Subway Founder Tells His Tale

An entrepreneur who at the age of 17 helped found the Subway sandwich chain gave students a candid taste of business life last night.

Fred DeLuca described Subway’s tentative early days and dispensed advice for young professionals, speaking to about 40 students in the Dunster House Junior Common Room.

DeLuca said he co-founded the Subway franchise in 1965 in hopes of covering his college expenses. Now the chain has nearly 27,000 branches worldwide.

When DeLuca hit hard financial times early in Subway’s history, he faced a choice between shutting down the original location or trying another location, according to DeLuca, who attended University of Bridgeport, Connecticut. The founders took a risk and chose the latter, which proved to be successful.

“I was able to solve enough big problems along the way that the sheriff didn’t come along and put the ‘bankruptcy’ sign up,” he said.

As he faced early financial uncertainties, DeLuca had to juggle his Subway responsibilities with a romantic life, he said.

“Basically, my dating life was driving around from store to store,” DeLuca said, telling of personal sacrifices he and his then-girlfriend, now wife, made while operating Subway before it became a franchise.

“Sometimes it would turn into, ‘Can you carry this bread?’” he quipped.

DeLuca also emphasized the importance of remaining positive in the face of adversity.

“There will be problems—if not every day, often,” he said. “[Goals] help you keep in mind where you’re going and act as an enabler.”

Tiffany T. Niver ’08, president-elect of Harvard University Women in Business (WIB), which sponsored the event, said she had collaborated with Jennifer Kushnell, co-founder of YSN.com, a Web site for young entrepreneurs, to invite DeLuca to Harvard.

Kushnell said she was concerned about a perceived lack of understanding on the part of students about their options in the business world both now and after college.

“A good portion of what you learn in academia is theoretical,” Kushnell said.

“What young people are craving are real-world examples.... Events like this bring the outside world to school.”

“I actually started my business before I entered college,” DeLuca told The Crimson after the event. “People can relate to that and say ‘he was one of us.’”

Although WIB is, by its name, oriented toward women, Niver said the group “would in theory only have women talk to women,” rather than have a businessman like DeLuca speak.

“But that doesn’t make sense, since we don’t discriminate as a organization, and we want to garner women with whatever knowledge we can.”

The talk was the latest in a series of events with prominent entrepreneurs, including an October trip to Nebraska to meet America’s second richest person, Warren Buffett, and a meeting last April with NBC Universal CEO Jeffrey A. Zucker ’86, who is also a former Crimson president.

—Nicholas A. Ciani can be reached at nciani@fas.harvard.edu.