Subway hires ex-Burger King chief to be new CEO

By: Josh K.

Subway Restaurants hired former Burger King Chief Executive John Chidsey to be its new chief as it races to put the brakes on store closures.

Chidsey, who ran Burger King from 2006 to 2010, is taking the helm at a time when sagging sales have forced Subway store operators to shutter their stores in record numbers.

Last year, the chain lost a record 1,108 stores, up from 866 in 2017 and 357 the year before.

After years of letting flailing stores close, the company is now trying to stop the bleeding, as The Post reported on Sunday, including by requiring franchisees who decline to renew their five-year leases to answer to a committee at its Milford, Conn., headquarters.

So far this year, the chain has lost a net 717 US restaurants, according to research firm Chain XY Solutions — suggesting its on pace to lessen the bleeding for the first time in three years.

Chidsey is the first permanent CEO in Subway’s 54-year history who is not a member of one of its two founding families. He replaces interim boss Trevor Haynes who took over in 2017 after Subway co-founder Fred DeLuca’s sister Suzanne Greco resigned.

Subway, as The Post reported exclusively this week, has been struggling to hold on to its roughly 24,000 US franchisees.

John Gordon of Pacific Management Consulting Group described Chidsey to The Post as unpopular with the Burger King franchisees, due in part to a $1 double cheeseburgers store operators were forced to sell for a loss — despite having voted twice to reject the promotion.

The controversial promotion resulted in a lawsuit that was settled after private equity group 3G bought the chain in 2010, Gordon said.
“When Chidsey left Burger King the franchisee relationship was beyond bad,” Gordon said. “That word is going to spread.”

“I am honored to be joining such an iconic global brand and I am most excited about the future of Subway,” said Chidsey of his new role, which kicks off on Monday. “I look forward to learning from and working with the many constituents who have built this brand.”

Subway, which is privately held, was founded in 1965 by Dr. Peter Buck and DeLuca, who died in 2015.