Can This Japanese Company Save Subway in Japan?

Will Watami succeed in making the dying brand “more Japanese”?

Picture: Canva

A number of notable foreign brands have made their mark on Japan. Subway, the chain sandwich shop based out of the United States, is…not one of them.

In an intriguing development, a Japanese company — Watami — has snapped up all of Japan’s Subway franchises. The company’s promising to turn the flailing chain’s fortunes around. Can it succeed? Or is Subway just too dang American for Japan’s tastes?

From 178 stores to 3,000?!

Founded in the US in 1965 as Pete’s Super Submarines, Subway is an international brand that has over 37,000 locations in 100 countries. One of those countries is Japan.

If you’ve never seen a Subway in Japan — well, there’s a reason for that. The franchise here has struggled to take root since it was launched by Suntory Holdings in 1992. Numbering 480 stores at its height in 2014, the brand now only has 178 stores across the nation.

Part of the reason for this struggle is management changes. After 2014, Subway US began dissolving master franchise agreements, including its…