This week I had the opportunity to meet SUBWAY® Restaurants Co-founder and President Fred DeLuca for lunch in Toronto. Although I’ve enjoyed many SUBWAY® sandwiches over the years, I have to admit, I didn’t know much about Fred before this week. Fred might be the most wildly successful entrepreneur I'd never heard of. He also seems like a really great guy.
Did you know that Fred DeLuca opened his first restaurant at the age of 17? (Can you imagine?)
Did you know that Fred DeLuca had to borrow $1,000 to open his first location in 1965 with a goal of providing a healthier alternative to traditional fast food?
Did you know that today SUBWAY® the world’s largest restaurant chain (that means bigger than McDonalds!) with over 39,000 locations, including over 3,000 in Canada?
Fred DeLuca has always had a clear vision for what he wanted to do with his company. He is a huge supporter of entrepreneurs. I learned that he has grown the SUBWAY® chain through fostering the entrepreneurial spirit. I learned that he keeps the franchise fees deliberately low to encourage people to join the SUBWAY® family and allow them to grow their businesses quickly. I learned about SUBWAY® U, and the annual company conference, and about all of the support that’s available to franchisees. I learned that some individuals own dozens, even hundreds of SUBWAY® restaurants.
I also had the opportunity to meet Omar and Rakib, the franchisees who hosted us for lunch at their newly opened restaurant at College and Spadina. This is the second SUBWAY® location Omar and Rakib have opened in the past six months. I assumed that at least one of them was a recent business school graduate. Not so. Rakib is an engineer who worked at SUBWAY® when he was in school. He learned the business and fell in love with the brand. His advice to budding entrepreneurs was to believe in what you do. These guys were gracious and lovely and I wish them piles of success. I think they’ve joined a great family.
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