Question: what’s your all-time favorite fast food restaurant? Is it McDonald’s? Is it Burger King? KFC? How about Chick-fil-A? We’re just getting hungry thinking about them!

Although all of those fast food selections are pretty great, they all do have one, very unsavory thing in common — their food is terrible for you. Don’t believe us? Well, think about this for a second: a McDonald’s salad contains MORE calories than a Big Mac. Yikes!

That’s why, when we want to give our heart –and our waistline! — a little bit of a break, we choose a good, old Subway sandwich over that Quarter Pounder. The choice is a no-brainer, but unfortunately, it’s one that many in our country won’t be able to make by year’s end.

You see, just this past week, Subway announced that approximately 500 of its stores would be closing their doors by the end of the year. This comes after more than 900 locations closed in 2017!

So, why are so many Subways closing? It turns out that the business is going through quite the rocky transition. It all started when the current CEO, Suzanne Greco, first took control of the company in 2015 following the death of the chain’s co-founder, Fred DeLuca.

Though Greco has been part of the company since her teens, many franchisees feel that she has done an inadequate job of helping Subway to grow, or even tread water, for that matter. This is evidenced by a startling quote given to Business Insider from a group of worried franchisees, stating that roughly one-third of the 25,800 US locations may not be profitable.

It’s a very scary reality for the franchisees, many of whom have invested everything they have into their struggling businesses. In a quote from the same Business Insider exposé, one anonymous franchisee places the responsibility of the chain’s demise squarely on Greco.

“A lot of people in the industry feel that Suzanne is not qualified to be the CEO of the company,” the franchisee reported. “She tells us she is doing us a favor while franchisees are losing everything they own.”

Luckily for these desperate franchisees, it seems that Greco has caught wind of her bad reviews because she just announced that she would be retiring by the end of June after having served less than three years as Subway’s CEO. In a statement released by the company, she reflected on her time working for Subway.

“Subway has been part of my life since I was seven years old,” Greco said. “I love the brand and the company, and I always will, but it’s time for me to have more balance in my life. I feel very good about the strategic moves we’ve made in the last three years, and I have confidence in the future of the company.”

While Greco might have “confidence,” the franchisees report that they are just “cautiously optimistic” that their stores will survive through this tumultuous year.

Here’s hoping that they do — for their sakes AND ours!

What are your thoughts on these Subway store closures? Do you own a Subway location? If so, how is business going for you?