Page 50 - Wallingford Magazine Issue 59 Spring 2026

WALLINGFORD

FAST-TRACKS

A GLOBAL BRAND

HOW WALLINGFORD PUT ONE OF THE WORLD’S
BEST KNOWN BRANDS ON THE FAST TRACK
by Michele DiNello
The story of how Wallingford made an they expanded and Fred began setting went out of business and Brian was out
extraordinary impact around the globe ambitious goals. Once a simple way to of work, so he decided to take DeLuca
might be called fate or some might call help pay tuition became a labor of love up on his offer and become Subway’s
it just plain luck. The journey started and an aspiration to succeed. Often his first franchisee.
in the early seventies with two friends goals were more than ambitious they That decision marked the start of the
and two eventually grew into thousands were downright “crazy” or at least that brand's rapid expansion and success.
over the years. A network of small busi- is what his employees and even his wife The success of franchising introduced
ness owners around the globe grateful told him. DeLuca was not deterred when Subway to markets across the North-
to our hometown, Wallingford. he was only halfway to his goal in 1974 east and eventually the globe.
but knew that he had to do something
How you might be wondering? drastic. He set a goal, he announced In addition to being a franchisee, Bri-
that goal to his team and no obstacles an eventually opened several Subway
The answer: were going to let him fail. stores and even became a business
making sandwiches. That is where our developer helping others get into the
business. Wallingford’s connection to
Wallingford story comes in. the early growth of Subway did not end
there. Brian became development part-
ner with his friend Jim, a 19XX graduate
DeLuca and Buck decided franchis- of Lyman Hall High School. Jim owned
ing might be the answer to help them a commercial leaning business in town
achieve their goals and they wanted and Brian was one of his customers. Jim
to give that business model a try. They went from mopping the floors in Sub-
needed to accelerate growth to reach way to owning several restaurants. In
their goal of thirty-two stores. But how? the early days Wallingford continued to
Who could they go ask to join the jour- be an central theme in Subway expan-
ney they were on? sion.

Fred asked his friend Brian to take on While media reports show that Sub-
the role of franchisee and own and op- way’s domestic growth has slowed, the
erate the sandwich shop in Wallingford, international business is strong with
CT. If Brian did not like the business, thousands of franchisees in hundreds
he could simply give it back to DeLuca, of countries owning their own business.
with no strings attached. He assumed You might even say thanks in part to
he had made Brian an offer he could Wallingford, CT.
not refuse but astonishingly his friend
turned him down. He continued to float
That’s right, the journey began in 1965 the idea by Brian but
when 17-year-old college freshman, each time Brian said
Fred DeLuca and his partner Dr Peter no thank you. You see,
Buck opened a submarine sandwich Brian had a steady job
shop in Bridgeport, CT. Fred had one which meant a steady
goal at the time- pay his tuition at the paycheck and the risk
University of Bridgeport so he could seemed as though it
study pre-med. Destiny had other plans might outweigh the
for the young man, however. reward. How wrong he
was!
The first year of Subway, then called
Pete’s Super Submarines, did not go Fate struck and shortly
as well as expected. The partners had after their talk about
two choices- lock the door and throw franchising, Brian lost
away the key or open a second shop. So, his job. His employer

50 WALLINGFORD MAGAZINE - SPRING 2026