For the 1st time in 7 years, Subway opened more stores than it closed

• In 2023, for the first time since 2016, Subway opened more stores than it closed.
• Subway has closed thousands of stores, resulting in years of decline in net restaurant count.

For the first time since 2016, after years of store closures, Subway finally opened more sites than it shuttered.

The privately-held sandwich chain said on Thursday that in 2023 it had achieved "positive global net restaurant growth" after six years of falling store counts.

Industry publication Restaurant Business reported that this was likely due to it adding more restaurants internationally, rather than in the US. Subway announced its biggest-ever master franchise agreement last year, which is set to see nearly 4,000 restaurants opening in Mainland China over two decades, growing Subway's footprint there more than sevenfold.

Subway has nearly 37,000 restaurants globally, including around 23,000 in North America. It opened more than 1,000 new restaurants globally between the start of 2022 and mid-2023, it previously said, and had hoped to open 35% more new stores in North America in 2023 than in 2022.

But Subway has also been closing thousands of stores, resulting in years of net restaurant-count decline. Restaurant Business previously reported that Subway had closed more than 6,500 restaurants between 2015 and 2022.

As well as growing its total restaurant count, Subway has been remodeling its existing locations. It said Thursday that roughly half of its stores globally had the chain's new design.

Subway said that global same-store sales grew 6.4% in 2023, with its North American stores slightly underperforming compared to the global average with a 5.9% increase. But digital sales in North American grew 21.8%, it said.

The company has undergone a huge overhaul in recent years, including its biggest-ever menu refresh with new and improved ingredients and an emphasis on standardized sandwiches designed to be ordered without customizations. It's rolled out deli meat slicers to all its US restaurants and focused on celebrity partnerships.

In August, Subway announced it was being sold to private-equity firm Roark Capital, moving the sandwich chain away from family ownership after nearly 60 years. Other fast-casual brands in Roark's portfolio include Cinnabon, Sonic Drive-In, Jimmy John's, Arby's, and Dunkin'. Roark also owns Auntie Anne's, which last month launched a foot-long pretzel at Subway.

Do you work at Subway? Or are you a franchisee with a story? Contact this reporter at gdean@insider.com.