Entrepreneurial Spirit
The SUBWAY® culture embodies the entrepreneurial spirit of our founders and the thousands of successful store owners that have helped to grow and shape the SUBWAY® brand over the years.
Our franchise model empowers individuals to own their own business, creates job opportunities and stimulates economic development in local communities worldwide.
SUBWAY® franchisees come from all walks of life, with varied backgrounds, skills and experiences.
We understand the importance of continuous training and improvement in all that we do. All SUBWAY® franchisees receive intensive and on-going training that includes a combination of classroom and in-store experiences, as well as access to the web-based University of SUBWAY®.
Our franchisees are encouraged to use a learning ladder approach for staff development to promote achievement, a sense of pride, and provide an avenue for career advancement.
For many with an entrepreneurial spirit, their first job has become a career opportunity, leading them to open and operate their own SUBWAY® store.
Sabina Weronika Kupczyk from Braintree, Essex recalls her SUBWAY® experience.
"... Veggie Patty, toasted, with lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber, delicious sweet onion sauce.... You never forget your first sandwich at a SUBWAY® store. Shortly after being a customer, I joined the team as a Sandwich Artist™. I started work in one of the stores in Essex in early 2008. Hard work paid off and I became a Store Manager later that year.
In a SUBWAY® store, every day can surprise you. What counts for me the most is the smile on a child's face when I let them choose their own filling, without their parents' help, and the appreciation in the parents' eyes for being patient towards their kids. The key to success in a SUBWAY® store is to believe in what you do and the way you do it. What matters for me the most is to serve 'global sandwiches to a local nation'.
My hard work as a Manager for this SUBWAY® store led my team and I to winning the company Territory Award - STORE OF THE YEAR 2010. I came to believe that anything is possible and three hours later I had sent my application to become a franchisee. With the help of the training team, and great support from field consultants in the SUBWAY® group, I am currently running my own SUBWAY® store. The hard work paid off and this is just the beginning..."
Giving Back and Encouraging Healthy Active Lifestyles
Helping Make the World a Better Place
Giving back is a strong part of the SUBWAY® brand culture. Each year the SUBWAY® brand supports charities and philanthropic organisations through corporate donations and sponsorships to encourage healthy, active lifestyles and help make the world a better place.
- Corporate Donations
- Heart Health & Childhood Obesity
- Comic Relief
Heart Health & Childhood Obesity
We are particularly passionate about heart health and doing our bit to fight childhood obesity by encouraging healthy eating habits and living active lifestyles.
Coronary artery disease is the most common form of heart disease and is a leading cause of death worldwide. Every year about 94,000 people from the UK and Ireland die from cardiovascular diseases and stroke. A major factor is poor lifestyle habits prevalent among adults and children.
- We support community groups in the United Kingdom through the 'SUBWAY®/Heart Research UKHealthy Heart Grants', awarded for projects that strongly promote heart health and healthy lifestyles.
SUBWAY® Employees Pick Ten Charitable Organisations for 2011 Company Donation
"Team SUBWAY® -- our employees, our franchisees, developers and their staff around the world -- have a long history of giving back to their communities and helping those in need. Whether it's collecting supplies for a local animal shelter or helping franchisees and neighbours recover from a natural disaster, these folks always come through big. So, when it came time to decide on a charitable organisation to donate $100,000 to, it only made sense to put it to the entire Team SUBWAY® to pick out who would receive donations" said Michele DiNello, Director of Corporate Communications for the SUBWAY® brand.
Ten organisations received donations this year. Each one of these organisations works tirelessly to make the world a better, more caring, place to be and we are proud to provide some support for what they do. Helping entrepreneurs and community organisations is of great importance to the SUBWAY® brand.
- Doctors Without Borders, composed of doctors and nurses who volunteer to provide urgent medical care, in developing countries, to victims of war and disaster regardless of race, religion, or politics
- Feed the Children, a non-profit relief organization that delivers food, medicine and clothing to children and families who lack these basic necessities
- Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a global leader in the fight against breast cancer that has invested nearly $1.5 billion in research, treatment and well-being programs for patients and survivors since its inception in 1982
- United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), a global organization that works for universal equality for those who are discriminated against, for the progress promised in the United Nations Charter and for peace and security for the children of the world
- Save the Children, an organisation that works to resolve the struggles children face every day - poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease - and replaces them with hope for the future.
- The Jared Foundation, the popular SUBWAY® spokesman Jared Fogle has become a leader in the fight to help children learn life-long healthy diet and exercise habits with healthy programmmes and education
- Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organisation that grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich their lives with hope, strength and joy
- American Red Cross, the world's premier emergency response organisation
- American Cancer Society, a nationwide, community-based voluntary health organisation dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem
- American Heart Association, an organisation dedicated to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular disease and stroke
We are proud to support these organisations financially. Members of Team SUBWAY® also get involved with and support many UK-based charities including, -
Heart Research UK, a charity founded in 1967 by Mr. David Watson, a working heart surgeon, who realised that patients were dying unnecessarily because of the lack of research in heart disease. Today the charity leads the way in heart research- Our thousands of franchisees also support local causes and charities of their choice
Partnership with Comic Relief
- We have partnered with Comic Relief, a major charity in the UK. Every two years they run a day of public fundraising events to raise money for UK and African projects which captures the imagination of the whole country. We have been proud to be part of the fundraising events as well as an all day telethon with major celebrities/bands/comedians taking part.
Making a Difference in Our Communities
Making a Difference in Our Community
SUBWAY® stores are individually owned and are operated by independent franchisees who pride themselves on being caring and active members of their communities.
Franchisees throughout the UK are committed to making a difference in the communities where they live and work. Many franchisees take part in community activities such as sponsoring local sports teams, working with schools on healthy eating and business projects, and engaging with the business community.
A great example of franchisees in the UK working together to give back to their local community is an initiative which took place across stores in the south east. Customers were encouraged to exchange cans of food for their favourite SUBWAY® Subs. These cans of food were then donated to the Salvation Army.
The initiative, called 'Food for Food', took place on 19th May 2011. Across the region over 7,500 cans of food were collected and these were used by Salvation Army community churches and social centres across the south and south east, to help those in need.
This project was a considered a great success by members of the community and franchisees alike. Customers were very positive about the project; one customer wrote to her local newspaper to say thank you to the SUBWAY® team for organising the event.
We are also keen to promote entrepreneurial spirit and business skills amongst young people. Stores across the UK launched the Design a Sub competition, which challenged students to design and market a new Sub. Attracting entrants from schools and colleges across the UK, the project provided an opportunity for students to gain hands-on business experience. The winning regional Sub designs were developed and sold for a limited time at local SUBWAY® stores.
The SUBWAY® brand is committed to making a difference in the community and we will continue to encourage and support our franchisees to continue their excellent work.
