Subway hopes to revamp its tarnished image by hiring former Coca-Cola executive Joseph Tripodi as its new chief marketing officer.
Tripodi is joining the sandwich chain at a tough time for the brand. Last month, Subway’s longtime spokesman Jared Fogle was sentenced to 15 years in prison for trading child pornography and paying for sex with underage girls. Fogle began appearing in Subway commercials in 2000, touting his dramatic weight loss by eating the chain’s sandwiches.
Subway’s previous chief marketing officer, Tony Pace, left in July to start a marketing consultancy, nearly two weeks after Fogle’s home was raided by authorities.
Tripodi retired from Coca-Cola Co. in February after the 60-year-old spent more than seven years as the soda company’s chief marketing and commercial officer. He has also worked at alcohol maker Seagram and payments company MasterCard.
Subway, which has more than 44,000 worldwide restaurants, is a privately held company and doesn’t publicly report its sales. But, market researcher Technomic, which tracks the food industry, said average 2014 sales at U.S. Subway locations fell 3% from the year before.
Recently, the company began tinkering with its food as Americans become pickier about what they eat. Subway said in October it would transition to meat raised without antibiotics and earlier in the year it said it would drop artificial ingredients.
