Mass restaurant closures have plagued Subway for nearly a decade, with the chain shuttering hundreds and even more than a thousand units in recent years.
Subway shuttered a net total of 443 locations in the United States last year, QSR Magazine reported. That's notably fewer closures than the 571 it netted in 2022 and 1,043 in 2021.
The chain ended 2023 with 20,133 locations in the United States, allowing it to hold onto its title as the country's largest restaurant chain by store count.
However, Subway's closures have allowed two of its key competitors—McDonald's and Starbucks—to surpass it in size globally.
After facing lagging sales, discord with its restaurant operators, food quality complaints, and issues with its public image in recent years, Subway has been shuttering underperforming locations to improve the overall health of its business.
The company has also rolled out a string of other initiatives to refresh its brand and menu and improve its fortunes. Subway has overhauled its menu with new-and-improved ingredients, introduced freshly sliced meats, and debuted plenty of new sandwich options.
These efforts already seem to be paying off. Subway's revenues and average sales per store both improved last year, though the average sales haven't kept pace with inflation, according to Restaurant Business Magazine.
"As part of Subway's transformation journey to improve across all aspects of the brand, Subway experienced positive global net restaurant growth for the first time since 2016 last year.