Despite Economic Drought, Some Sandwich Chains Grow

CHICAGO (Blue MauMau) - A new report shows that despite a coarsened economic climate, some limited-service sandwich franchisors grew in 2007. Sales for the top 100 limited-service sandwich providers grew 6.4 percent, outperforming the overall sandwich industry's growth of 5.7 percent. With a 1.8 percent rise in units, the top 100 chains outperformed the sector's 1.6 percent growth as well.

Subway added nearly a half billion dollars in revenues and 440 new units in 2007 over the prior year. And Quiznos registered the second highest sales growth, with $261 million and 178 units.

"Though the economy has moved from bad to worse, the limited-service sandwich segment is holding its own," said Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Technomic. "Its resilience comes from its ability to provide customers with a range of offerings from low cost to high end. The top 100 sandwich chains have displayed an array of tactics for weathering the economic storm — from revising their pricing strategies, to making menu offerings more memorable and substantial to renovating their stores."

The report shows that sandwich restaurants are focusing on making the order easier by adding delivery and online ordering. Within the Top 100 chains, 27 percent of chains have implemented online ordering at all or select store locations. Delivery is available at 24 of the Top 100 at some or all stores.

The just-released 2008 Technomic Top 100 Limited-Service Sandwich Chains Restaurant Report identifies the leading limited-service sandwich chains, analyzes top performers by sales and units, looks at important trends in the segment, and provides insight into where limited-service sandwich opportunities exist.