Primary research data and key findings

Tao 1

Peng Tao

Subway Restaurant

Monday, 27 April 2020

Subway Restaurant

Subway has remained the best global restaurant for fast foods since its foundation. However, since the death of Fred De Luca, the founder and CEO of the restaurant in 2015, the business has been experiencing a downward trend and a loss of profits (Hokey, and Min). There has been massive loss of customers and reduced profits as they keep on closing numerous branches at different locations around the world. Suzzane Greco, DeLuca’s sister is now the CEPO and she has been struggling to take charge and ensure that the restaurant is operating properly (Demi and Jonathan).

Subway is currently rebranding their products and making few improvements and upgrades at their restaurants. They are trying to make a better brand that can enable them win back their customers and improve their profits (Min et al.). They have the opportunity of entering the Danish market and introducing their products to them. The key research findings indicate that Subway currently has over 41512 locations in 100 countries worldwide with a larger percentage in the US (Perrigot, Rozenn, Basset, and Cliquet). However, they have closed over 1500 of its location due to losses and are seeking to improve their communication system and advertisement to improve the business.

SWOT Analysis

With the available opportunity of getting into the Denmark market, Subway has various strengths and opportunities that can help them thrive in the market as well as weaknesses and threats that may lead to their failure. The following SWOT analysis indicates both the internal and external aspects that may affect this market.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Provision of a variety of foods within the restaurant such as pizzas, sandwiches and crispy chicken.	Too much expenditure in advertisements.
Customization of foods according to the tastes and preferences of the customers such as in sight making of sandwiches as the customers direct on what they prefer.	Complete dependence on the Subway service and financial provision.
Cultural considerations on the foods provided at specific geographical areas such as provision of vegetarian sandwiches in India because Indians do not consume pork and beef.	High investment risk by using its money in the restaurant investment.
Provision of foods with a high nutritional value such as reduced salt content in bread and the use of fresh bread and ingredients.	Limited control on its finances and operations due to overdependence on the franchisor.
The use of fresh ingredients in making sandwiches such as freshly baked loaves.	Poor location of its restaurants.
Provision of an upgraded menu with a variety of affordable choices for the customer to make.
Provision of USB ports at the eating areas.
Introduction of self-service kiosks for quick serving.
Strong product brand.
Well trained employees who are able to quickly make customized sandwiches while being directed by their customers.
Strong advertising techniques.

Opportunities	Threats
A ready market at Denmark	Bad reputation of the brand.
Good political environment for the business to flourish.	Competition from smaller fast food vendors such as
Opportunity for providing affordable fast food choices in the current economic crisis.	Change in consumer trends.
Provision of healthful foods according to the changing trends of consumer behaviour in prioritizing their health.	The Corona virus pandemic that is affecting the economy and business operations worldwide.
	A selective social-cultural environment leading to a low demand of the Subway foods.
	New fast food entrants into the market.
	Competition from other fast-food restaurants such as McDonald’s, Sunset Boulevard and Burger King.

Target Audience

The Subway target audience in Denmark is in Jutland at the city centre of Horsens, Vejile, and Arhus. Subway is focusing on persons aged between 15-39 years old on both genders but most especially men. This is because most men find it difficult to prepare meals for themselves and therefore would prefer to buy readily prepared meals (Demi et al.). On the other hand, women would not be a suitable market because they prefer foods that are healthy and fresh. The age bracket covers single young adults who have left their parents homes, young couples with children who are below three years old, those without children and those who have teenagers below 16 years old (Min et al.).

Research indicates that people who buy fast foods are mostly students, professionals with demanding jobs. The people can be of any nationality apart from Muslims who might be selective on the kind of meats that they consume (Jonathan et al.). Students want affordable and quick foods which are readily available at the Subway restaurants. Young professionals also love reading newspapers and catching up with what is going on in the professional world with their friends during leisure.

The male population of Denmark aged between 19-49b years old prefer taking their foods form Subway while the females who love Subway are aged from 0-18, 26-35 and 50 years old. There is a high probability of customers visiting Subway over other fast food restaurants and also when the restaurant is located in Horsens (Demi et al.). Males aged 36-49 and females aged 25 and above have considered Subway to be their favourite fast food restaurant by over 35% as compared to other vendors.

