Link

"Subway's $5 footlong, the brainchild of an obscure Miami franchisee, is the fast-food success story of the recession "

"Five years ago he owned two small Subway sandwich shops. After noticing that sales sagged on weekends, he came up with an idea: He would offer every footlong sandwich (the chain also sells 6-inch versions) on Saturday and Sunday for $5"

"The biggest surprise from his $5 promotion was that his profit margins didn't decline. Many promotions are so-called loss leaders designed to draw customers in the hope they'll buy higher-margin items alongside the featured special."

Also read:

Why This Real Estate Bust Is Different
Unrealistic assumptions, layers of investors, sky-high prices, and possible fraud will make it hard to clean up the mess in commercial real estate

Why Oil Majors Are Coming Back to Iraq
Global oil companies are finding it harder to resist the huge volume of crude in Iraq, but their change of heart could increase tensions in OPEC

Boeing's Flight from Union Labor
Wages will be lower at its plant in South Carolina. But the company may risk further delays of the Dreamliner

Spain: Seeking New Worlds to Conquer
Flush with cash and facing hard times at home, Spanish companies are again looking abroad

The Geekdom of Google
Ken Auletta probes the hard-driving personality of the search giant, where the tech mindset is all-pervasive

More articles at BusinessWeek website