Subway

The chain has been a Connecticut staple since 1965, when then 17-year-old Fred DeLuca approached a family friend, Danbury resident Peter Buck, and asked for ways to help pay for his education. Buck loaned him $1,000, which DeLuca used to open his Bridgeport sandwich shop, then called Pete's Super Submarines. The chain was renamed Subway in 1968 and now has more than 44,000 franchised locations in 110 countries. Subway has 25,835 shops open and operating in the US. DeLuca died in September 2015 after a fight with leukemia, but his sister, Suzanne Greco, now runs the chain as president and CEO. Because Subway is 100% franchised, corporate offices arrange food-supplier deals and coordinate national advertising. If Subway's marketing efforts fail to drive sales or force franchisees to rely on unprofitable items to drive traffic, locations can quickly start losing money. Subway is a private company — with half of it owned by Suzanne Grecot and her family, as ownership is split evenly between DeLuca's widow, Elizabeth, and his cofounder Peter Buck.