Essay on Subway Case Analysis

Today is the era of fast food restaurants, and they are hard to avoid. Everywhere we turn we see restaurants, what they sale varies from greasy burgers to cold sandwiches. Burgers are great, however, what could be appealing about sandwiches? And what do Deli’s have to offer? Which is the best? For one, Deli’s have a better selection of healthy foods. They are many Deli’s around town, two I have had experience with are McAlister’s Deli and Jason’s Deli. McAlister’s Deli is by far a better choice than Jason’s Deli, when cost, taste, and atmosphere are considered.

For this discussion, I have chosen a company that’s a lunchtime favorite in my office—Panera Bread Company, a steadily-growing national restaurant chain headquartered in Sunset Hills, Missouri. Ron Shaich, the creator of Panera Bread, joined with partner Louis Kane, the founder of the bakery-café chain Au Bon Pain Co., Inc. (ABP). In addition to ABP, Mr. Shaich started a “fast casual” sandwich shop that he eventually named Panera Bread, and once ABP was sold in 1999, Mr. Shaich focused on growing the Panera Bread brand. Within the next 15 years, Panera Bread practiced a slow but steady growth pattern and there are now more in 2,300 Paneras in the United States (Panera Bread Company, 2017).

In Jessica Lundgren’s essay, “Eating Fresh” in America: Subway Restaurant’s Nutritional Rhetoric, has stated many different strategies Subway uses in their commercials to persuade consumers that they are choosing the healthier choice when getting food at their fast food restaurants. Americans today are worried about what they can do to lose weight and maintain a good diet. Lundgren did a great job mentioning the five aspects to Subway’s nutritional claims that they follow which includes: the making of nutritional claims, a visual rhetoric that makes the restaurant’s “healthy” food options appear to be numerous and exciting, the comparison of the Subway product with the products of other, less “healthy” fast food restaurants, the clear indication

A key aspect of Panera Bread’s business that protects the company from direct competition in the fast food industry is their product niche, artisan fast food. Fast food chains are often criticized for offering unhealthy foods. But, Panera Bread focuses on a higher nutritional value in their products. Dine in restaurants are very susceptible to drops in consumer spending, so Panera Bread’s

The food industry in the UK is a multi-billion pound industry that is mainly dominated by a few competitors such as McDonalds, Burger King, KFC and Subway. Most of the food sold in these fast food restaurants is unhealthy, which is becoming a huge concern as there are many people dying of obesity and other health related problems. This is one of the key social factors facing the fast food market at the moment.

Riding the subway to a New York City resident is nothing new. It’s something that many of us New Yorkers have to use as transportation because living in a crowded city with limited space to drive is not very ideal. For the people who do drive, they do so for personal comfort and convenience. But for us commuters, having to not look for parking and worry about traffic takes up less of our time. On the other hand we experience train delays and disturbances in personal space. Nonetheless, the pros outweigh the cons and using the subway has become a part of our daily routines for many of us New Yorkers. Marc Auge states that, “If he draws himself into the field of his ethnological inquiry, it is no less fitting for his readers to broaden the scope of appreciation of the work for riders.” With that in mind, I observed the connections with my experience riding the subway in a city integrated with many different peoples and cultures.

The Subway restaurant chain is marked by its impressive leading global growth. It is the largest restaurant chain in the world. And its foundation and history could be not only a good example for the understanding of business, entrepreneurship and franchising, but also a story which can inspire and awake all of us to new possibilities in our own lives and careers.

From a study completed by Chicago-based Research International USA completed a study called “Fast Food Nation 2008. The panel consisted of 1,000 respondents of ages 16-65 who provided their inputs with an online survey which was conducted between March 13 through 2008. Which was based on results on fast food restaurants like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s are gaining popularity even through the economic hardship and recession. Marketing strategy has become more of influence on kids and young American’s. As population grows and the demand increases of fast food restaurants are expanding their stores to capturing more consumers. Fast food chains are also willing to change their menus to continue to gain and retain repeating customers.

