Subway Eliminates Around 300 Jobs From Milford Headquarters

MILFORD, CT — Subway announced that it is reducing its headquarters workforce by 300 people Wednesday. The company saw explosive growth for decades, but a few years ago it started to reduce the number of stores. The company faces stiff competition from a plethora of other companies.

"A reduction in workforce is never an easy decision but streamlining and simplifying our business with a smaller and nimbler workforce will help us react quickly to the changing needs of the business," said Alan Marcus, Subway's director of public relations. "Every Subway restaurant is locally owned and operated. We must do what we can to fully support our owners and our guests in every neighborhood in which we do business... In order to deliver on that strategy, a difficult decision was made to eliminate approximately 300 positions at our Global HQ in Milford, Connecticut.”

Marcus said that Subway remains committed to supporting its franchise owners with tools that will help them be successful.

A person speaking on background to Patch said her spouse was let go after decades of employment and that police were in the lobby Wednesday as laid off workers were escorted out.

News of Subway's decision was first reported by Luther Turmelle at the New Haven Register.

Subway first opened in Bridgeport and expanded to 16 locations by 1974, according to the company's website. The company began franchising locations to expand their growth and currently has more than 40,000 locations around the world. It is the largest fast food company in the world by number of locations and has seven restaurant locations in Milford alone. The company remains privately held.

Subway became a popular option for prospective franchise owners because its startup costs were dramatically lower than other competitors such as McDonald's, according to Business Insider.

Subway's privately-held status shrouds some of its operation policies compared to publicly-held companies. The company faced some criticism after a 2019 New York Times article where some franchisees said they felt targeted by the company and that they were forced to open more locations to compete, but the company refuted the allegations.

The restaurant chain announced that it planned to remodel more than 10,500 locations by the end of 2020 and that it would pay for about 25 percent of the franchise redesign costs. The goal of the overhaul was to make the restaurants more modern and convenient for customers.

The company closed more than 1,000 locations in 2018, according to CNN. In 2016 the company had more U.S. store closures than it did openings for the first time in its history.

Subway named John Chidsey as CEO in November. He is the previous chairman and CEO of Burger King Holdings Inc.

The company also faced a struggle after its famous spokesman Jared Fogle became embroiled in a child pornography and sex assault criminal case.

Fogle became a household name and a boon for the company in the early 2000's after he reportedly lost 245 pounds and attributed the weight loss success to Subway. He was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to distribution of child pornography and to traveling across state lines to have illicit sexual conduct with a minor.