MILFORD, Conn. -- Nontraditional locations have long held a crucial role in Subway’s growth strategy, and the sandwich chain has popped up everywhere from a church to a Rhine riverboat and a storage container that moved skywards along with the construction of the new World Trade Center.
Now, Subway is celebrating its 5,000 convenience-store location, found in a Repsol gas station in Lima, Peru. It’s the second location in Peru—both in Lima—and both run by Jacqueline Garcia Maritano Jones, franchisee and co-development agent for Peru.
“This site is located on a border between San Borja, San Isidro and Surquillo Districts, in a residential neighborhood and in front of San Martin University,” said Jones. The neighborhood is known as Tello, named after a large farm that once stood on the site.
“Customers, and specially students, have been very happy about the store,” she said. “They started to visit the store from day one. It is very common to see groups of students coming at the same time.”
Like most international Subway stores, this one carries the typical menu but with a few regional favorites such as huancaina, a traditional cheese sauce made with aji amarillo chile peppers and queso fresco.
“Since I opened my first store in Peru, I thought about opening [in] a Repsol gas station. Subway has always supported me in working with partners such a gas stations, airports, etc.,” Jones said.
The first Subway restaurant located in a convenience store opened in 1990. There are more Subway restaurants at c-stores, gas stations and truckstops than any other quick-service restaurant (QSR) chain. In addition, Subways can also be found in the following nontraditional settings: 597 colleges and universities, 126 grocery stores, 293 hospitals
263 department stores, 1,956 Wal-Mart locations and 201 airports.
"The c-store and truckstop category was an immediate winner for us in that it opened the door to the first and earliest growth for us because it let us go into small towns where the real estate was a little scarce and the build out costs were high," said chief development officer Don Fertman. "All along, this growth in nontraditional areas has allowed us to bring our product to where the customers are. With 25% of our overall growth in nontraditional locations, it shows that the nontraditional has become the traditional."
The Lima site is just one of a few milestones Milford, Conn.-based Subway is currently celebrating. It recently hit the 500 c-store count in England, and this year also marks the chain’s 50th anniversary, which it will be celebrating through the year. Its official current store count is 10,498.
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