As a teenager who earned minimum wage working part-time in her family’s sandwich shop, Clare Rogers knew one thing for sure: she did not want to work in a fast food chain restaurant when she grew up.
So even before she graduated with a liberal arts degree at the University of Connecticut, Rogers switched jobs and took up bagging groceries and stocking shelves.
After college, Rogers moved to Colorado and took a position as an executive assistant for an Internet start-up. Although she was successful and earning good money, Rogers was bored.
“I can’t sit at a desk all the time and do the same exact job every day,” said Rogers. “There is nothing fun about that.”
Although she didn’t have a clear vision for her life, Rogers knew she wanted a fast-paced career that allowed her constant contact with people while she did her job.
When her parents suggested she follow them into the family business as a Subway franchisee, Rogers started thinking about making sandwiches again — and owning a business.
Her parents, Steve Rogers and Barbara Depray, are Subway “pioneers” who have been franchisees since 1975. At one time, the couple had 10 stores up and running.
They scaled back and sold all but one unit when they became development agents for the Subway brand. In that role, they are responsible for managing and advising a territory of 115 independently owned and operated Subway restaurants.
For Rogers, it turns out her connection with Subway was love at first bite.
This time around though, instead of working as a teen employee for her parents, Rogers would be a partner in the family business; she would earn more than minimum wage and business ownership would feed her appetite for versatility and excitement.
“The one constant you have in the restaurant business is that everything changes. No two days are the same,” said Rogers. “There is no time to get into a dull routine. I like the interaction I have with the different customers and employees. It’s different from day to day, but it’s there every day.”
The Milford-based Subway serves a healthy mix of quick, fresh sandwiches and salads to customers in more than 30,000 restaurants around the world.
Even as the economy flirts with a double-dip recession and forces consumers to trim their discretionary food spending, Subway is growing. Last year in the U.S., the sandwich maker opened 928 new locations and reported sales of $10.6 billion in 23,722 stores.
The company reported its worldwide sales were up in 2010 to $15.2 billion compared to $13.8 billion a year earlier. Subway is on target to open 1,600 stores in 2011 and anticipates up to another 2,500 in 2012, of which half are in the U.S.
“People are looking for healthy options,” said company spokesperson, Les Winograd.
Sandwich shops are among the strongest and fastest-growing sectors in the restaurant industry, representing a $234 billion market. Subway recently surpassed McDonald’s as the leader in number of locations.
“It’s a strong business with a long history,” said Rogers, 28. “So even with the economy where it’s at, it’s still a great choice if you’re going to go into the restaurant business.”
Rogers had the skills and ambition to open her first franchise unit two years ago in Storrs, but lacked the necessary capital — anywhere from $78,000 to $240,000 — to do it on her own.
By comparison, at rival Quiznos, start-up fees run as high as $340,000 and in other fast food businesses like McDonald’s, investors shell out as much as $1 million.
“My dad had this great idea that I could take over the family business and add more stores,” said Rogers. “My parents are my partners. They handle the financing end and I manage the day-to-day operations and employees.”
Rogers has a great relationship with her parents and calls all the shots with the 25 employees at both stores.
“They are pretty good about letting me do what I want. They let me ask for help when I think I need it,” said Rogers. “My parents are a huge source of information. They have many years of experience in the same business and I like that I can turn to them for that.”
“I don’t have to develop these tools on my own over time,” said Rogers. “That gives me an advantage.”
Rogers admits it took some time to get to this point. “It can get overwhelming when you have two different people giving you business advice. I got to a point where I told my parents I would ask for their help if I needed it.”
Rogers said one of the biggest challenges to owning any business is to know when to call it quits for the day. That is even harder to do in a family business.
“You get together for dinner or something and it always turns to what’s going on in the business,” she said. “You never get away from it. It becomes your whole life. You have to find a way to make sure it doesn’t consume you and that you have other things to do and talk about as a family besides the business.”
Rogers, who is single and currently earning an MBA from UCONN, opened a second location this summer in Willimantic. Her immediate plans include recruiting her brother, David, 24, into the family business and opening her third — their first together — store sometime next year.
Rogers said her goal is to open at least a dozen locations in the region within a decade.
