Compliance Issues at Subway - real or imaginary?

How is it that a franchisee who has been in the Subway system for well over a decade and who takes great pride in having a well run store gets threatening letters from Subway head office if he has just one incident of a problem. We are not talking about onging problems but, say one in a year.

Here is a typical letter sent to many of most faithful and hard working franchisees on a regular basis:

"Dear Franchisee:

All SUBWAY restaurants must operate in accordance with the strict

standards for quality, service and cleanliness as defined by

the Company. It is the responsibility of each SUBWAY franchise

owner to be knowledgeable of all company policies as well as applicable

health and consumer protection regulations concerning food preparation,

food handling, storage, etc. Health and safety regulations exist to

protect our employees, our customers and the Brand.

Your Store Evaluation & Compliance Report dated xxxxx

indicates that your restaurant is not operating in compliance with the

specified SUBWAY standards regarding the following compliance areas:

Food Safety / Glove Usage

Food Quality & Preparation

In addition, there were 6 areas with a critical rating of “0” or “1”

which require your immediate attention.

Improper food safety may cause illness, which may affect the reputation

of your restaurant, your investment and the SUBWAY franchise system.

It is imperative that you correct the aforementioned violations

immediately.

Please be advised, that if the next Store Evaluation & Compliance Report

indicates that your store is still not complying with Company standards,

we will have no recourse but to refer this matter to our Legal Department,

which could result in proceedings to terminate your franchise.

If you need additional direction and/or assistance on how to correct

the compliance areas in your restaurant, please refer to your

Operations Manual and/or contact your Development Agent or Field

Consultant immediately.

Sincerely,

Policy/Compliance Adm."

Nice wording, is it not?

Now put this in context of this very same person who wrote this letter and who makes a mistake at work. Do you think she would be very happy with such a letter or do you think she would contact human relations, a union, or some other similar body to complain about unfair treatment and abuse by her boss?

Now, consider the owner of a Subway restaurant. He has hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in this store. He also can not just fire anybody because they make a mistake. There is also no guarantee that another new employee will not make a similar mistake. What recourse is there? None at all. He can only hope that the same mistake is not repeated by an employee. It really does not matter how hard he tries to correct the problem as mistakes do happen.

I can understand if this was an ongoing problem so that a history of documented problems exist. In addition one would expect that there would be some history of poor reports from the local heath department. If none of these exist why is it necessary for such a threatening letter after only one such incident?

The interesting thing is that this is not unusual. DAI (Doctors Associates Inc - Subway) do this on a regular basis. They use form letters as they issue so many. In addition, it does not matter if the expiry date is out by a few minutes or days. You get the same letter. It does not matter if it is vegitables or meat. After all, a sliced tomato poses the same health risk as a slice of meat, according to Subway. It does not matter if the product is held at a very correct temperature and constant monitoring of these are done by the store or if this is not done.

What we have is the "No Tolerance" policy which is so rampant through out North America. You know the one where the policing officer does not have to think. There are no extenuating circumstances. I have never found that a no tolearance policy works in any situation. The underlying problem is not solver but just complicated. For example, the incident of drunk driver collisions have not declined in society even with a no tolerance approach. Similarly, you will not reduce the possibility of a person getting food poisoning by using a no tolerance approach.

What will happen is that some of the less hygenic operators will just hide the problem. They will not get caught and when they do have a problem they will point to the clean record from Subway to exonerate themselves.

What we need form Subway is more of a helpfull approach to any indetified problems. Maybe there is some training which is required, maybe there is some operational problems which can be improved.

The only way to correct any perceived problem is to study its root cause and correct it. If after this no major improvements can be made then one has to conclude that it was an error and it should be noted as such.

Take care.