Subway restaurants honored its top franchisees and development agents as part of the company's recent convention in Washington D.C. The company presented six outstanding franchisees with 2009 Franchisee of the Year awards and three members of its development community with Development Agent of the Year awards during the event.
Subway Franchisee of the Year awards are given to the overall winners of the multiunit and single-unit owner categories from North America and the chain's international emerging and developed markets. Competing among 75 regional finalists from around the globe, the Franchisees of the Year are honored for accomplishments such as adding new stores, building sales and increasing profitability while also achieving excellent store evaluations.
Selected from among the chain's more than 15,000 franchisees from around the world, the six recipients include:
- Lee Jamieson and Tom Jamieson, Bakersfield, Calif.
- Jonathan Feld, New York City
- Ashwin Dhanuka, Mumbai, India
- Saeeda Rehman Malik, London
- Lana Vieira Martins, BrasÃlia, Brazil
- Hazel Johnstone and Mark Johnstone, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia
"The franchisee is the heart and soul of the Subway family," said Don Fertman, director of development for the Subway restaurant chain. "We know that our success depends upon their excellence in operating their restaurant and motivating their team to provide the best tasting sandwiches to our customers. We take great pride in the hard work and effort made by the thousands of franchisees throughout the world and in the millions of customers that they serve."
Development Agent of the Year awards
Often from the ranks of franchisees themselves, and chiefly responsible for building and managing a geographical territory, Subway development agents, or DAs, provide their local franchisees with the necessary support and expertise to run a successful business.
Selected from among many outstanding candidates in the U.S., Canada and the chain's developed and emerging markets from around the globe, Development Agents of the Year are honored for their accomplishments in developing the Subway brand within their territory, increasing sales and profitability and the level of service and support provided to their local franchisees.
The recipients of the 2009 Subway Development Agent of the Year awards are Jim Smith of Maryland, Marwan Al-Hamar of the United Arab Emirates and Frederico Pereira of Brazil.
Subway has more than 31,000 locations in 90 countries. The Subway brand has been honored as the No. 1 franchise opportunity in Entrepreneur magazine's "Annual Franchise 500" listing for 16 of the past 22 years and was ranked as "America's Top Global Franchise" for 2009.
