LAPLACE – The 2013 class of the River Region YEA! program recently visited the Belle Terre Boulevard Subway location in LaPlace owned by former Chamber board member Raj Pannu. The field trip, the second of six in the program, focused on demonstrating to the future business owners how a franchise can be an option when thinking about starting a business.

Pannu and her husband, Nona Pannu, were on hand to lead the tour of their facility, describe their business journey, and answer any questions the future business owners had. Nona Pannu described how their facility on Belle Terre Boulevard is a 100 percent green building with recycled materials being used in most of the building as well as other conservation efforts. Raj Pannu described the process of rotating food supplies, ensuring a clean environment, and training her employees. Both owners explained how they secured their first franchise, suffered tremendous losses from Hurricane Katrina, and now own more Subways than before the storm. Raj Pannu, a regional leader for Subway, described how franchise fees and royalty payments are sent to Subway headquarters to be used on marketing and research.

John L Ory Master Teacher Monica Brown said “From how Ms. Pannu chooses her locations to the way in which her employees rotate the food, the class got to hear each and every part of the franchising process. This trip showed them that you don’t have to invent your own wheel to be a business owner; instead you can buy a franchise and capitalize on the proven success of the company’s model.”

The students were allowed to ask questions of both owners and were given a sandwich, fresh Subway cookie and drink to take back to class. The next field trip in the program will take the students to a personal style business to learn how to “dress for success.”

“Subway does a great job at assisting its franchisees by marketing us as a healthy alternative to tradition fast food. I hope the students learned about operating a food business and the possibilities of franchising. They all were eager to learn more about our processes and had great questions,” said multiple Subway owner Raj Pannu.