QSR Subway Restaurants has chosen a collaboration between Grey Canada’s Toronto office and Austin, Texas-based Proof Advertising to handle creative and strategic duties for its Southwestern Ontario, Toronto and Barrie markets. Because of the size of the franchisee business, most accounts are handled regionally, said Stephanie Nerlich, president of Grey, in an email. KBS+ still maintains AOR status for Subway Canada.

Proof already works on the Subway business in 50 U.S. markets. Having worked with Grey’s PR and activation teams in the past, Proof asked the Canadian agency to co-pitch for the business, which went under review last month.

The shops have formed a collaboration called Proof+Grey, which will operate account and creative services in both Austin and Toronto. The win, which includes 944 stores in Ontario, represents the first work Grey will do for Subway.

“We were looking for a very entrepreneurial approach to generating profitable same-store sales for our business,” Dan Burns, development agent for Subway Restaurants in Ontario, said in a statement. “Proof has a track record of doing exactly that across the 50 markets they manage in the U.S. Their understanding of Subway coupled with Grey’s track record in Canada is a very strong solution for our franchisees.”

The first work for Subway from Proof+Grey is expected this fall, said Nerlich.