Fred Deluca opened the first Subway sandwich shop in 1965 to fund his medical school tuition, joining with friend Dr. Peter Buck who invested $1,000. By 1974 they had 16 locations in Connecticut but realized 32 stores was unrealistic, so they began franchising and grew the Subway brand to over 34,000 locations worldwide, making it the largest submarine sandwich chain. Franchisees were concerned about recent price changes to $5 footlongs impacting their profits, but Subway emphasizes a family culture and effective change processes to balance corporate goals with local business effects.