Subway assures jobs safe in HQ move
Company’s potential relocation to Fairfield County would not result in local losses, Milford mayor says
Milford Mayor Benjamin Blake said Monday he’s been assured by Subway that a potential move out of the shoreline city would not result in local job losses.
But the national chain of sandwich restaurants could move its headquarters to nearby Fairfield County without disrupting local jobs.
A Milford developer reached out to Blake last week and said Subway was looking for a spot in Milford for a possible expansion, he said. The mayor contacted a Subway vice president who told him the company is looking for a site with a gym for employees and was “potentially looking” at such a location.
Blake said he was told by Subway that nothing has been signed.
Carsen Anderson, a spokesperson for Subway, said the company has no additional comment.
“We will make more information available once we have additional details to share in the coming weeks,” she said.
Subway said Sunday it is “exploring options in northeastern Fairfield County to create a world-class work environment” for its employees with a modern headquarters and “wide range of on-site amenities.”
Blake said he’s not concerned with a potential loss of property tax revenue because hundreds of new businesses open each year in Milford. And he said he was assured that local jobs would not be eliminated.
“It put my mind at ease,” he said. A new headquarters in Shelton, for example, in northeastern Fairfield County, would just be a few miles from Milford, possibly qualifying as remaining local.
Blake said Fred Deluca, Subway’s co-founder who died in 2015, considered as a recipe for success to “invest in local communities.” Blake offered that advice to company executives.
Subway announced last year it would move several of its business units to Miami. Most of the company’s workers will remain in Connecticut, but some “functional areas” such as marketing, culinary and other units will move to Florida, the spokeswoman said.
In May, Subway announced it would hire 50,000 restaurant employees in June as part of a national hiring push.