McDonald’s has been negatively publicized to be an unhealthy option. The food is perceived to be loaded with fat, sugar, salt and carb at a high rate. It has been disapproved by numerous people as being a promoter of unhealthy diet pattern especially for the young generation who are extremely obsessed with the ease of availability and cheaper rates. It has been blamed to cause weight gain among consumers. Due to these facts, the group of health conscious people avoid McDonald’s even after the healthier pickups introduction. (Kane, 2013)

The generic competitive strategy that Panera best fits is broad differentiation. This is primarily because Panera sought to be the first choice for patrons looking for fresh-baked goods, a sandwich, soup, a salad or a beverage in a pleasing environment. In this platform Panera has set their eyes on people who may not necessarily be looking for an expensive meal, but might also not want cheap, fast food but instead are looking for a fresh meal that can be enjoyed in a relaxing environment. In this Panera is looking for a

The fast food, or quick service restaurant industry (QSR), represents approximately 200,000 restaurants and $155 billion in sales in the U.S. alone, they are one of the largest segments of the food industry (Hoovers, 2011). This segment of the restaurant industry is “highly competitive and fragmented… number, size and strength of competitors vary by region, market and even restaurant. All of these restaurants compete based on a number of factors, including taste, quality, speed of service, price and value, name recognition, restaurant location, customer service and the ambience and condition of each restaurant” (Chipotle, 2010).

The fast food industry has been growing dramatically during the last few years. For this reason, we should try to find out what are the several factors why fast food consumption keeps growing among young people and adults. Therefore, as we have seen, the popularity of fast food is spreading rapidly among many people due to the following three main reasons: good taste, convenient time, and price. Personally, working for a fast food restaurant for a brief moment in my life, I can attest to this. Marketing also plays a big part to more people eating fast food. It’s in our culture in America to expect fast food companies to market and strategize their ways to make us, the consumers, to buy more food and consume more food so they can make more profit. Especially now with commercials and social media. The fast food industry has thrived in the modern era. It’s thriving so much, the industry is growing faster than the U.S economy, at

Panera Bread is considered to be one of the U.S. most successful fast-casual restaurants. The company is one of the revolution makers in the industry of fast food, which managed to transform the traditional image and perception of to-go products that are available at an acceptable price on the market. As its initial founding company was established in 1981, Panera Bread managed to gain up to 4.5 billion USD in sales by the year of 2015, whereas the average sales per one store made up to 2.5 million USD annually (Thompson). Nevertheless, the company that once managed to upgrade bread and pastry into a trend of fast and healthy eating, today is struggling with massive competition on the fast food market. Its previous strategic strengths now became a burden that stops innovation and creativity and does not

As of now in the United States there are 22 fast food franchises. McDonalds was the first franchise to open in 1940 and since then they have been the leading and most successful franchise in America (“The Raw Prawn” n.p.). Other franchises include: Burger King, KFC, Wendy’s, Arby’s, and Taco Bell. Each of which target young students and children. Most of them have a value menu where items to purchase are cheap and tasty but very unhealthy. Some fast food restaurants provide a toy for children with their meal which attract them to come again and again ( “Eating Yourself to Death” n.p.). In addition, some restaurants contain an indoor play ground which attracts small children even more. The fast food industry mainly brings customers for their tasty food and simple convenience, they attach a drive thru to their building making it faster for customers to purchase and collect their food which is also less time consuming. Recently in the past few years, fast food franchises have begun to change their restaurant and attempt to become healthier as a whole, in some fast food restaurants they have a nutritional menu to choose from which generally contain healthier food compared to the regular menu (“The Raw Prawn” n.p.).

If we look at the fast food industry today there is room for success. Based on RNCOS’ new US Fast Food Market Outlook 2010, fast food industry growth rate is strong. Especially, hamburger sales growth is reported at the healthy rate of 4.6% in 2008. The market is expected to grow to cross the $170 billion marks by 2010.It is believed that due to the economic meltdown, fast food industry is benefiting from people being more prices conscious. People who were enjoying nice means at fancier restaurants are now turning their choice of means to more economical ways.