Firehouse Subs wants to be where its customers are – and where they’re going.
The competitive world is large and Firehouse Subs, which anticipates $1 billion in annual sales in the next few years, wants to feed it.
“People want their food when they want it and where they want it,” said Greg Delks, vice president of global and nontraditional franchise development at Firehouse of America LLC and a 13-year company veteran.
That’s why the Jacksonville-based chain, launched in 1994, is moving into nontraditional markets. It already has opened seven locations among three college campuses and four airports, including Jacksonville.
“You are talking millions and millions of people who travel and study,” Delks said.
It intends to open this spring in Baptist Medical Center, another nontraditional location.
That doesn’t mean Firehouse Subs won’t continue opening traditional restaurants in strip shopping centers and other locations.
There are 1,184 Firehouse Subs, including the nontraditional units, in 45 states.
It also has locations in Puerto Rico and Canada, where it intends to add a few more units.
What it does mean is there’s opportunity beyond the norm, not only with airports, colleges and medical centers but with travel plazas, high-rises, military bases and casinos.
“It’s just another chapter in the growth of our company,” Delks said.
A captive audience
Sam Oches, editorial director of Food News Media, calls it a smart move.
North Carolina-based Food News Media publishes foodservice magazines that include QSR and FSR, reporting about quick-service and full-service restaurants.
“These kinds of locations have a ton of potential,” Oches said.
“If you think about travel-related nontraditional locations, you have a constant flow of customers who are usually hungry. You have a captive audience,” Oches said.
Opening on college campuses feeds customers and builds future business.
“These students need to eat and they’re here for a few years and they commit loyalty to a brand,” Oches said.
Firehouse Subs is working with companies that place restaurants into nontraditional locations.
Delks said Aramark, Sodexo, Compass Group and HMSHost are licensees who operate the locations and pay royalties to Firehouse Subs.
“You need a partner that understands that complexity and knows how to manage it,” Delks said.
A ‘controlled burn’
Firefighters and brothers Chris and Robin Sorensen founded Firehouse Subs with one store in Mandarin.
It has grown into an award-winning brand that Newsweek named No. 1 in the fast-casual restaurant industry in 2019.
The Sorensens refer to the privately owned company’s 26-year growth as a “controlled burn.”
They also built the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation, which has granted more than $48 million in 49 states and Puerto Rico to support first responders and public safety organizations.
Firehouse Subs are fast-casual restaurants, making subs to order in 4 to 5 minutes, Delks said. They are not quick-service, 30-second sandwiches.
The menu includes hot specialty, custom-made and local favorite subs as well as salads and a children’s menu. Firehouse also caters.
Menu items include the Smokehouse Beef & Cheddar Brisket and the signature Hook & Ladder, comprising smoked turkey breast, Virginia honey ham and melted Monterey Jack cheese served “fully involved” with toppings and condiments.
The Firehouse Subs system was built on franchises with owner-operators investing in territories to develop and run restaurants.
Firehouse Subs wants to make sure franchisees can draw from a good market. The firehousesubsfranchising.com site shows an initial single-unit franchisee fee of $20,000. The average turnkey investment is about $350,000.
“Our strategy is we will never be one of those brands that has a restaurant on every corner, so there is only a finite number of territories available,” Delks said.
Delks’ role includes looking beyond the traditional system. “Nontraditional is a natural fit to go where franchisees cannot get into,” he said.
Firehouse Subs also will test new products. “There are modifications to our menu that will be innovative,” Delks said.
All must pass the RAC — Robin and Chris — test, Delks said.
“Chris and Robin Sorensen are involved in all aspects of the business and they are absolutely involved in the taste profiles and the makes of the sandwiches.”
Oches at Food News Media said Americans love sandwiches, generating ongoing demand.
“The culture the Sorensens have built into the brand is consistent and smart. … I like this brand a lot,” he said.
Industry observer Jim Stallings, founder of the Jacksonville-based PS27 Ventures entrepreneurial investment group, considers the move into nontraditional markets as “logical and smart.”
“Firehouse is following the playbook of successful consumer brands today, they are following their most loyal customers into new segments and offering their own product,” Stallings said.
“Brand loyalty and customer experience are keys to growth.”
