The last few years have been kind of rocky for the international restaurant/deli chain Subway. Jerry Fogel, who had been a spokesman for the chain for a while, was found guilty of charges related to lewd imagery and child exploitation. He has been in prison since and has caused a cauldron of trouble with his tries to get out of prison. The arrest and conviction of their spokesman have not wholly stopped people from going to this chain’s branches. When you go to Subway, you get healthier food than Burger King and McDonald’s. When you order a sandwich, you can choose what you want. You choose what bread you want as well as what the fillings are going to be. Despite its healthier options and relative popularity, the chain did have to close hundreds of branches. They had to close about 900 in 2018 and they had to close additional shops (about 500).
Suzanne Greco, the CEO of Subway, has been working at this chain since her youth. The franchises have not been happy with her being the CEO. They feel that she has not given them adequate support and has not been able to foster growth for the company. The publication Business Insider did a survey of the 25,800 Subway branches in America and found that one-third of them are not profitable. According to Business Insider, a franchise talked to them and said that many people in the industry feel that Graco should not be the CEO of the company. She has been telling the franchises that she is doing them a favor. The problem is that the franchises are losing quite dramatically. Instead of trying to find a solution to the franchise, she has retired.
Trevor Haynes, the chief business development officer, is going to be the interim CEO.
Greco’s brother was Fred DeLuca, who was the CEO before her and died in 2015. He made her his successor to the international chain while he was battling leukemia.
Her resignation and retirement that for the first time in about 53 years, the franchise will not be run by the family DeLuca. She will stop working when June comes to an end.
When she made her announcement, she said that Subway has been a part of her since she was seven years old. She loves the company and the brand. Her love will never end. She wants to have more balance in her life. She does feel that she has made really good strategic moves in the last 3 years. She feels very confident about the future of the company. The branches disagree with her assessment. They are slightly optimistic. An ex-manager of Subway franchises told New York Times that she should have left sooner. When Fred DeLuca made her CEO when he was dying, she was not expected to be in that position for a long time. Greco hopes that the new CEO will bring the company out of the red.
