Subway, the world's biggest restaurant company by number of outlets, is an excellent example of a successful regional expansion of an American company into Latin America. With more than 4,400 restaurants in over 30 countries in the region, Subway became a part of life for millions of consumers from different nationalities and cultures, with a consistent brand promise of healthy, fresh and affordable casual food. This success, however, is not the result of a simple rollout of a fixed business model, but rather a careful exploration on how to translate the brand's values to local consumers. Market research had a central role in this process, allowing the company to turn understanding of consumer's choices and behaviors into actionable marketing plans.
Subway, the world's biggest restaurant company by number of outlets, is an excellent example of a successful regional expansion of an American company into Latin America. With more than 4,400 restaurants in over 30 countries in the region, Subway became a part of life for millions of consumers from different nationalities and cultures, with a consistent brand promise of healthy, fresh and affordable casual food. This paper explores this success story, showing how market research had a central role in this process, allowing the company to use a new model of consumer behaviour to understand their brand choices and produce actionable marketing plans.