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Freshii CEO to Subway: 'Let's work together to convert several Subways into Freshii units'

March 21, 2017

Freshii's Founder and CEO Matthew Corrin thinks Subway needs to convert some of its 44,000 units into Freshiis. In an open letter titled "Dear Subway, Love Freshii,"  the CEO suggested that the two brands work together, considering that "respected restaurant industry analysts agree that Subway has overdeveloped its retail base, with too many restaurants chasing fewer customers.

Industry analysts have said they believe Subway would be better off with 30,000 restaurants — still enough to dominate your niche, but with larger territories that would enable all your franchise partners to grow and prosper."

In his letter, Corrin also pointed out that Freshii is a good investment, considering it opened its first 200 restaurants faster than McDonald's, Dominos and Subway, and has reported 15 consecutive quarters of strong same-store sales growth. Also, nearly 30 percent of its restaurant openings each year come from current partners deploying their profits back into building more Freshii locations.

Subway has not responded to inquiries for comment. 

Corrin made a similar offer last year to McDonald's when he wrote an open letter to McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook, challenging him to put a mini Freshii inside one of its 14,000 locations.

Read the full letter to Subway, which was also published as a full-page newspaper ad, below.

Dear Subway,

"As a business owner, you're in a constant race against an ever-improving marketplace."

These are the words of Fred DeLuca, the late greatFounderand CEO of Subway Restaurants and the pioneer of healthier fast food in the 1980s and '90s.

At Freshii, we share Fred's mission to make healthy food convenient and affordable for all citizens of the world. As Freshii's Founder & CEO, I am grateful to have met Fred and call him an inspiration.

So, we at Freshii want to see both of our brands thrive as we continue to work toward this common goal.

Fred's trailblazing spirit taught us a lot. Freshii is now the fastest-growing restaurant brand in the world; we opened our first 200 restaurants faster than McDonald's, Dominos and even Subway.

Our 15 consecutive quarters of strong same-store sales growth are a testament to this and have helped our franchise partners grow their sales and profits. In fact, almost 30% of our new restaurant openings each year come from our current partners deploying their profits back into building more Freshii locations in their respective markets. We operate in 15 countries today and growing.

We know you are no stranger to growth. You have nearly 44,000 restaurants globally. That's more than either McDonald's or Starbucks. But too much of anything can be unhealthy. Respected restaurant industry analysts agree that Subway has overdeveloped its retail base, with too many restaurants chasing fewer customers. Industry analysts have said they believe Subway would be better off with 30,000 restaurants—still enough to dominate your niche, but with larger territories that would enable all your franchise partners to grow and prosper.

So, we have an idea. A sincere proposal to help Subway and fresh-food lovers everywhere.

Let's explore a partnership in which we together convert select Subway stores to Freshii restaurants in a quick, low-cost way. Let's continue to change the way the world eats, together.

Over time, we too will open thousands of Freshii restaurants around the world as we execute on our mission and Fred's. But we could get there faster together. We believe we'll be creating a better future centered around affordable entrepreneurship to reignite the entrepreneurial spirit across your entire system. We estimate average conversion costs, including equipment, will total around $75,000 and believe we can work together to help partners make this a reality.

Will this work? We know it will. We've already helped dozens of franchise partners from many iconic restaurant brands become successful Freshii partners by either converting their stores or bringing the Freshii brand into their portfolio. They're seeing increased sales and profits and feeling re-energized in growing a new healthy restaurant concept built for today's consumers. If you share Fred's dream, you'll be excited to share ours.

If you share Fred's passion, we'll get along like kale and quinoa. We hope SUBWAY (Doctor's Associates Inc.) will support this proposal. Your franchise partners and your customers will thank you.

Visit www.freshii.com/dearsubway for our proposed conversion designs, costs to convert and additional information on the transition.

I hope to hear from you soon. As Fred liked to say, “Opportunity waits for no one.”

Love, 
Freshii
Matthew Corrin
Founder & CEO
Freshii Inc.