Subway franchise operator seeks 10 new sites

THE master franchisee responsible for developing Subway in Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire has announced plans to open ten new stores this year, taking its total to more than 130.

“We’re looking to open ten new stores this year – we’re turning the development tap back on,” said Neil Holland, estates and acquisitions director for Manchester-based Made to Order Developments.

Holland has recently rejoined the business after a four-year absence when he was working as a project manager for hotels operator Hilton Worldwide in Europe. He had had previously worked for Made To Order’s founder Deirdre Anderson  between 2002-2007, during which time the number of sites it operated grew from eight sites to around 100.

“In the heady times, we were doing up to 20 sites a year,” he said.

Made to Order is the development agent for the Subway brand in one of 18 seperate regions in the UK. It acquires the sites for new stores and then recruits franchisees to operate them.

Franchisees pay set-up costs of around £125,000 for a new Subway unit (depending on its size). It also pays an annual royalty fee to the company, as well as buying ingredients from them.

Holland said that the company is ideall looking for units of around 1,000 sq ft, but can operate Subway ‘kiosks’ in units of just 300 sq ft if there are other stores nearby.
He believes that even in areas of Manchester City centre where it has developer

“We stll see opportunities on the city for another half a dozen sites,” he said.

Subway has just become the biggest operator of fast food outlets in the world, overtaking McDonald’s in the process.

By the end of 2010, it had 33,749 sites, compared with McDonald’s 32,727. In the UK, Subway has around 1,500 outlets.

The last filed accounts for Made to Order Ltd for 2009 show a dip in sales from £22m to £20.3m.