The Subway restaurant chain confirmed Friday that it will be moving some, but not all, of its Milford workforce to Miami.
The company indicated via an emailed statement that the majority of its corporate workforce will remain at its Milford headquarters, at 325 Sub Way.
“We can confirm that some functional areas are moving to Miami,” the statement said. “These include more consumer-facing positions in marketing, culinary and some global transformation roles. This enables the brand to establish even more seamless collaboration with our supply chain organization, the Independent Purchasing Cooperative, which is also based in Miami.”
The company declined to comment on the potential for layoffs in Milford in connection with the changes.
As of Friday morning, no Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notices had been filed with the state Department of Labor.
Rounds of layoffs at the company have made headlines since early 2020.
Last May, for example, the company reduced its global workforce by approximately 150 employees, which included more than 100 workers at the Milford headquarters. At the time, the company cited the coronavirus pandemic and its negative impact on business as a factor in the decision. That was in addition to roughly 300 workers who lost their jobs in February 2020.
Subway, which first launched in Bridgeport in 1965, has seen sales fall and stores close in recent years.
The company has had a number of upper management changes too. John Chidsey, who has a home near Miami, joined as CEO of the Subway chain in November 2019. Steve Rafferty started as Subway’s new senior vice president of development for North America last month.
According to the company, it has restaurants in 100 countries, owned by more than 20,000 franchisees.
Julie Nash, director of economic and community development in Milford, said the city will work with any Subway employees impacted by layoffs, as it has in the past.
“The city has been assured multiple times that Subway isn’t going anywhere, and we are happy to know they will have a presence in Milford,” Nash said.
Fred McKinney, the Carlton Highsmith Chair for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and director of the People’s United Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Quinnipiac University, said the company’s move of some of its corporate functions from Milford to Miami “represents a continuation of the decline in the company’s commitment to Connecticut.”
“The company was founded in Connecticut by Fred DeLuca and as long as he was alive, the company kept most of its operations in Milford,” McKinney said. “After Mr. DeLuca’s death, new management was brought in to consider the company’s going-forward strategy. Only executives in those strategic meetings know what and how things were decided, but it looks like new management is trying to expand the company’s corporate footprint for both business and personal reasons.”
Contact Michelle Tuccitto Sullo at msullo@newhavenbiz.com.
