Subway Restaurants moving move south to Miami from Connecticut

Subway Restaurants is moving several of its business units to Miami in a move that will lead to even more layoffs at its Milford, Conn., campus, The Post has learned.

The chain that rose to fame selling $5 footlongs told its staffers on Thursday that it will be moving all of its “consumer facing” businesses to Miami, including culinary, marketing and “global transformation.”

At least some staffers were told that they would not be invited to Miami when the transition takes place in 2022, sources told The Post.

In a memo to staffers Thursday, Subway touted Miami as a place that would allow the company “to keep our finger on the pulse of more cultural conversations and the evolving tastes of the modern consumer.”

“With its dynamic business climate, diverse population and multicultural influences, it was the ideal place to transition some of our consumer-facing roles,” the memo said.
 
But the change is expected to lead to a further diminishment of the company’s presence in Milford, where it’s been located for so long that the town named the road leading up to its massive campus “Sub Way.”  

As The Post reported last year, Subway Chief Executive John Chidsey — who  joined Subway in 2019 and owns a four-bedroom, four-bath home in nearby Coral Gables — signed a lease for office space just west of the Miami airport. At the time, the company insisted it would not be moving its headquarters to Miami.

On Thursday, the company said it scored a new Miami office that will be opening in the spring of 2022.

“Finance, legal, development, and HR and business services, which represent the majority of the company’s workforce, remain at our Milford headquarters,” the memo said.

Chidsey spends much of his time in Florida and not Milford, sources said.

A Subway spokeswoman on Thursday confirmed the move to Miami but declined to comment on the layoffs.

“It is worth noting that the majority of the company’s workforce will remain at our Milford, Conn., headquarters,” she said.

Subway had 1,200 Milford workers at the start of 2020, but laid off roughly 500 people last year as the pandemic squeezed its already deteriorating business.

Subway, which runs roughly 20,000 restaurants in the US, reported sales fell a massive 25 percent in the first three quarters of 2020, according to a franchisee disclosure document filed with the state of Wisconsin.