Subway In Trouble The first Subway location opened in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and by 1974, there were 16 Subway sandwich shops in that state. The goal was to have 32 shops open by 1974. To fulfill this goal, the founders started franchising. Today, Subway has almost 42,000 shops in over 100 countries, including more than 3,000 locations in Canada. The company is still privately owned and has stayed true to its core values and principles. These values include always providing exceptional service to its valued guests, providing the highest-quality menu items at a price everyone can afford and enjoy, and keeping operating costs low and ensuring it has great systems in place and never stops improving. A representative from the company describes millennials as the demographic core of their customer base, and new promotional campaigns emphasize their lifestyles and life experiences. The menu in all Subway shops, no matter where they are in the world, is basically the same. The only variations occur in countries like India, where a high proportion of the population is either Hindu or Muslim. In these areas, beef and pork are substituted with chicken, lamb, or pork. The menu is designed to provide affordable sandwiches made of fresh ingredients. The ordering process is also standard: pick your bread, meat or vegetable, toppings, and sauce. Customers can come into the shops to order, order by phone, or order on the website. Customers also have several ways to get their sandwiches. They can pick up their order in the shop or have it delivered by a service such as Uber Eats. Despite innovation in distribution methods, the COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for many restaurants in this highly competitive and regulations-affected industry. Many restaurants had to shut down during a country-wide lockdown and then had to follow strict mandates on how to serve customers. But for Subway Restaurants, the problems are getting even worse. Subway is the world's largest restaurant chain with nearly 42,000 locations, more than either Starbucks or McDonald's. But the franchise chain is losing stores rapidly. It was already experiencing difficulties before the pandemic and closed several thousand restaurants in North America. Now, many of its franchisees will not survive the pandemic, and there are even more problems coming their way. 2 Subway has experienced negative publicity lately. The CBC ordered DNA analysis of several fastfood chicken sandwiches and concluded that subway chicken was actually only half meat, the rest was made up of soybeans. Subway strongly refutes the allegations, claiming the CBC comments where false and calling for a retraction by going to court. A few years earlier, the chain was accused of selling 11-inch sandwiches, not a full 1 foot or footlongs, as they are called. So, the image and reputation of the chain has been tarnished. Subway is trying to restore its reputation with a new marketing campaign. It will air advertisements in the NFL season featuring New England Patriots coach, Bill Belichick, former NFL player Deion Sanders, and current NFL players. Subway's business model is also being challenged. Subway encourages franchisees to open thousands of cheap locations around the world, often dangerously close to existing Subway stores. With sales falling and too many locations, many Subway franchisees are struggling to make a profit. Franchisees are still required to pay 8% of their sales, one of the highest percentages in the industry. Thousands of Subway locations across Canada, the United States, and elsewhere have been opened by franchisees themselves, whose market evaluations were conducted independently of the parent company. Getting a Subway franchise isn't that expensive. Opening a Subway location today is between $150,000 to about $350,000, which is one of the cheapest franchises in the restaurant industry. For McDonald's, the cost is between 1.5 and 2.5 million to open a single franchise. Subway management is wondering what to do to make the business successful again - can you help with better marketing planning?

1. Identification of the strategic issues and problems

2. Analysis and evaluation

3. Recommendations and results