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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.
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