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Product cover image for Subway: Are Automated Vending Machines and Facial Recognition the Future?

Subway: Are Automated Vending Machines and Facial Recognition the Future?

Fabrizio Di Muro

Product #:W42186
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:Marketing
Setting:United States, 2024
Details:Case (PDF) • 8 pages • 2025-01-28

Subjects:

Business ethicsSales and marketingMarketing

Industries:

Food and beverage sector

Geography:

United StatesNorth America
Your Price:$9.71

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The iconic sandwich-franchise firm Subway IP LLC (Subway), founded as a partnership in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1965, had grown rapidly, and by 2024, it was the second-largest restaurant chain in the world, with approximately 37,000 restaurants. While the company had experienced some difficult years beginning in 2014, it began to rebound in 2022 with the introduction of the Subway Series menu and the Grab & Go smart fridge, an automated vending machine that catered to consumers in non-traditional locations such as casinos, airports, and hospitals. Others in the food-service and supermarket industries had equipped similar devices with facial recognition software, sometimes without the awareness of consumers, and this had raised a number of ethical issues. In 2024, Subway’s chief executive officer was facing an important decision with regard to the fridges: should Subway follow the trend and equip its Grab & Go fridges with facial recognition software?

Learning Objectives

This case can be used in undergraduate- or graduate-level courses on introduction to marketing, marketing management, and consumer behaviour. This case focuses on Subway’s potential use of facial recognition software in its food vending machines. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to achieve the following objectives:
  • Evaluate a company’s decision to distribute products in a non-traditional fashion.
  • Consider the importance of distribution in a company’s marketing mix.
  • Determine whether it is ethical to utilize artificial intelligence to increase sales and profits.
  • Assess whether a new way of distribution can influence an industry in the long term.
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Case Study: Subway: Are Automated Vending Machines and Facial Recognition the Future? (English version) | Ivey Publishing