The first Subway franchise opened in 1974. Fred DeLuca and Peter Buck had already built a small Connecticut sandwich business, but franchising was the step that transformed it into a national chain.
The partners opened their first shop in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1965 under the name Pete’s Super Submarines. The business later used several names before adopting Subway. By 1974, the founders had 16 Connecticut restaurants and began franchising; the first franchised location opened in Wallingford, Connecticut.
A common mix-up is confusing the franchise date with the company’s founding date. Subway began as a single sandwich shop in 1965, adopted the Subway name in 1972, and began franchising in 1974. The first store outside Connecticut opened in Massachusetts in 1975, while the first West Coast location arrived in Fresno in 1978.
Subway’s first international restaurant opened in Bahrain in 1984, marking the beginning of its overseas expansion.