After a few years away from the restaurant world, Denny Downie returned in February to take on the role of head of marketing at Subway Canada.

Downie spent the previous 4 1/2 years at Sporting Life Group, first as director of business development and e-commerce for both the Sporting Life and Golf Town banners, before transitioning to director of marketing at Sporting Life.

Before that, he spent the better part of a decade in brand and marketing roles at Recipe Unlimited, shaping digital strategies for some of Canada’s most recognized dining brands. At the company, which owns Swiss Chalet, The Keg, Harvey’s and others, Downie honed skills in brand management, CRM, growth and leadership – and helped develop partnerships with third-party delivery platforms like Uber Eats, Skip and DoorDash in various director and senior director roles through the mid-2010s and into the early 2020s.

Now, he’s putting those cross-functional skills to work as Subway navigates intensifying sandwich competition in Canada, along with broader changes at the global level after the appointments of new CMO Greg Lyons in April and CEO Jonathan Fitzpatrick in July.

You’re back in the restaurant space after spending some time in sports retail. What has that adjustment been like?

You know, I’d say there are actually more similarities than differences between retail and restaurants, and I think restaurants is very much a retail-style environment in terms of the urgency, the competitiveness, the need for innovation. I think from a marketing perspective, the reason I’m excited to be back in the restaurant industry is because marketing, and the brand, really is at the core of a restaurant brand. And you really get your opportunity to pull all the different levers: from influencing the product, influencing the price, how do you promote it, all the distribution channels. In marketing, your job is to go out and promote and drive traffic to sell, to sell the merchandise that that team chooses to buy. I think it’s just a little bit different in terms of what’s the focal point of the business, and I think it’s exciting.

What are some of the unique challenges in today’s QSR landscape that weren’t as apparent before?
Firstly, it is more competitive than ever. There are new brands coming in from the U.S. and other international markets. Given the current state of the economy, value is at the top of everybody’s mind. With consumer disposable income shrinking, there’s increased competition and a greater focus on value, which creates a really challenging environment to compete in. And it was true when I was at [Recipe Unlimited], but I think it’s accelerated even more now. So that’s number one. I think number two is, through COVID, digital became far more important and taking dining experience outside of your dining rooms with mobile ordering, pickup, delivery, third-party delivery, all of these channels existed while I was at Recipe, but they’ve just exploded in the past five years. And so I think it’s become a more complex industry to manage as a marketer. You now have multiple channels to consider in terms of how your product gets in the consumer’s hand, and you’ve got more channels to consider in terms of which marketing levers that you want to pull.

You touched on competition. We’ve seen the likes of Jersey Mike’s arrive in Canada recently and others, like Firehouse Subs, continue to expand. Have they had an effect on Subway’s approach?

There’s lots of benefits to being part of a big global organization. One of those things is that we’ve had an opportunity to observe what’s happened in other markets. I think there’s some sandwich competitors that are far more mature in the U.S. than they are in Canada, but we see those competitors starting to come to Canada. We need to be mindful of what they’re doing, but they’re not going to dictate our strategy for us. I think it’s just important for Subway to double down on what makes us different versus those competitors. And I think we are. We’ve always been the fresh, flavourful, better-for-you brand, the healthier alternative to traditional QSR and we want to continue to elevate that positioning in the marketplace. I think also, versus new sandwich competitors, we we’ve got scale on our side, where you can’t drive five minutes without passing at least one Subway.  So, convenience is on our side, and then also value. We deliver everyday value and I think that’s something we can we can do better than the new competitors that are entering the market as well.

Subway’s leadership team has described this as a ‘transformational’ moment. What does that transformation look like to you?

First and foremost, we need to lean harder into digital. Whether that’s our e-comm ordering experience or loyalty program, we have an opportunity to ally both of those things and become best in class. The value wars are very real in QSR and Canada and it’s important to have a combination of a good everyday-value strategy, but also be tactical to drive short-term sales. And so, I think it’s a combination of those things that we need to do really, really well in order to stay on top. I think beyond that, at Subway, it’s a transitional period. From a leadership perspective, we’ve had a new CEO and CMO announced in the past couple of months and they’re very much focused on growth, getting back to basics, driving franchisee profitability and just delivering growth overall. So it’s exciting to have new leadership at the table that brings a new perspective and we’ll do what we need to do to adapt those global plans to win in the Canadian market.

What’s an initiative your team is doing right now that would have been unthinkable five years ago?

Can’t give too much away, but I think you will start to see menu innovation that branches beyond just sandwiches. Sandwich will always be our core, but I think you will see more. You’ll see more of a double down on nutrition-advantage menu options, some of that will be inside sandwich, some of that will branch out beyond sandwich. I think the degree with which you’ll see us lean into off-premise ordering, whether that’s mobile ordering, pickup, delivery, through our own ordering app and website, or third-party delivery, is something that we’ll lean much harder into than we have in the past. And then also, I think just there’s the big push to elevate in-restaurant experience as well. I think as competitors have elevated their game, you’re going to see that from Subway as well, in terms of trying to elevate the actual in-restaurant experience, and that’s through a combination of renovation packages, menu design, customer service and just every touchpoint inside of a restaurant. That’s a big transition that that started prior to my time here, but it’s something that we’re going to continue to lean into and accelerate over the next 12 to 24 months.

What’s a big brand moment you’re building toward?

Well, so I think we’re in the middle of one right now, our partnership with Happy Gilmore, Netflix and Happy Madison films that launched in early July. It’s the 30th anniversary of the original Happy Gilmore movie, of which Subway had a great role in. So we’re excited to bring that partnership back and activate against it. So that’s one that we’re living right now. It’s been exciting to put together a campaign that steps out of the value wars for a moment and to participate in what is kind of a cultural moment. It also taps into a bit of nostalgia for Subway and Happy Gilmore fans alike. So that’s a big one for us. And then towards the back half of the year, without giving too much away, I think we’ve got some exciting menu innovation coming in during the holiday season.

Lastly, what’s keeping you up at night?

Well, I’ve got a five week old and a two year old, so they’re primarily the ones that are keep me up at night right now. From a business perspective, I would say it’s making sure that as a marketing team we build, we build a plan, we build a strategy and an activity calendar that 3,000 restaurants can execute consistently and deliver a great customer experience. A great plan on paper is only as great as its ability to be executed. And with a brand of our size, any problem multiplied by 3,000 can turn into a pretty big challenge.

– Some responses have been edited and abbreviated.