Customer service excellence drives sandwich shop owner

Squamish Subway franchise owner Suki Gill has spent most of her life inside sandwich shops.

As a high school student, she worked in a Subway location her parents owned in Surrey. After Gill got married, she worked in customer service for Essilor Canada, but found it tricky to juggle a nine-to-five schedule with her growing family.           

“It was a struggle between balancing kids and work,” Gill says. “My husband said, you already have the experience, why don’t we start our own business?”

Gill’s father introduced her to Subway. Ending up in Squamish was a stroke of luck.

While driving through one day, Gill and her family stopped at the Subway in Garibaldi Highlands and started chatting with the owner, who said he wanted to sell. Gill and her husband jumped at the chance to buy and in 2007, they moved their family to Squamish, where Gill had her third daughter.

“Squamish is the perfect location for our kids to grow up,” Gill says. “It’s a nice community with everything we could want.”

Gill’s second Subway location opened up in downtown Squamish in 2013.

“Squamish is growing so it’s a good opportunity to be in the downtown location,” Gill says.

Despite owning two franchises, Gill is still involved with the day-to-day work of the restaurant.

“I’m only five minutes from home, but my girls are always teasing me about how I’m not spending time with them,” Gill says. “I just don’t know if I can ever stay away from work.”

Gill genuinely enjoys talking to her customers and hearing them out.

“I’m a customer service person. I like talking to people and I like listening to their feedback,” she says.

That commitment to excellent customer service contributed to Gill receiving an award for highest sales from the Subway head office.

“I just want to hear the community,” Gill says. “I want to make it a better place for them to have their food.”

For Subway’s locations and menu, visit its website at www.subway.com/en-ca/.