Jacksonville’s Firehouse Subs recently opened a new location at 11700 San Jose Boulevard with a new kitchen design aimed to speed up service.
The new site opened at the beginning of the month, but this is just the beginning, with plans to implement the design in other locations, according to Jacksonville Business Journal. The new design features new toaster equipment and updated steamers that reach higher heat temperatures and decrease the cooking time from six minutes to two minutes. All of this will help elevate product quality and increase efficiency. Firehouse Subs will measure this location’s success before possibly launching the kitchen next year at an existing site at 8355 Baymeadows Rd.
“This central line kitchen speeds up service and makes it easier for one person to run the line on one side,” Katie Lott, the district manager for eight local Firehouse Sub restaurants, tells the Jacksonville Business Journal. “Before, we needed three people to work in one spot, and it is also easier to train employees based upon what we see on screens.”
While the new design is taking off in the Jacksonville area, Firehouse Subs offers the layout for more than 400 franchisees for new and existing locations. This isn’t the only news from the company, also announcing the beginning of the brand’s global expansion. Firehouse Subs officially opened its first international location in Switzerland in June and will open a new location in Mexico later this year after signing a development agreement. The global expansion comes after International RBI acquired the brand in 2021 for $1 billion, according to Fast Casual.
“Firehouse Subs is our newest brand, and we are excited about its global expansion potential,” David Shear, president of International RBI, said in a company press release. “The entry into Switzerland and development agreement in Mexico are the first steps in our international expansion, and we are working to launch the brand in key growth countries across EMEA, APAC, and Latin America.
