Operations

Management at
Subway

Submitted By: Group 3

Aparna Jha (PGFB1913)
Dheeraj Khanwani (PGFB1918)
Gagan Khatri (PGFB1920)
Kranthi Kiran (PGFB1929)
Ritu Chandani (PGFB1938)
About Subway
Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches and
salads. It is one of the fastest growing franchise in the world as of October 2019 it has 41,512
locations in more than 100 countries. It is also the largest single-brand restaurant chain in the
world. We had a visit to Subway Logix Cyber Park , Sector 62, Noida to get the insights of the
operational functions of Subway.

Products of subway

General observation
There were two sections, out of which one was for the preparation of the vegetarian food and the
other counter was for the preparation of non-vegetarian food.
Each counter had 2 employees
The outlet has a sitting capacity of 30-35 customers at a time
On an average 70-80 customers visited on weekdays and 100-120 on weekends.
Peak time during weekdays is around 1:30PM to 2:30PM, 5PM-6PM and during the weekend it
is around 3PM-10PM
Customers of 15-25, 25-40 age group visits the outlet.
After speaking with the employees we came to know that on weekdays 1 customer arrives every
6 minutes and it takes 5 minutes to serve the customer. On weekends 20 customers arrive every
hour and they are served at the rate of 30 mins.
Flow Chart of the different process at subway

Flow chart for the veg section

Enter Subway
Reach the counter

Choose Choose
special Bread
order

Choose
size

Choose
veggies

Choose
extras

Yes
No

Choose
Pay at the counter Drinks
Flow chart for the non veg counter

Enter subway
Reach the counter

Choose
Bread

Choose
size

Choose
non-veg

Choose
extras

No Yes

Choose
Drinks

Pay at the counter

Explanation of the flow chart

Step 1: The customer will arrive at the outlet and will go the counter of his/her choice. Either
veg or non-veg and will place the order.
Step 2: Then the customer is required select the bread. Subway has four types of bread.
Multigrain, Flatbread, Honey oat and Italian bread.
Step 3: The third step is to select the size of the bread. It is available in three sizes regular,
medium, large.
Step 4: As mentioned earlier subway has two different counters for veg and non veg so at the
veg counter the customer has an option to customize the veggies of his/her choice. Same with the
non veg section, the customer has a choice between chicken and mutton for the sandwich.
Step 5: After this the customer has the option for selecting sauces, cheese, mayonnaise, olives,
jalapenos and toppings of his/her choice.
Step 6: Then the customers selects the drinks. The drinks available are iced tea, coke, lemonade,
coffee, soda, skimmed milk.
Step 7: After the customization of the order. The customer places the order, pays the bill and
then waits for his/her order.

Process time
Respective process Time taken
Time taken prior to toasting the
bread 45 seconds
Time taken to toast the bread 30 seconds
Time taken for the selection of
vegetables 80 seconds
Time taken for the selection of
sauces 30 seconds
Time taken to wrap the sub 20 seconds
Final billing 60 second

Flow time 265 seconds/ 4.41mins

After the order is placed the customer has to wait minimum for 4.41 mins to receive his/her
order. If there is a long que then the waiting time is more.

MURA (Bottle necks)

 In Subway, the bottle neck can be seen during toasting the bread in the oven.
 There are multiple orders during the peak hours, and only 2 ovens are used to cater the demand
 An oven can toast maximum of 2 sandwiches at a time and thus the orders are kept in waiting
 The bottleneck at one section will affect the other sections. The vegetable section will be idle
until the bread is toasted.

MURI (Unnecessary activities)

 Billing process in case of re order: If the customer re orders any item then he/she has to follow
the same process every time. This leads in wastage of time of both the customer and the cashier.
Customers should be given an option to pay the bills before leaving.
 Automated payment system: If the payment system is automated then cashier will not be
required and that employee can do some other work.
 Use of plastic and wrapping papers: Subway uses plastic to serve the customer and wraps the
sandwiches in paper which is an unnecessary activity. Subway can use paper plates to serve the
customers it will also help in sustainable development and will reduce the pollution.

MUDA (Wastes)
 Veggies: Subway keeps all the veggies chopped and by the end of the day if all the veggies
are not utilized in the production then they have dispose the veggies as it cannot be used next
day.

 Non-Veg: The non-veg cannot be used after a certain period of time. So if the non veg
bought from the suppliers are not over in the certain time period. Then it is also disposed off.

 Breads: Breads also have an expiry time, so if the breads are not used in that time period
then it is also considered as a wastage.

 Production defects: Sometimes when there is too much rush in the restaurant the employees
at the counter gets confused while taking the order. So if wrong order is placed then they
have to place another order and thus it leads to wastage of food.
 Layout Diagram
The product layout is an arrangement based on the sequence of operations that are performed
during the manufacturing of the product and services.

Raw materials WORK FLOW

Or customers Station Finished
Station 1 Station 2 Station 3 item
4

Material &/ or labor Material or labor Material or labor Material or labor

Subway does not have any kitchen. They have two ovens which helps them in producing the products.
The work flow in Subway:
Step 1: After the order is placed the bread is toasted
Step 2: Veggies are added to the toasted bread, to make sandwich using veggies/ chicken/mutton
Step 3: After this cheese and sauces are added to it
Step 4: Drinks are added to the order and provided to the customer
The whole Layout planning requires either material or labor or both at times.

