Connecticut Metro suspends new investment in Russia and keeps restaurants open
The Milford-based company disclosed these changes in an updated version of a statement it released last week. But, unlike several other fast food giants, Subway has not announced the closure of any of its restaurants in Russia. Instead, Subway reiterated that all of its approximately 450 locations nationwide are independently owned and operated by local franchisees and managed by an independent master franchisee.
“Subway does not directly control these independent franchisees, or their restaurants, and has limited insight into their day-to-day operations,” the statement said. “The master franchisee in Russia handles all operations, marketing and supply chain.”
The company also said it would redirect all profits from operations in Russia to humanitarian efforts supporting Ukrainian refugees and work with franchisees across Europe to provide meals to refugees.
Over the past two weeks, many people have criticized Subway on social media for keeping its Russian restaurants open. Last Friday, the hashtag #BoycottSubway was trending on Twitter.
Prior to Monday’s announcement, Subway was one of several dozen companies “digging in — defying demands to exit or curtail business” in Russia, according to an online tracker maintained by the Yale School of Management. . On Monday, Yale had pushed Subway into the “save time – delay new investment/development” category, which includes about 50 other companies. Yale gives companies in this category a “D” grade compared to an “F” for those in the “dig” group.
More than 400 companies, including several based in Connecticut, have announced their withdrawal from Russia since the invasion began, according to Yale.
Among other fast-food giants, Restaurant Brands International, the company that owns Burger King, said last Thursday it had begun to exit its 15% stake in a joint venture that operates about 800 Burger King restaurants in Russia. Burger King said it contacted the Russian operator of its restaurants and asked it to suspend operations, but it refused. Meanwhile, Burger King said it has suspended corporate support for the Russian market.
McDonald’s announced this month that it would temporarily close its roughly 850 restaurants in Russia, 84% of which are company-owned. He said he would continue to pay his roughly 62,000 employees in Russia. At the same time, McDonald’s temporarily closed 108 restaurants it owns in Ukraine, while continuing to pay those employees.
Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC and Pizza Hut, said this month it planned to temporarily close 70 company-owned KFC restaurants in Russia. He also announced that he was in talks with a franchisee to close all 50 Pizza Hut restaurants in Russia. In addition, he suspended the development of new restaurants in the country.
This article contains reports from The Associated Press.
pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott