Head to head · F&B / Ice Cream✓ VERIFIED · 2026-07-12
Dairy Queen vs Subway: units, growth & AI adoption
Subway leads on AI adoption (58/100 vs 50/100), while Subway is the larger system by unit count (36,000+ vs 7,700+). Dairy Queen is growing faster year-over-year (+1.5%). Data verified Q3 2026.
| Metric | Dairy Queen | Subway |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | F&B / Ice Cream | QSR / Fast Food |
| Headquarters | USA | USA |
| Units (approx.) | 7,700+ | 36,000+ ◂ |
| Unit growth YoY | +1.5% ◂ | +1.1% |
| AI Adoption Score | 50/100 | 58/100 ◂ |
| Operations AI | 46 | 55 ◂ |
| Marketing AI | 60 | 66 ◂ |
| Training AI | 44 | 52 ◂ |
| Data infrastructure | 50 | 59 ◂ |
| Region | North America | North America |
| Index rank | #44 | #31 ◂ |
Dairy Queen
Berkshire-owned treat franchise; AI use concentrated in app personalization and media, with traditional field operations.
FULL DAIRY QUEEN PROFILE →Subway
One of the most-franchised brands globally, mid-pack on AI adoption: digital ordering and loyalty personalization are live, unit-level AI operations tooling is still limited.
FULL SUBWAY PROFILE →Franchise Intelligence Index
Compare every tracked system — full benchmarks, updated quarterly.
SOURCE: FRANCHISEPULSE FRANCHISE INTELLIGENCE INDEX, Q3 2026 · FREE TO CITE WITH ATTRIBUTION + LINK