The metro will increase Prague’s headquarters for Eastern Europe
The Prague headquarters of the Subway gastronomic chain for Central and Eastern Europe will expand significantly in the coming years. For example, restaurants in the Baltics, Portugal, Spain, Greece and Israel will move to the metropolis. Until now, these countries have covered the chain’s offices in Amsterdam and Paris.
“More and more positions from various locations will be relocated to Prague,” Martin Princ, Central and Eastern Europe Network Development Manager, told E15. Thanks to the new reinforcements, the international representation in the Czech Republic may move to its headquarters at the end of the New Year’s network.
In addition to marketing operations, Subway will now also have a position in Prague called a food specialist. “This is the person in charge of product quality. So far we have had the specialist in Great Britain, now we will have him directly in Prague for the first time, “added the manager.
In addition, according to Prince, the Czech Republic is in the game of opening a training center for franchisees. It is also possible, however, that due to the number of already open restaurants, it may end up in Poland. The nearest such center has a chain in Cologne, which, however, schools only in German. Franchisees who wanted to learn English to have the closest to the UK.
One hundred on top
Subway currently has seventeen restaurants in the Czech Republic and twelve in Slovakia. However, it is planned to grow to one hundred new branches in the coming years. In other words, the rapid growth that the chain managed to achieve through its Prague headquarters in Poland or Russia.
Subway restaurants operate similarly to many other competitors on a franchise basis. A license to open one company costs 7,500 euros in the Czech Republic. When the franchisee manages to open the establishment within one year, he gets half back. In addition, the restaurant operator franchises eight percent of sales. On average, the owner of the establishment still has to put 147 facilities into the equipment. The network expanded by eleven percent last year in the Czech Republic, but does not give absolute figures.
Martin Princ: Subway is expanding in the Czech Republic, waiting with Ukraine
Originally an American chain, Subway is one of the smaller players among domestic fast foods. However, according to development manager Martin Prince in Central and Eastern Europe, the company has launched an extensive expansion with its sandwiches, which is supposed to change that.
E15: What is your business plan in the Czech Republic for the coming years?
Our long-term goal is to have a hundred restaurants throughout the Czech Republic. We believe that the potential is even higher in the regions. At the same time, however, we cannot prioritize the rate of expansion at the expense of restaurant quality.
E15: You say you want to expand beyond Prague. But aren’t the regions suffering from weak purchasing power?
We have, for example, in Opava, which a restaurant with strong competition works very well. Customers are beginning to realize that quality is more important than price. I think that the sensitivity to the price of domestic customers is largely a myth.
E15: In which countries do you have the greatest potential for development?
Definitely in the Russian Federation. When I started nine years ago, we had seven restaurants there, now we have around 680 establishments on the Russian market. And we keep growing. We continue to plan strong growth in Poland and Romania.
E15: Won’t it squeak a little now in Russia?
Of course, any changes in the political and economic situation affect the business of each network. But we are still growing there, last year we added fifty restaurants on the Russian market. However, the fact is that in previous years, when we grew by two hundred restaurants a year in Russia, it is a certain slowdown. Nevertheless, we expect to get through the day in the coming years.
E15: What market in Ukraine?
In recent years, we have received daily questions from franchise applicants in Ukraine when we will enter. However, the support of the local authorities for accession was far from the same as in Georgia, which we began to consider at the same time. And when we finally decided to join, the situation changed completely. So now we’re waiting to see what’s next. In addition to Kiev, we had big plans in the east of the country.
Lessons from Kebabistan. The Czech kebab production operates as an assembly plant