Still serving Moscow: Subway increasingly sandwiched between Russian interests and pressure to pull out
Sandwich giant Subway is coming increasingly under pressure to shut down all of its operations across Russia which, unlike most other western companies, it has so far refused to close its 450 branches across the country.
In a statement issued late last night, Subway explained it has no intention to cease operations in Russia as it “has no corporate operations in Russia”.
Moreover, its roughly 450 restaurants “are all independently owned and operated by local franchisees and managed by an independent master franchisee.”
The statement comes after, in the US, petitions have started for customers to boycott Subway.
“We don’t directly control these independent franchisees and their restaurants, and have limited insight into their day-to-day operations,” the company added.
Instead, Subway indicated it plans tom “redirect any profits from operations in Russia to humanitarian efforts supporting Ukrainians who have been affected by the war.” It is also working with its franchisees across Europe to provide meals to refugees.”