Now for Subway. Subway, however strange this might seem to you, isn't a subway, but the biggest fast-food chain in the USA, having recently overtaken the famous McDonalds. Globally, though, it's currently third with its 29518 restaurants, trailing behind the 34 thousand of Taco Bell owner Yum! Brands and the 31 thousand of McDonalds. Yum! Brands cheats, however — it counts four of its chains at once: KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Long John Silver's, named after the famous pirate from "Treasure Island".
The Subway logo in the USA can be seen on literally every corner
First, about the history of Subway. It started when, in 1965, a 17-year-old kid named Fred DeLuca needed money for college, but his part-time gigs were paying peanuts. Then, taking the advice of his neighbor Peter Buck, he opened a sandwich shop, borrowing a thousand bucks from the latter. Buck was a PhD and gave solid advice — although the location wasn't great, customers came pouring in. The joint was originally called "Pete's Submarines" (in honor of the neighbor, obviously), but on the radio, the ads sounded like "Pizza Marines". This confused the public, and so the joint was first renamed to "Pete's Subway", and eventually, only the single word meaning 'metro' remained. The chain grew slowly until the partners, following their lawyer's advice in 1974, figured out how to use franchising, meaning licensing their brand and business process to anyone willing in exchange for a cut of the profits. Now the chain is 43 years old, operates in 86 countries, and wins a ton of awards every year for doing business and franchising gimmicks.
A funny ad
So what makes this chain so great that I dedicated a whole post to it, and how does it differ from the rest of the fast foods?
The main food you can buy at Subway is submarine sandwiches, meaning long buns sliced lengthwise, filled with various ingredients like meat, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, and peppers. The buns are baked right on the spot, hence the motto "Eat fresh". The fillings from the tubs are put in right in front of you according to your order, whatever you like, and they are fresh too. This is why it's so easy to open new restaurants and squeeze them into small spaces — there are Subways inside Walmarts, college campuses, and even on American military bases, including the Pentagon and bases in Iraq. At the same time, Subway doesn't own the restaurants — every unit in the chain is a franchise.
The word submarine in Subway has long been shortened to "sub", hence the chain's name: "Sub way" means "The Way of the Sub". Almost Zen. The menu features 6 types of bread, several sauces, and over ten types of fillings, including spicy jalapeño peppers (Jalapeño). This is probably why Subway is one of the few chains that Alejandro likes. Subs come in several sizes — 6", which is 15 cm, and a footlong — which is 30 cm. You can just call the latter a footlong, they'll understand you. There are also giant 3-foot ones to order for home or for a party.
Black forest ham sub, cut for convenience. If you want a video with smoke — head to the promo site
As for freshness, the food at Subway is marketed as healthy. Compared to the food in other chains, this is true — a student named Jared managed to lose 110 kg by eating only two subs a day and exercising. After that, he naturally became the face of the company in their marketing for many years, securing a comfortable living for himself. Losing weight, no matter how you look at it, is beneficial. A large hamburger at McDonalds or Burger King has over 1000 calories, whereas a sub has half that. It's funny that on my flight back, I watched a movie explaining that people still underestimate the calorie count of subs — they grab two at once, or a non-diet soda, or a dessert. As a result, the whole dietary effect drops to zero. On top of that, subs can now be additionally toasted after they're filled, which doesn't do your health any favors either, even though the toasting happens in an oven without oil.
As you can see from the Gdańsk Subway website, the menu is by no means just subs
Just like other chains, in countries where traditions demand it, Subway adapts — in Muslim countries, all of its food is halal, and there are also kosher establishments, albeit in the US. The funny thing is this: in Gdańsk, where I have relatives and where I've been a few times, there's a shopping mall called "Madison", which is funny in itself, but nothing more. But here's what's interesting — it's exactly in this mall, on the third floor, that one of the ten Subways in Poland is located. I would've never found this out, though, if a colleague hadn't gotten intrigued by my story and started looking for a Subway near Latvia, for which I thank him.
If everything is so wonderful with this shark of capitalism, what can it be faulted for?
Perhaps only that Subways are packed too densely together, which causes the chain's restaurant owners to compete with each other, which goes against the ideology of franchising. Other than that, it deals rather harshly with its franchise licensees; it sues them and very strictly demands compliance with the rules, which doesn't make their lives any easier.
Also, probably the fact that Subway markets its food as healthy and low-calorie, which is only partially true.
In any case, it's a shame that there are no Subways in Latvia, let alone Daugavpils. My favorite vegetables are still better than the Finnish hamburgers or Southern fried chicken that we do have here. Even the miserable Chili Pizza exists in Liepaja and Riga — but not here. On the other hand, here we can go to Gubernators or Vesma and have a relatively decent lunch of healthy food for just a few lats ($5-6). Conclusion: you have to appreciate what you have.