WHAT A LIFE!

The scientist who launched Subway

A taste for success

Peter Buck, who has died aged 90, helped found sandwich chain Subway, now the biggest fast-food firm in the world.

When he was growing up on a farm in South Portland, Maine, nearby was an Italian sandwich shop called Amato’s. there were always long queues outside the store and — more to the point — the woman behind the counter was always expensively dressed. Young Peter reckoned there must be money in sarnies.

Business over a barbie

YEARS later, Buck was working as a nuclear power engineer in Schenectady, New York, when one day in 1965 he invited his neighbours over for a barbecue. the neighbours’ son, Fred DeLuca, 17, wanted to be a doctor and asked Peter: ‘What can I do so I can get some money to go to college?’

Nuclear power obviously paid well in those days, because Buck pulled a wad of $100 bills from his pocket and, remembering that Italian sandwich shop from his childhood, handed $1,000 to the astonished boy, advising: ‘Open a sandwich shop. It’s good business. I’ll be your partner.’

Launch the submarines!

JUST a few weeks after that barbecue, Fred DeLuca opened Pete’s Super Submarines in Bridgeport, connecticut, on August 28, 1965. the decor was so makeshift Buck had to donate his kitchen table to the business. the marketing slogan was: ‘try one, for Pete’s sake.’

the sandwiches were called ‘submarines’ or ‘subs’ because of their long shape. By the end of the day Fred had sold 312.

No marines allowed

the name Pete’s Submarines had to go because it sounded like ‘Pizza Marines’ on radio ads. the stores were renamed Pete’s Subways and became just Subway in 1968.

Was it an instant hit?

NOT exactly. Buck once admitted the business took 15 years to break into profit.

the real breakthrough came when they moved into franchising. By 2016, Subway had 44,700 stores worldwide. the first British store opened in Brighton in 1996. Subway overtook McDonald’s in Britain and Ireland in 2008, and by 2015 had 2,000 outlets here.

Worldwide, the firm now serves 7.6 million sandwiches every day, and there are 38 million potential sandwich combinations. It has 46,000 hens to lay the 14.4million eggs needed each year just for its cookies.

Billion-dollar subs

Buck’S net worth was estimated to be $1.7 billion, but he was a renowned philanthropist and enjoyed a modest lifestyle — he drove an old car and lunched on... Subway

sandwiches. he married twice and is survived by two sons and five grandchildren.