There is a high frequency of fast food consumption in Denmark where 60% of males between 1-18 years old and 50% of females in the same age group consume fast foods within a week. Teenagers prefer having discounts while buying foods and it is a very important aspect of their lifestyle (Perrigot et al.). This is because most of them are students and would want to take advantage of anything that can give them a discount. Therefore, Subway needs to invest in the Danish market and ensure that most of its locations are within Horsens city.

Positioning of the Brand in Future

Due to the stiff competition of fast foods in Denmark, Subway should reconsider the positioning of its brand. Research reveals that there is a very low amount of awareness in Denmark on the presence of Subway in the country and the products that it offers. There is need for creating a Unique Advertising Position in the future (Min et al.). This is because they are part of a market that is already saturated and U.A.P would provide the most unique advertising strategy. The advertisement messages should be connected to the kind of products that they offer as well as their pieces and best combinations.

They should have a major objective of launching an advertisement campaign that can be able to effectively market its unique foods that are healthy, tasty, quick and still fresh food that can be prepared in the presence of customers (Perrigot et al.). A combination of all these three aspects is very important even in attracting the females who have always found fast foods to be unhealthy.

Further Recommendations

From the above write up, it is clear that Subway is on the verge of losing it in the fast food restaurant category. It has been lately shaky unlike their stable counterparts such as Mc Donald’s. As a result, they need to do wise implementations that can help them thrive in the market and maintain their position (Min et al). The following are some of the recommendations that they should follow:

· Implement an online marketing strategy to get in touch with teenagers who spend most of their time on the internet. This can be through putting up adds on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

· Advertising their products through the media such as radio, television and magazines.

· Cut down on sponsorship costs of events that are meant to promote the products and invest on only what is necessary. Subway should stop acting good and being the only restaurant that is always sponsoring sporting activity.

· Carrying out temporary campaigns to promote sales.

Creative Brief

The Subway Restaurant has been struggling recently despite the fact that it is among the best and largest fast food restaurants around the world. They are aiming at expanding their market in countries such as Denmark due to their promising economy and a high population with a preference in consuming fast foods. Their major objective is to carry out massive advertisements to their potential consumers within Denmark. The main target groups are the teenage and youthful students who prefer quick and affordable foods and the second category is that of young professionals who are more focused on developing their careers and looking good rather than preparing their own food.

Advertisement is being done for the primary purpose of bringing into awareness the presence of Subway in Denmark and its available foods. Since consumers have grown to be more considerate on their health, Subway needs to ensure that they emphasize on the fact that they provide tasty, healthy and quick foods in a single package. The provision of all these three aspects in a fast food restaurant are rare and therefore most people would prefer to do their purchases at Subway.

The consumers should believe this kind of information because Subway actually offers what they advertise. They are capable of making sandwiches from freshly baked bread with fresh ingredients at the presence of the customer in a quick way. Therefore, this would not be a deception. Subway has also developed the habit of surveying the religion and cultural beliefs of the population in which they offer their products. As a result, they are able to modify their recipes to make the food acceptable to the diverse populations in cities. They even have vegetarian options in their menus for people who do not consume meats.

The Subway restaurant eludes a caring and considerate tone that is ready to do as the customer wishes to ensure that they are satisfied. With a careful and thoughtful implementation of its strategies, it is bound to turn out to be every person’s favourite restaurant.

Works Cited;

Min, Hokey, and Hyesung Min. "Benchmarking the service quality of fast‐food restaurant franchises in the USA." Benchmarking: An International Journal (2011).

Perrigot, Rozenn, Guy Basset, and Gérard Cliquet. "Multi‐channel communication: the case of Subway attracting new franchisees in France." International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management (2011).

Simi, Demi, and Jonathan Matusitz. "Glocalization of subway in India: How a US giant has adapted in the Asian subcontinent." Journal of Asian and African Studies 52.5 (2017): 573-585.