Subway got too big, too fast. Instead of focusing on location, the company focused on restaurant count. As a result, restaurants opened within blocks of each other, creating competition within the same company.
"I feel their concerns 10 years ago was just opening up locations," a franchisee with two locations told Business Insider. Fred DeLuca, one of Subway's founders, "was obsessed with having the most locations, and he achieved it. We had people open up on all sides of us. That was definitely a problem."