Campus Subway one of the highest grossing in the nation

The Subway in the Student Union is the top grossing Subway in the district region — an area that includes 172 stores in North Mississippi, West Tennessee and parts of Arkansas.

This location opened at the beginning of the fall semester and has an average of 6,500 customers a week, said Jonathan Parker, resident district manager. Of all the stores in the country, this Subway is now the 12th highest-grossing Subway.

There are 24,080 Subway locations in the U.S.

“It has been successful since day one,” Parker said. “There were times when it first opened that lines to the store went all the way down the Union stairs.”

Subway assistant location manager Davis Skutnik said he did not anticipate Subway being as successful as it has been, especially considering that it is a restaurant located on the fourth floor of a college student union.

The location employs about 30 staff members, and Skutnik said he relies on them to keep the store’s performance up to par.

“We always have to make sure we are staffing enough people,” Skutnik said. “The supervisors are always watching everything very closely to see how customers are treated. Something that we are really trying to focus on right now is the customer service.”

Customer service can be key for a store, especially when its lines often extend significantly out the door.

Senior business major Taylor McCrae said she eats at Subway on campus at least three times a week because of its efficiency and convenience.

“It’s easy. I can park at the Union and run in quickly,” McCrae said. “I think it is a good, healthy alternative to other places on campus.

“Sometimes the line is long, but once you get to the counter it speeds up, and the fact that they have two lines definitely helps.”

Skutnik said it takes a customer two-and-a-half minutes on average to get through the sandwich-making assembly line.

He said the peak business hours are between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and that every morning there is a crowd of students waiting outside its doors before it opens.

The decision to build a Subway on campus was based on requests filled out by students. Surveys conducted about Ole Miss’ dining services indicated that Subway was the No. 1 requested eating location.

“It was the students who voiced their opinion about what they wanted that actually got the Subway into the Union,” Parker said.

Like all dining services on the Ole Miss campus, Aramark is the contract provider for Subway. Aramark has the license for the store, and Subway provides the resources and support it needs to operate.

Parker said the addition of Subway on campus has not hurt other on-campus dining locations.

“Participation at all on-campus dining has gone up,” Parker said. “Every location is seeing a spike in traffic, and I think that there is even a demand for more.

“It’s just a matter of having the outlets and the right places for students to come.”

Whether students have an Ole Miss meal plan or not, undergraduate students are required to have a minimum balance of $200 in flex money each semester on their accounts, which can go toward on-campus services.

“I think the flex dollars definitely bring a lot of people into Subway,” Skutnik said.

McCrae agrees that using flex dollars helps encourage students to eat on campus.

“I’m not surprised about Subway’s success,” McCrae said. “Why would you go somewhere else when you can use your flex dollars on campus?”