The most common restaurant chain in the U.S. closed more than 350 domestic locations in 2016—the first time it has ended a year with fewer locations than with which it started.
Amid flagging sales, privately held Subway Restaurants shed 359 stores—a drop to 26,744 in 2016, Bloomberg reported late Thursday.
Its pivot toward options such as cage-free eggs, hasn’t helped much as the fast casual space has grown crowded with other competitors—some of whom are native to the healthy and sustainable food movement, and adopted the concept from the get-go.
In 2016, sales at the chain fell 1.7% to $11.3 billion, Bloomberg reported—though international sales actually rose 3.7% to $5.8 billion.