TORONTO
– Subway is growing steadily in Canada, despite not joining the coffee beverage
wars favored by McDonald’s and Tim Hortons, the Financial Post reports.
Fred DeLuca, Subway’s
president and co-founder, said the non-participation is not
necessarily deliberate, but that the company’s “beverage strategy” is still in
its development phase.
“When
it comes to coffee and beverages, [McDonalds and Tim Hortons] are way ahead of
where we are — they have a lot of people going to their restaurants for coffee
and a variety of beverages,” DeLuca said. Meanwhile, Subway is growing in
Canada, with 2,930 stores. Sales increased 7% to U.S. $1.6 billion last year,
and the sandwich chain is on track to open up to 150 new franchised locations
in Canada in 2013.
“Over
time we have seen same-store sales increases, some years more than others, even
during the recession, so this has been a really good [market] for us,” he said.
DeLuca
attributed a good portion of the company’s success to its 2008 “$5 Footlong”
campaign, which took the “jumble of prices that we had on the menu board and
simplif[ied] it for customers,” he said. “Sometimes, you just get lucky...“
While fancy coffee beverages, smoothies and juices have led to increased sales for
many QSRs, Subway has stayed out of the fray — for now.
“That is an opportunity for us,” DeLuca said. “It is always good to know you have a
future. We haven’t done that well in the beverage space yet, and we have no
plans on the immediate horizon to become a big challenger in that space.
But maybe next year, or the following year, we
will hit our stride.”