It all depends on the size of the infrastructure

Thierry Rousset, General Manager of Subway France.

Why have galleries of the railway stations and airports they become priority for Subway The turnover achieved on this type of sites are largely superior to those of the outlets in downtown or shopping centres: the report can range from one to three. Already well established on these non-traditional locations in Europe, including in Spain, England and Germany, Subway attacks now the France where they become one of the priorities of development. With 200 restaurants in France, we sat our credibility in the territory. Now, we are contacted by some operators who want to integrate us into their portfolio of signs to respond to the calls for tender. One to two first franchised units should incorporate a gallery of airport or train station by 2011.

You should adjust your concept to the requests of the marketers The specifications imposed is quite heavy, especially in terms of schedules to paste to the station or airport. But on these locations not traditional, the potential turnover is important very early in the morning. We did not have to change our concept to integrate these galleries, except to meet exceptional requirements, such as the expansion of our map of products to cover all times of the day. On the question of hygiene, the galleries are also very finicky, but Subway already displays a large requirement by controlling once per month its restaurants.

What type of candidate you prefer placing at the head of the station or airport restaurants All of our 33 800 restaurants in the world is free. So for these settlements, we will continue to trust franchisees. This will be either independent franchisees capable to respond to the call for tenders from the train station or airport and to receive our validation, or important specialized operators which will see the Subway brand in their portfolio of signs and will therefore become our franchisees on the site. It all depends on the size of the infrastructure. Do not mistake. In major airports such as Orly and Roissy, it is impossible to consider that an independent franchisee can be chosen in a tender: this type of market is held by a few large specialized operators. However, many opportunities exist for independent franchisees in the airports or railway stations in size more modest that regularly publish invitations to offer affordable to commercialize their galleries.

Is starting envelope more important for the franchisee No, on the contrary, it is often less than an investment in the downtown. Indeed, the surface of the locations is usually reduced in the galleries of the railway stations and airports and service areas are often common. But rents, called royalties, are traditionally based on a ratio related to the activity, and can be very high. Therefore, as a priority focus on transit expected in the gallery and the volume of transactions that it is possible to draw from. Indeed, in the rest of the world, Subway is moving towards sites located in hospitals, military bases where universities, providing them as a regular attendance at restaurants.