Subway Plans 600 New U.K. Stores In Three Years

Subway has big plans for across the pond. The Milford, Conn., chain announced in late January that it is targeting 600 new stores in the United Kingdom by 2015. Subway currently has 1,423 stores in Britain and 99 in Ireland. In addition to traditional strip-site and street store development, the chain will focus on non-traditional locations, including convenience stores, hospitals, airports and gas stations.

Subway’s Pres. and founder Fred DeLuca unveiled the plans in an interview with Reuters. DeLuca dismissed concerns about overbuilding the market in Britain. "When we get to 2,000 stores,” he said, “we’ll have about one store for every 30,000 people (in the U.K.).” The U.S. and Canada have one Subway for every 12,000 people.

The sandwich chain has more than 36,000 franchised outlets in 98 countries from Afghanistan to Zambia. Worldwide, it anticipates opening an additional 2,500 outlets by the end of 2012.