Subway hires former Burger King executive as its new CEO

Key Points

• Subway named Jonathan Fitzpatrick as its new CEO, effective July 28; Fitzpatrick joins from Roark Capital–owned Driven Brands and previously served in senior roles at Burger King.
• He is the first CEO hired since private equity firm Roark Capital acquired Subway in 2024 and is the latest executive sourced from Roark’s portfolio.
• During his 12-year tenure as president and CEO of Driven Brands, Fitzpatrick led auto service chains including Meineke and Maaco.
• Subway has been losing sales to fast-growing rivals like Jersey Mike’s and Firehouse Subs, prompting Roark to emphasize restaurant modernization and international growth.

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.