The Subway quick service restaurant franchise offered a first bite of its new footlong chocolate chip cookie coming to outlets across the United States on December 4, National Cookie Day. Customers in Chicago, Dallas, Miami and New York visited select Subway outlets transformed into “Cookieway” to get one free footlong cookie with the purchase of any footlong submarine sandwich.
“The overwhelming response we received from fans around the country last year let us know that we needed to make the footlong cookie a permanent addition to our menu,” said Paul Fabre, Subway’s senior vice president for culinary and innovation. “At Cookieway this year, our guests will get a sneak peek of an even better footlong cookie: thick, gooey, packed with chocolate chips and served warm – right out of the oven. It’s the perfect pairing with your favorite footlong sub and may even become your favorite footlong after the first bite.”
Subway is celebrating the winter holiday giving season by donating a portion of proceeds from cookies sold between November 1 and December 31 to the Subway Cares Foundation, which provides scholarships and tuition assistance to employees. The restaurant’s cookie offerings, baked daily from frozen dough, include Oatmeal Raisin, Double Dark Chocolate Chunk and Chocolate Mint in addition to Chocolate Chip.
About the Company
Subway, which ranks as one of the world’s largest quick service restaurant brands with nearly 37,000 restaurants operating in more than 100 countries and territories, on August 24 entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by affiliates of Roark Capital, an Atlanta, Georgia-based private equity firm with $37 billion in assets under management. Among its many restaurant chain holdings are Buffalo Wild Wings, Jimmy John’s, Arby’s, McAlister’s Deli, Schlotzsky’s, Sonic and Dunkin’.
“This transaction reflects Subway’s long-term growth potential, and the substantial value of our brand and our franchisees around the world,” said John Chidsey, chief executive officer of Subway. “We are committed to continuing to focus on a win-win-win approach for our franchisees, our guests and our employees.”
The sale is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. This could take longer than expected if a recent article in Politico regarding a US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation is accurate. The digital news organization, which cited several unnamed sources, reported that the FTC is evaluating whether Roark’s purchase would lead to a sandwich chain monopoly, since the private equity group already owns a number of leading sandwich chains in the United States.
The FTC could “sue to block the merger, reach an agreement with the companies that alleviates its concerns, or take no action at all,” according to Politico.
