Subway: The Startup that Turned a 17-Year-Old Teenager into a Billionaire
Subway is one of the most well-known restaurant chains in the world. Subway, the world's largest fast-food chain with more than 70,000 franchises, was founded by a 17-year-old young man to pay his college expenses.
In 1965, a young man named Fred DeLuca laid the foundation of Subway by asking for a loan of $1000 from family friend Peter Buck.
DeLuca would use the money to open a sandwich shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut. DeLuca, who wanted to be a doctor at the time, wanted to pay his medical school expenses with this restaurant.
The company was initially named “Pete's Super Submarines”.
However, this name was changed to “Pete's Subways” on the grounds that it left a different impression on people because it sounded like “Pizza Marines” in their advertisement on local radio. In 1968, it became known simply as “Subway”.
Despite his inexperience, youth and small capital, DeLuca showed that he would achieve great success by selling 312 sandwiches at 50-70 cents each on the first day.
DeLuca admits in his 2012 book “Start Small Finish Big” that he knows nothing about making sandwiches and the food industry.
Nine years later, in 1974, DeLuca and Buck opened their first dealership in Wallingford.
Wallingford was extremely convenient for the first dealership, being approximately 30 miles from their business. Expanding over time, the company opened its first international dealership in Bahrain in 1984. Afterwards, chains continued to open in Canada, China, India, France, Russia, Turkey and many other countries.
DeLuca, who started out with the goal of becoming a doctor, eventually became a billionaire businessman and served as Subway's general manager from 1965 to 2015.
Her sister Suzanne Greco took over her business, which she started at the age of 17, upon her death in 2015.
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Founded at the age of 17 with $1000 capital and zero industry knowledge, Subway teaches us that if we believe in our ideas, we should not let anyone belittle them.