SUBWAY® Restaurant Chain And Young & Successful Media Announce Winners Of The Build Your Own Virtual SUBWAY® Global Challenge

MILFORD, Conn., July 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --The five grand prize winners of the online Build Your Own Virtual SUBWAY® Global Challenge have come from around the world to visit SUBWAY® headquarters in Milford, Connecticut, to receive potential job, career and networking opportunities with world's largest restaurant chain.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130709/NY44088)

To inspire young, would-be entrepreneurs from around the globe, the SUBWAY® restaurant chain, along with Young & Successful Media, launched an initiative designed to impact the next generation of emerging entrepreneurs through the SUBWAY® Global Challenge, which took place from January 29 through March 31. 

"Subway is one of the greatest business success stories in history," said Jennifer Kushell, Founder and President of the Young & Successful Media and author of the New York Times best-seller Secrets of the Young & Successful. "The inspiration, which we captured in the online Challenge, is really a call to action for young people throughout the world. We are particularly excited because it is all about providing job, career and networking opportunities – not just winning prizes."

The SUBWAY® Challenge is a business simulation game that enables players to learn about business by building a virtual SUBWAY® restaurant and compete globally by driving customers into their "restaurants" through social media while also completing a series of business challenges.

Like many members of the SUBWAY® family, the Global Challenge winners come from a diverse background: there is a PhD candidate from Austria, who is very passionate about the foodservice and hospitality industries; a 24-year-old social media consultant from India who says she's the self-appointed ambassador for the SUBWAY® brand among her friends and co-workers; a 23-year-old from Florida, who is a recent graduate from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Information Technology and a minor in Entrepreneurship; an industrial design student from Brazil, who was first exposed to the foodservice industry as part of a student exchange program; and an architect and internet entrepreneur from Greece, who was first introduced to the SUBWAY® brand while traveling.

"We were particularly pleased with the young entrepreneurs we were introduced to by being part of the Global Challenge," said Don Fertman, Chief Development Officer for the SUBWAY® chain. "We have more than 400,000 team members throughout 102 countries. This is a wonderful chance for us to complement our current team and offer opportunities to a pool of five grand prize winners and 13 finalists, who are all very entrepreneurial minded people."

The Build Your Own Virtual SUBWAY® Challenge coincides with the release of an educational documentary, "SUBWAY® Restaurants: How a 17-year-old Built the #1 Restaurant Chain in the World through Franchising" by Young & Successful Media. The SUBWAY® story, which started at a backyard picnic in 1965 when Dr. Peter Buck gave 17-year-old Fred DeLuca a check for $1,000 to open a submarine sandwich shop, is being shared with students through 10,000 business and entrepreneurship professors located at colleges and universities in 100 countries throughout the world. To see a preview of the documentary, please go to http://bit.ly/SubwayStory.

The five top winners are currently on a VIP, all-expense paid trip to the United States to tour SUBWAY® headquarters in Connecticut, meet with members of the SUBWAY® senior management team and attend a special training session. They'll also visit New York City and Washington, DC.

The top five prize winners are:

Holger Staerz, 31, a PhD candidate from Vienna, Austria, is very passionate about the foodservice and hospitality industries and dreams of owning his own restaurant franchise. He recalls the exact moment he discovered the SUBWAY® brand: "It was 2003 at the train station in Nuremberg, Germany. A friend who knew Subway from Australia recommended I go there for dinner. It was a completely new experience."

It also was love at first bite for Agratha Dinakaran, 24, a self-appointed ambassador for the SUBWAY® brand from Bangalore, India. A social media consultant for the local restaurant industry, she specialized in marketing while earning her MBA. "I considered Subway a 'cheer-up' food. Anytime a friend would be down in the dumps, I'd buy them a sub and instantly cheer them up." 

James Doyle, 23, from Wesley Chapel, Florida is a recent graduate from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor's degree in Information Technology and a minor in Entrepreneurship. During his teenage years he started an internet business with a goal to save enough money to purchase his own home, which he did in March of 2011. James learned about the SUBWAY® Challenge from an online discussion board. When asked why it was important to do well in the Challenge, James said, "This type of opportunity I didn't want to pass up, so I knew I had to try my hardest."

Aline de Souza Rodrigues, 25, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is currently studying industrial design and expects to graduate this summer.  First exposed to the foodservice industry as part of a student exchange program, she found working in an industrial kitchen, and the opportunity to practice English in an American city, an enriching experience. "When you are an exchange student in another country, you must learn to save money, and Subway helped me a lot." When asked what if anything she would change about the SUBWAY® chain, Aline's response was: "Peas. Peas are very popular in Brazil. I would add them to the choice of vegetables."

Andreas Chiou, 49, from Glyfada, Greece is an architect and an internet entrepreneur. First introduced to the SUBWAY® brand while traveling in Rome, Andreas wants to be a store designer for the SUBWAY® chain. One of the ideas he presented while participating in the SUBWAY® challenge was to launch a fleet of floating SUBWAY® restaurants, complete with drive-thrus, that would cruise the beaches of Greece in order to provide nutritious meals to hungry swimmers and boaters.

In addition, the top finalists of the SUBWAY® Challenge are:

Pedro Figueiredo, Brazil; Nunzio Coppa, Canada; Jose Maria Perera, Costa Rica; Simon Chastagner, France; Antarpreet Singh, India; Orlando Menduto, Italy; Tatiana Answer, Jamaica; Haseeb Ahmed, Pakistan; Kathleen Yu, Philippines; Damian PeKala, Poland; Gervais Marti, Switzerland; Michael S.A. Mbwambo, Tanzania; and Alexander Gingold, United States.

About SUBWAY® Restaurants:

Headquartered in Milford, Connecticut, and with regional offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Brisbane, Miami and Singapore, the SUBWAY® brand was co-founded by Fred DeLuca and Dr. Peter Buck in 1965. Their partnership, which continues today, marked the beginning of a remarkable journey – one that has made it possible for thousands of individuals to build and succeed in their own business.  With nearly 40,000 locations in 102 countries, the SUBWAY® brand – mostly through its franchisees – provides more than 400,000 job opportunities worldwide.

For more information about the SUBWAY® chain, visit http://www.subway.com. Find us on Facebook: Facebook.com/subway. Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/subway. SUBWAY® is a registered trademark of Doctor's Associates Inc.

About The Young & Successful Media:

Specializing in the next generation workforce, with an emphasis on youth empowerment, engagement, employment and entrepreneurship, Young & Successful Media works with a wide range of organizations in launching programs, content and campaigns that inspire individuals to shake up their status quo and spring into action. Young & Successful Media networks individuals directly through the YSN.com site, and works with organizations and companies of all sizes through strategic consulting, special projects, and public-private partnerships.  YSN.com is constructing the first Global Opportunity Marketplace to offer the emerging global workforce unprecedented access to create and build their careers anywhere in the world. The Marketplace is collaboration among corporate, philanthropic, public sector, and academic organizations to provide unparalleled access to young people around the globe, an intimate understanding of what motivates them, and pathways for innovative solutions to make youth -targeted campaigns more influential, emotionally charged and compelling. Aside from its strategic consulting practice, the company's flagship digital platform and website attracts and supports young leaders, entrepreneurs and students from over 160 countries to have economic and social impact through their creative, innovative, entrepreneurial, and societal interests and energies.

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