News

May 19, 2009

Subway Details Lessons Learned from Experiment with 'Eco-Store'

The “eco-store” opened by a Subway franchisee 18 months ago has been capturing 40 percent higher sales and spending 14 percent less on electricity than a comparable unit down the street. Less quantifiable are the insights gleaned from the working experiment, including what features should be carried over to the eco-friendly Subways that follow, according to participants on a green-buildings panel at the National Restaurant Association’s annual convention in Chicago.

Among the innovations that earned a thumbs-up are individual hot water heaters installed at the points of use, in place of a central unit; a high-efficiency HVAC system; solar tubes that channel natural light into the restaurant; ice-maker and walk-in condensers situated outside of the building, so the heat is vented externally; and occupancy sensors on bathroom light switches.

On the flip side, Subway learned that a multi-zoned air conditioning system didn’t make sense for an 1,800-sq.-ft. restaurant.

The experience also verified that the LEED-certified building may be too expensive for some franchisees to build. The chain and an independent purchasing cooperative for franchisees, IPC Subway, are now exploring ways to bring down the cost and still meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, said Brad Davis, equipment manager for IPC Subway.

The insights provided by the eco-store will figure into Subway’s far-reaching conservation efforts, according to Davis and his IPC Subway colleague on the panel, director of produce and social responsibility Tina Fitzgerald. “Everywhere there’s a cost, there’s a potential for savings,” commented Fitzgerald.

The “low-hanging fruit” of that effort is reducing how much packaging a store uses, said Fitzgerald. She acknowledged that the world’s largest quick-service chain was prompted in part to trim its paper use by government activism. Stores in Canada, for instance, now have to pay a tax on the paper wraps and bags “leaving out our doors. So we’re trying to reduce our packaging.”

She also voiced concerns about heightened regulatory activity in the United States, like bans on plastifoam food containers or plastic bags. Subway is about to replace its last foam container, a soup bowl, with a paper version, she said, adding, “Hallelujah.”

A comprehensive program to bring less paper into units, largely by cutting shipping-carton use, has already saved the system about $4.5 million, Fitzgerald revealed.

Subway’s other green efforts include redesigning the chain’s distribution network to require less fuel, and looking at the environmental impact of the chain’s uniforms.

Subway has already switched to chemicals sanctioned by Green Seal, an eco-advocacy group, and now has wet-packed items like peppers shipped in containers that can hold 25 percent more product in the same-sized package.

A highlight of the chain’s green efforts, Davis indicated, was the opening of the eco-store in Kissimee, Fla., in November of 2007. In addition to using 25 percent less water than a sister unit down the street, the restaurant provides such aesthetic benefits as natural lighting; sunlight is the only illumination needed during the day, Davis said. The unit uses solar tubes, a type of skylight that channels the sun’s rays into the building.

Davis also noted that employees or customers can look out a window from 90 percent of the restaurant’s floor space, and that the installation of hot water heaters near sinks puts “hot water on demand.”

In a video that Davis aired about the Kissimee store, the franchisee-operator also asserted that the food looks better under natural light.