Subway has hired a former Burger King executive as its new CEO.

The Miami-based sandwich chain said Monday that Jonathan Fitzpatrick will join the company on July 28.

Fitzpatrick is the first CEO hired since Subway was bought by the private equity firm Roark Capital in 2024. And Roark didn’t have to look far to find him.

Since 2012, Fitzpatrick has been the president and CEO of Driven Brands, which is also owned by Roark. Driven Brands is the parent company of auto service brands like Meineke Car Care Centers and Maaco.

Before joining Driven Brands, Fitzpatrick held multiple senior leadership positions at Burger King, including executive vice president.

Subway was founded in 1965 and was still owned by its founding families when it was purchased by Roark. It’s one of the world’s largest restaurant chains, with nearly 37,000 outlets in more than 100 countries.

But in recent years, Subway has been losing sales to fast-growing rivals like Jersey Mike’s and Firehouse Subs. The company tried to catch up. In 2022, it announced a line of chef-developed sandwiches after finding that customers were tiring of Subway’s traditional model of letting customers build their own subs.

When Roark bought Subway, it said it planned to continue to modernize restaurants and expand internationally. It left in place Subway’s CEO John Chidsey, who was the first nonfamily member to lead Subway when he joined the company in 2019. But Chidsey retired late last year.

Roark, which is known for its expertise in restaurant management, backs two holding companies that own multiple restaurant chains: Inspire Brands, the parent of Arby’s, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, Sonic and Buffalo Wild Wings; and GoTo Foods, which owns Auntie Anne’s, Carvel, Cinnabon and Jamba.

In June, Roark bought Dave’s Hot Chicken in a deal valued at $1 billion.

Share:
More In Business
Nestlé dismisses CEO after he has relationship with a subordinate
Nestlé has dismissed its CEO Laurent Freixe after an investigation into an undisclosed relationship with a direct subordinate. The company announced on Monday that the dismissal was effective immediately. An investigation found that Freixe violated Nestlé’s code of conduct. He had been CEO for a year. Philipp Navratil, a longtime Nestlé executive, will replace him. Chairman Paul Bulcke stated that the decision was necessary to uphold the company’s values and governance. Navratil began his career with Nestlé in 2001 and has held various roles, including CEO of Nestlé's Nespresso division since 2024.
Kraft Heinz undoes blockbuster merger after a decade of falling sales
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
Load More