Subway, the popular American restaurant chain that has played big on selling itself as a health food restaurant has grown rapidly over the years and is currently one of the largest food chains in the country.
Since its arrival in India in 2001, the restaurant chain has aggressively expanded and now has over 650 stores across the country. It’s currently working towards increasing its store count to 1,000 in the next two years.
Unlike other food chain franchises which are mostly operated by investment firms, Subway chooses to partner with individuals or families.
Cheaper to set up the global food brand charges its new franchisee owners $15,000 as an initial fee as compared to $45,000 by McDonald’s. In exchange for this, the Subway operators are needed to hand over a higher revenue than the other chains- 8% of gross sales in addition to other fees and stipulations.
Eligibility Criteria
To open a Subway restaurant, the potential franchisee partner must be a graduate and should be in a state to have an investable surplus of $1mn, according to a report by Phillipcapital India Research.
Subway’s eligibility criteria also state that the owner should have no political connection or a criminal background. Further, the partner should also be able to procure several licenses including a permit from Food Safety and Standard Authority of India, the shop and establishment license and the fire and trade license.
Another eligibility is the land required to build the store. The minimum area required setting up a Subway store is 650 sq.ft or 350-400 sq.ft if the store is in a food court or a mall.
Interested people need to visit the website and fill the form. They are later called for an interview and if all goes well the formality procedure is completed within a period of few days.
Ravi Bhandari, Subway Franchise Owner
Bhandari opened his own Subway store at Jodhpur, Rajasthan in 2012 with a capital investment of around ₹80 lakh including a deposit of ₹6.5 lakhs. He is expecting a turnover of more than ₹1.5 crores for FY 19-20.
Sharing his reason for choosing to open a Subway store he explained that he chose it because it allowed consumers to customize food. He also added that the idea was successful in his city as many people hadn’t experienced anything like it before.
Bhandari also shared that the journey hasn’t been easy for him as after making a turnover of ₹57 lakh in his first year he soon ran into rent losses.
He later closed this outlet and then opened it again in 2018 at a different and self-owned location. He also successfully managed to make a turnover of ₹1.3 crores with a 13% profit in FY 18-19.
Apart from him, his outlet has 4 employees including 2 sandwich artists and a manager. Bhandari manages the operation closet and the one that remains is the sleeping partner.
Also Read:Best Franchise Businesses To Start In 2019 In India
