America's largest sandwich chain is floundering in 2017, with nearly 1,000 Subway restaurant closures occurring in just the past year alone.
Photo: MOs810 // Wikimedia Commons
According to Business Insider, Subway lost 3% of its stores in 2017, with numbers dropping from 26,744 to 25,835. That brings the amount of Subway restaurant closures to 909, a little under one thousand for the year.
A lot of factors have contributed to Subway's struggles over the years, particularly in 2017. The chain still hasn't recovered from the fallout involving poster boy Jared Fogle and his pedophilia scandal. Combine that with perceived slights in quality to rising competitors like Jimmy John's and Jersey Mikes, and Subway was already going to have problems coming into 2017.
A report found Subway to have the least loyal customers of 2017, and franchisees are petitioning against the return of the Five Dollar Footlong that was recently announced, claiming their profit margins have suffered enough. For now, that scenario still appears to be happening.
What sealed the deal for the sandwich giant, however, was a massive controversy involving its chicken. A report from CBC claimed that based on DNA, Subway's chicken strips were only about 50% poultry. Subway has rebuffed those claims multiple times, but it hasn't helped traffic recover. In fact, since 2012, foot traffic has dived down a devastating 25%, according to a 2017 memo obtained by the New York Post.
Dominos have already begun to fall at Subway, with North America's marketing head, Karlin Linhardt, resigning this past week.
Still, the chain has had some silver linings this year, as its return of the reuben still got the attention of customers. Subway also hopes that a new restaurant design and loyalty program that will roll out next year will help things begin to look up.
We'll have to see if 2018 fares to be better for Subway. If not, 2017 could just be the small stones that start an avalanche of trouble.
