Roark Capital Closes Acquisition of Subway Eating places Sandwich Chain

The non-public fairness agency Roark Capital has closed its $9.55 billion buy of Subway eating places, regardless of opposition from critics who contended that including Subway to Roark’s roster would consolidate an excessive amount of of the sandwich market beneath one proprietor.

Subway introduced the shut of the sale April 30. It adopted a Federal Commerce Fee evaluate into whether or not the sale of the Subway sandwich chain ought to go ahead. As a result of Roark owns a bunch of different restaurant operators and franchises (together with Subway rival Jimmy John’s), opponents lobbied the FTC to dam the deal.

“We don’t want one other non-public fairness deal that would result in larger meals costs for customers,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., mentioned in late 2023, throwing her assist behind the FTC investigation.

In asserting the deal’s shut, Subway mentioned the acquisition got here on the heels of three years of gross sales progress and constructive world internet restaurant progress for the primary time since 2016.

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Roark pays about $9.6 billion for the sandwich chain, in response to phrases of the deal introduced late final summer season. Subway’s household house owners had been hoping to fetch $10 billion after they put the corporate up on the market in February 2023.

Over the past 12 months, Subway has chased gross sales progress partially by including new menu objects. Within the final a number of months, the chain has launched Subway Sidekicks, a brand new menu class, and a contemporary lineup of signature wraps, served on a brand new lavash-style flatbread.

One other change the chain made was to require that all franchises settle for digital coupons.

The Subway Sidekicks product is a assortment of three snacks. The three new footlong snacks are a Subway chocolate chip cookie formed into a protracted strip and sufficiently big for 4 folks, in addition to footlong churros and pretzels.

The wraps are impressed by Center Jap delicacies, Subway mentioned, and are served on lavash-style flatbread. The sandwich holds extra substances than a wheat tortilla, giving Subway’s new wraps a footlong protein portion in a six-inch dimension, the chain mentioned.

Roark’s bid to accumulate Subway adopted a rebound that noticed Subway’s gross sales climb in 2022 and early 2023.

Credit score for the turnaround goes partially to new advertising and marketing campaigns, together with a current, zany, “wait a minute, they did what?” marketing campaign.

Subway’s summer season promotion asking superfans to indicate their tremendous fandom went so properly that 10,000 folks had moved to alter their names legally to “Subway” in change for sandwiches for all times.

The “Subway” identify promotion is in step with the newest installment in what Subway calls its “multiyear transformation journey.” The corporate, which stays one of many world’s largest chain restaurant operations regardless of closing hundreds of retailers in recent times, is beneath strain to enhance the underside line each for itself and its particular person franchise house owners.

“This replace is Subway’s most advanced, investing greater than $80 million to deliver deli meat slicers to greater than 20,000 U.S. eating places and putting in a slicer each 5 minutes over the course of 9 months to prepare for this summer season’s debut,” Subway mentioned in a information launch. “To showcase its new freshly sliced meats, Subway’s culinary crew spent over a 12 months crafting the recipes for its Deli Hero subs.”