# What is up with the company that owns Subway? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2006, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-the-company-that-owns-subway/341531 "2006-01-25T07:33:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-the-company-that-owns-subway/341531/1 "2006-01-25T07:33:44Z")
The company that owns the Subway franchise is called Doctor’s Associates, Inc. It’s seems to be a very shadowy company, not having an official website and all. What’s up with the very professional-sounding name, and why are they so secretive? Adam ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-the-company-that-owns-subway/341531/2 "2006-01-25T09:45:21Z")
There’s some information [available.](http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/40/40450.html) It looks like it’s a privately held investment company. Why should it publicise itself? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-the-company-that-owns-subway/341531/3 "2006-01-25T09:47:02Z")
> [@Agent Foxtrot](#): > > It’s seems to be a very shadowy company, not having an official website and all. What’s up with the very professional-sounding name, and why are they so secretive? 😃 They’re not secretive at all. Their official website is [www.subway.com](http://www.subway.com) In a nutshell, back in the sixties, a high school student asked a family friend (who happened to hold a science doctorate) for some advice about how to make money for college – he wanted to be a doctor. The guy suggested a sandwich shop, and provided some start-up capital. It did well. I always assumed that the name they picked when they incorporated was a marketing ploy to imply that their food was healthy (even before Jared,) but it’s just because the guy who got the ball rolling on the initial shop was a Doctor so-and-so. As far as I know, the kid (now a ridiculously wealthy baby-boomer) never went to med school, in the end. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-the-company-that-owns-subway/341531/4 "2006-01-25T14:27:04Z")
I always assumed it was a real-life instance of Dave Barry’s famous phrase, “14 Absentee Proctologists in Need of a Tax Shelter.” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-the-company-that-owns-subway/341531/5 "2006-01-25T16:10:14Z")
To add a little more to **Larry Mudd** ’s post, the Subway FAQ says: > [@](#): > > Who are the doctors in Doctor’s Associates Inc (DAI)? > > When the company was founded, Dr. Peter Buck, co-founder, was a scientist with a doctoral degree, and Fred DeLuca had aspirations of becoming a medical doctor. Hence the name Doctor’s Associates. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-the-company-that-owns-subway/341531/6 "2006-01-25T16:35:26Z")
Ah-hah! Thanks, guys! 😃 Adam ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-the-company-that-owns-subway/341531/7 "2006-01-25T17:14:58Z")
My boss smells like the meat they put in the assorted sub. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2006, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-up-with-the-company-that-owns-subway/341531/8 "2006-01-25T17:26:59Z")
And I’ve begun to wonder if Jared is really as skinny as he’s supposed to be. Has anyone else noticed that he’s always filmed directly facing the camera, and that he seems to be pulling his stomach in? \* I \*think he’s fallen off the wagon.