Submarine House considering two expansions

Submarine House is looking to bring its signature east coast cheese steak sub to more Dayton-area customers in an upcoming expansion.

The Dayton-based restaurant is expecting to open a store in Springboro or Kettering soon. Franchise co-owner Brody Danner told this media outlet he hopes to open one of the stores before 2018 ends, but by early 2019 at the latest.

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The company has been talking to a potential owner who wants to open stores in both Kettering and Springboro, and they’re now looking for a building. They could find a building next week or in two months, Danner said, but he intends to do his homework in finding any new Submarine House locations because he wants each store to last a long time.

“It’s not good for us—it’s not good for the community—when a business doesn’t end up working out,” Danner said.

Danner said he isn’t sure whether the Kettering or Springboro store will open first, but he hopes one will follow the other quickly. The two stores are part of Danner’s and his brother Jason Danner’s goal of averaging one new store each year for the next 10 years.

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“We want to branch out from the Dayton area. This is our home, this always has been our home and this always will be our home,” he said.

The growing franchise is also in talks to open locations in Springfield and Athens, Ohio, the town where both Danner and his brother went to college.

There are currently nine total stores, eight in the Dayton area and one in Hilliard, a Columbus suburb. Danner said the franchise is also hoping to expand in the Columbus area.

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Over the last 11 years, the Danner brothers have worked at making each restaurant in the franchise cohesive in advertising and look, as well as changing the direction of Submarine House to a bar and grill style.

“Since then we’ve gradually changed over all the stores to the bar and grill concept and that’s all we’re doing in the future,” Danner said. “Any store that we had existing that we transferred over to a bar and grill concept we immediately tripled revenue.”

Submarine House gets a lot of interest, Danner said. But the brothers are strict about who they choose to own the stores because they want to form long-term relationships and keep owners around.

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“We’re not about just opening as many stores as we can. If we were, we’d have 40 or 50 stores by now. We’re very selective,” Danner said.

Sub House, as many refer to it, has been expanding in recent years, opening the two newest stores within three months. The Huber Heights location opened in September of 2016 and Centerville opened in January 2017.

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