Areas of improvement
Some of the points that should be considered while conducting a project of improvement strategy:
1. Buffering: The buffer time when the order is placed and the order is received can be reduced
if the outlet has more number of ovens and toasters.
2. Bottlenecks: Bottlenecks hampers day to day operations of subway. They have two ovens
which increases the customer waiting time. There are some resources that limits the production
of final product. We were given an example that they have only 1 supplier of sauces in Delhi
NCR so if the supplier does not supply sauces this will hamper the final production.
3. Make to order: Subway has a make to order policy, i.e. only after the order is received the
products will be prepared as there is an option of customization. But the same happens in the
case of regular offering too. This also increases the lead time.
Supply Chain management of subway

Material Flow

Inbound Outbound
storage/ storage/ Consumer
Vendor Sourcing Operations Consumer
Transpo transport distribution
rtation ation

Information flow

Money flow
Supply chain of subway
Supply chain can be defined as the systematic flow of materials, goods, and related information
among the suppliers, companies, retailers, and consumers. Supply chain management process
involves the supply and demand of commodity in the restaurant.
There are different types of flow in supply chain management
1. Material Flow
2. Information
3. Money flow

Material Flow

Material flow includes the smooth flow of the products from producer to consumer. The raw
materials are supplied by the vendor then it is brought at the retail stores of the subway. After
this the inventory is forwarded to restaurants (consumer distribution) for further operations. Then
the consumer distributions performs the further operations and supplies the final product to the
consumers.

Information Flow

Information/data flow comprises the request for quotation, purchase order, monthly schedules,
engineering change requests, quality complaints and reports on supplier performance from
customer side to the supplier. From the producer’s side to the consumer’s side, the information
flow consists of the presentation of the company, offer, confirmation of purchase order, reports
on action taken on deviation, dispatch details, report on inventory, invoices, etc.

For a successful supply chain, regular interaction is necessary between the producer and the
consumer. In many instances, we can see that other partners like distributors, dealers, retailers,
logistic service providers participate in the information network.

Money Flow

On the basis of the invoice raised by the producer, the customer examine the order for
correctness. If the claims are correct, money flows from the customer to the subway cashier.
Flow of money is also observed from the producer side to the customer in the form of bills.

In short, to achieve an efficient and effective supply chain, it is essential to manage all three
flows properly with minimal efforts. It is a difficult task for a supply chain manager to identify
which information is critical for decision-making. Therefore, he or she would prefer to have the
visibility of all flows on the click of a button.
Good practices followed by subway during the
operations

 Customization: The customers at Subway can get there orders customized in the way
they want. They can get veggies, sauces, cheese, etc., of their choice. They can also get
variety of toppings as per their choice.

 Food quality and safety: The menu of subway revolves around the nutritious options as
well as provide access to nutrition and healthier lifestyle information. To ensure the
quality of the products and to maintain high safety standards. Subway has a food safety
and Quality enhancement team which reviews the whole operations and recommends the
areas of improvement if any. The team works with vendors of subway to achieve the food
quality and safety improvement goals.

 Sustainable sourcing: Subways finds sustainable and cost effective techniques that
serves the business needs. The business also focuses on conservation of water, waste
reduction, sustainable sourcing. Subway uses a combination of internal and external third
party audits to ensure that standards are met and also ensures the protection of their
suppliers, distributors, restaurant operators and most importantly their customers.

 Use of natural resources: Subway encourages its franchise to contribute to their

communities, promote diversity and choose “environmentally friendly” options and
business practices. The suppliers of subway are committed in reducing emissions by
using fuel efficient vehicles.

 Animal welfare: Subway supports the “Five freedom principles” proposed by Farm
Animal Welfare Council on the protection of animals kept for farming purpose. The five
freedoms are:
 Freedom from hunger
 Freedom from discomfort
 Freedom from pain, injury and disease
 Freedom to express normal behavior
 Freedom from fear and distress.
Areas of improving productivity and quality in
Subway

Automation of services: Subway can make use of technology for automating its services.
For example: Subway can keep an electronic machine at the counter for placing orders and
receiving payments.

Increase the ovens: There are only two ovens at the outlet. To reduce the waiting time of the
customers Subway should increase the number of ovens, this will help in making of the food as
early as possible in the peak time.

Equal space for veg and non-veg section: In the outlet the space for making the non-
veg eatables is less as compared to the veg section. So the waiting time in case of non veg is
more. To reduce the waiting time Subway should have equal space for both veg and non veg
sections.

Re-ordering option: There should be an option of re order. The process followed now is that
if the customer wishes to re order any dish then he/she has to follow the same procedures as
he/she did in the beginning. There should be an option to pay the bill at the end in this case. This
will be more convenient for the customers of Subway.

Overcooked products: The products of subway are overcooked sometimes so the customer
demands to replace the order. This leads to wastage of production. Subway should improve this
factor.

Increase in culinary items: The Subway outlet should increase the ovens, toaster and all
the items needed for production as it will help in reducing the customer waiting time.