Subway being built in Warroad

Fast food franchise to be located adjacent to SuperAmerica

In the summer of 1995, I worked a three month internship at The Warroad Pioneer, which I'm sorry to say has since ceased operation. This was the first professional newspaper that I worked for in my career, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience. I had only worked at Bemidji State University's newspaper for about a year and half before landing the internship. At The Pioneer I gained experience in sports, feature, beat and government reporting. I designed pages, took and developed photographs and was responsible for community relations. The best part is that I remain friends with the owners nearly 30 years later.

Aug. 8, 1995

By Devlyn Brooks

As the Warroad community grows, so does its business community. And one of the newest additions to the business community will be Dean Dorholt's new Subway that will be opening about the middle of September.

Subway is a fast-rising, fast food chain that serves submarine sandwiches and other sandwich-type foods. According to Dorholt, the Subway franchise is the second fastest growing fast food chain in the country, second only to McDonald's.

The new 1,500-square-ffot store will be constructed on the southwest corner of the existing SuperAmerica building. The Subway will also be accessible through the SuperAmerica building. It should be able to seat a few more than 30 people.

Dorholt said that he is still tossing around just what the business hours will be. However, he said, that "for the most part," it should be open 24 hours a day just like the SuperAmerica.

The business will add about 15 new jobs to the Warroad community, and those seeking applications should contact the new store's manager, Mary Janson.

One unique feature that the building will have is a drive-up window, Dorholt said. He said that he does not know how many other Subways have that feature.

Dorholt said that this type of combination between fast food restaurants and convenience stores is a popular concept in the Twin Cities even though it is just starting to catch on in Northern Minnesota.

"Hardee's, Subways and Taco Bells are all being built in convenience stores," Dorholt said. "You're going to see it happening more and more now."

Dorholt said that he chose the Subway franchise over some of the other franchise because the organization really impressed him.

"They really promote their product well," he said. "They also make an excellent product.

"It's made the way you want it and nothing is fried," he said. "It's just a very good product for your dollar."

One reason Dorholt was impressed with the Subway organization is because they require all future managers and owners of each individual Subway to participate in two weeks of in-store training in a current Subway that is opening. Dorholt said that he spent his two weeks in the Twin Cities.

And, even after that two weeks of training, the owners and managers have to spend another two weeks of training at the corporate headquarters in Milford, Connecticut. So, the first two weeks is just to prepare the owners and managers for the next two weeks.

Dorholt said that he liked this dedication to the business, and it is one of the reasons he decided to go with a Subway.

"The franchise fees are very respectable compared to Hardee's or McDonald's," Dorholt said. "And the support is really good."

He said he is anxious to meet the owner of the Roseau Subway so that they can get together and work out things like promotions and such. He said he would like to be able to run corresponding promotions to help out the customers who commute between Warroad and Roseau.

"I don't want customers getting confused just because we are in different towns," Dorholt said.

He said that he is also anxious to hear the responses from his customers.

"When you open the doors, you want to have a good, quality product right away," he said. " You want a good, quality business which people will frequent, I hope.

"The first thing you smell when you go into a Subway is their fresh baked bread," Dorholt said. "And I don't know anybody who doesn't like the smell of fresh bread."