Matthew Boyle weaves the tale of Stuart Frankel, a transplanted New Yorker who began selling foot-long subs for $5 in his two Miami Subway franchises on weekends and evidently turned around the
company's fortunes in the process. Subway sold $3.8 billion worth of footlongs in the year ending in August, making it one of the top 10 fast-food brands in the U.S, according to NPD Group.
"There are only a few times when a chain has been able to scramble up the whole industry, and this is one of them," says Jeffrey T. Davis, president of restaurant consultancy Sandelman &
Associates. "It's huge."
Boyle's story is all about how a corporate giant can seize on a good idea that's not generated at headquarters and make it a system-wide success even though,
as marketing chief Jeff Moody puts it, "it violated all our normal processes." It's a good read.
advertisement
advertisement
Read the whole story at Business Week »