After 60 years, the heirs of Mr and Mrs Subway have sold it to private equity giant Roark Capital.
👉 Background: Subway was founded in 1965 as a single sandwich shop called Pete's Super Submarines. Fast forward to today, there are more than 37,000 locations across 100 countries, including 1,200 in Australia.
👉 What happened: After 60 years, the heirs of Mr and Mrs Subway have sold it to private equity giant Roark Capital for $9.6 billion USD. This is the same crew behind Arby's, Buffalo Wild Wings and Jimmy Johns in the US.
👉 What else: Roark Capital's goal is to add another 23,000 stores in Subway's stable.
💡When family-owned business hit a growth ceiling, private equity can be often a fitting capital partner. That's because PE money is like pouring rocket fuel on a bonfire.
💡While Subway was turning around the business, it still wasn't at the heights of its glory years of the early 2010s. But with fresh capital and new expertise, the possibilities for global expansion burst wide open.
💡Roark Capital already owns Subway's arch-nemesis in the US Jimmy Johns and has more than 20 major food brands in its stable. That means it has expertise in all things franchising, digital ordering strategies, and growth.
Sign up for Flux and join 100,000 members of the Flux family
