Where he'll bring it is anybody's guess, but I have a feeling it'll be straight to market.

Bandara

jerrysheahan wrote: »

I felt I had to reply (not gloat) to a few comments. Hammertime, should we trust you at all about anything???? Griffin's Londis Grafton Street opened a Subway yesterday. Also, I can categorically state that none of Mr. Griffin's shops are up on the market, in fact there are two more coming online early next year.

In relation to your assertion about the condition and management of the delis, I would disagree with you totally on that. If you go in to any of the Griffin shops and compare the customer service and hygiene to any other city centre conveneience store, there will be absolutely no comparison.

And yes, I do work for him. As to why we're doing it? Customer choice. Subway is a recognised name and lends itself greatly to our offering in the delis at the moment.

If you have any other "comments" or queries, I would love to hear them. I am not writing this to antagonise anyone, but I feel that I have to defend our company.

Well Jerry,

You asked for my "comments", am I to presume that you will be replying to them or is your silence due to everything I said being true?

I await your response.

jerrysheahan

My apologies Hammer for not replying to you, but I have been too busy with the new Subway on Grafton Street (which I'm very sorry you couldn't get your hands on). I will post a full reply to your claims shortly.

But let me just point out that they are totally untrue. I have however taken the point about the delicatessen incident to heart. I can only assume that it happened before I took over my current position, because we do operate best practise. I would like to sincerely apologise for the incident, and I do mean that. I take customer service and hygiene very seriously.

I will reply in more detail later in the week. I hope that will satisfy you?

Jerry.

Till Rolls

jerrysheahan wrote: »

I felt I had to reply (not gloat) to a few comments. Hammertime, should we trust you at all about anything???? Griffin's Londis Grafton Street opened a Subway yesterday. Also, I can categorically state that none of Mr. Griffin's shops are up on the market, in fact there are two more coming online early next year.

In relation to your assertion about the condition and management of the delis, I would disagree with you totally on that. If you go in to any of the Griffin shops and compare the customer service and hygiene to any other city centre conveneience store, there will be absolutely no comparison.

And yes, I do work for him. As to why we're doing it? Customer choice. Subway is a recognised name and lends itself greatly to our offering in the delis at the moment.

If you have any other "comments" or queries, I would love to hear them. I am not writing this to antagonise anyone, but I feel that I have to defend our company.

I was in there the other day and was met by a smiling face a a friendly service, as for the roll I was made, it got 9 out of 10. It is deffinitlly one of the best in the city. Hygiene got Full Marks. I''ll Be Back !

segaBOY

Hammertime wrote: »

Well Jerry,

You asked for my "comments", am I to presume that you will be replying to them or is your silence due to everything I said being true?

I await your response.

Hello Jerry,

I am currently a student in Dublin-have absolutely nothing to do with the trade.

I find shopping at any Londis is a very poor experience. The staff there only know how to say "hello", "6 yo yo 50 plese" and "Nex plese" in broken english and are generally very unfriendly. It is just poor for the customer experience considering the prices are at premium rates.

Besides the odd offer you bring in with your tacky "weekly madness" signs the prices in Londis are far too high. Bought an umbrella there for €5 a few weeks back, broke about 5 minutes after I opened it out, so the quality of what you buy in is very poor too.

Came in one day for the BLT you were running-the rashers were at least over a day out on the tables and wouldn't touch them with a stick.

I refuse to shop in Londis now and (I have no association with these people, am from Athlone myself) shop in Kavanagh's Costcutter on George's street instead. Their staff are actually friendly, don't rush you at any chance they get and charge ok prices compared to londis.

Tbh Jerry the manner of your posts sums Londis up and I am in no way suprised considering how the place is run. I'm not the type to offload like this but quite frankly your stores are a horrible experience to shop in and I choose any Centra or other corner shop over them.

PS That little stunt you played recently with the queue for interviews going down Grafton Street only wants me to spend less, and it won't be spent in Londis.

GoneShootin

People need to take their grievences regarding whatever shop to the management of that establishment. Let this be the end of it.

@BSPOKE20 you're going to have to do more legwork to get your answers I'm afraid as I don't think you'll get a fair debate here.

@jerrysheahan if you'd like to interact with your customers here o boards (which I admire you for wanting to do so) then you should contact one of the admins or the newly appointed community manager to organise a commercial interaction forum.