Head to head · QSR / Fast Food✓ VERIFIED · 2026-07-12
Five Guys vs Subway: units, growth & AI adoption
Subway leads on AI adoption (58/100 vs 48/100), while Subway is the larger system by unit count (36,000+ vs 1,800+). Five Guys is growing faster year-over-year (+4.2%). Data verified Q3 2026.
| Metric | Five Guys | Subway |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | QSR / Fast Food | QSR / Fast Food |
| Headquarters | USA | USA |
| Units (approx.) | 1,800+ | 36,000+ ◂ |
| Unit growth YoY | +4.2% ◂ | +1.1% |
| AI Adoption Score | 48/100 | 58/100 ◂ |
| Operations AI | 44 | 55 ◂ |
| Marketing AI | 52 | 66 ◂ |
| Training AI | 46 | 52 ◂ |
| Data infrastructure | 50 | 59 ◂ |
| Region | North America | North America |
| Index rank | #46 | #31 ◂ |
Five Guys
Deliberately low-tech in-store experience; AI use is mostly back-office — demand planning and delivery-platform analytics.
FULL FIVE GUYS 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