Originally posted by The Honkeytonk Monkey:
Originally posted by ESC:
[b]Guess what the second largest (number of franchises) food chain is, behind McD's?
Actually, according to Subway's website this is wrong. Subway has now surpassed McDonalds in the number of franchises. Here is the article...
*SUBWAY Restaurants' Passes McDonald?s in U.S.
Jessica Bujol; Associated Press Writer
Milford, Conn. ? There are now more places in this country to buy a B.M.T than a Big Mac.
Subway Restaurants, the privately held chain of sandwich shops, has eclipsed McDonald?s as the largest restaurant chain in the country. The Milford-based chain operates 13,247 stores in the United States, 148 more than McDonald?s as of Dec. 31. Subway, started by Fred DeLuca in 1965, opened 904 units last year, while McDonald?s opened 295.
"We knew that we were getting close to McDonald?s, but we had to wait until McDonald?s released its information," said Les Winograd, a Subway spokesman.
The numbers include satellite locations ? shops at gas stations, schools, sports arenas and other smaller outlets.
Winograd said Subway usually doesn?t include the satellites in the count, but wanted to make sure its numbers were comparable to fourth-quarter figures reported by McDonald?s, which included satellites.
McDonald?s spokeswoman Anna Rozenich declined to comment on the number of stores, but did point out that in 2001, systemwide sales rose to $40.63 billion from $40.18 billion.
