Due to declining sales throughout the franchise, Subway has announced that they will be closing roughly around 500 stores across the country. As opposed to domestic sales, Subway has decided to take their sandwich-making-staple overseas, opening 1,000 restaurants worldwide to help broaden their global brand. CEO Suzanne Greco says that, for some time, they were only focused on store count. Now, Greco notes that subway is using this opportunity to grow business. “We want to be sure we have the best location,” she told Bloomberg News, “Store count isn’t everything.” Though 500 appears large, Subway maintains positions as a top competitor for most stores in the U.S., with 26,000 locations, beating McDonalds (14,000) and YUM Brand stores, including Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC. Subway is also using this opportunity to test out new menu options in the near future and will also be updating several restaurants to give them a new modern look.

“Subway restaurants are 100% Franchisee owned and operated, and our commitment to the Franchisees is to work with them to make each restaurant more successful. Subway is the world’s largest restaurant chain and we are confident we will remain the industry leader,” says a Subway Spokesperson. Subway still hasn’t come out with a list of locations closing.