Subway is sticking with its story: The tuna it uses in its sandwiches is real.
"Our tuna is nothing but 100% fantastic tuna," Subway North America President Trevor Haynes said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). "It's delicious. You want to learn more about it, [go to] subwaytunafacts.com and you will find plenty of info. But tuna is there, and it's alive and kicking."
Haynes's defense comes amid continued scrutiny of Subway's tuna.
A January 2021 lawsuit filed by Oakland-area resident Nilima Amin claimed that Subway's tuna only used some tuna or none at all. On its website, Subway maintains that it uses 100% "skipjack tuna." In July 2022, a judge ruled that that the consumer lawsuit could move forward.
Despite the tuna tiff, Subway continues to power back from a long stretch of dismal financial results as it ramps up marketing of improved ingredients.
The privately-owned sandwich chain has seen 18 months of U.S. same-restaurant sales growth. In the third quarter, same-store sales rose 8.4%, with sales in September up 11%.
With sales stabilized, Haynes added that Subway is now looking to get back to aggressively opening new stores.
"We are on the road of getting back to growth, new openings," Haynes said. "We are looking for locations out there. We are wanting to repopulate a number of markets that we have been looking at."
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.
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