Couple purchases Subway franchise in Dickinson

Scott and Katie Nasset always knew they wanted to be business owners.

"We didn't know where or when it would be necessarily," Scott said. "Owning a business was just part of our picture."

The couple purchased the Subway franchise in Dickinson last month and have a few changes in store, like accepting credit cards and offering breakfast. Customers can still expect, however, great service from a locally-owned business.

Originally from southwestern North Dakota, the pair attended North Dakota State University in Fargo where they earned bachelor's degrees. Scott studied industrial engineering and Katie studied construction engineering.

"We both went to Fargo for school and after living there for about five years, we were looking for another place to go, either Minneapolis or take the opportunity to go home," Scott said.

While in Fargo, Scott worked at Integrity Windows as a manufacturing engineer. Katie worked for Kadrmas, Lee & Jackson at its satellite office in Valley City as a transportation engineer.

"We were living in Casselton driving our separate ways each day," Katie said.

It was in January 2005 that the couple decided to move back home.

"After a while, I was thinking about going to get my master's degree to see what else I could do, career-wise," Scott said. "Around that time, a good friend of mine who owns a subway in Whitefish, Mont., he stopped in and mentioned he thought the Subways here could be for sale. We talked about it for awhile and that's how we got started."

Katie continued working for Kadrmas, Lee & Jackson as a municipal engineer and Scott found an opening with Steffes as a manufacturing engineer. The couple began looking into the Subway prospect in January of this year and finished the deal on Aug. 15. Getting to that point not only included interviews to obtain financing, but also interviews with the Subway corporation.

"First of all, we approached the bank," Scott said. "But we also had to go through Subway to prove that we could run the business effectively. We had to meet the regional manager a couple of times."

"Subway doesn't own any stores themselves," he added. "The only way they make money is if their franchisees are successful."

Those initial interviews were just the beginning.

"After that, we were required to do so many hours of work in the Dickinson stores," Katie said. "We also had to go to Connecticut and do two weeks of training in their corporate training center. We learned about their accounting practices as well as food safety. Once we did that, then we could go forward with our business."

And the training continues with monthly meetings, Katie said.

"The regional auditor also comes out once a month to our stores to take a look at how we're making the sandwiches, all the other food, safety requirements and other things," Scott added. "They look at everything down to how many olives you put on a sandwich. They take it down to that level because then they don't have to worry about some of the bigger things. They know if you're paying attention to that, you're going to be paying attention to everything, big and small."

Now that the business is their own, the Nassets continue to work the line.

"We need to be there and see how it's run," Katie said. "We need to make sure things are being ran the way that we want."

While Katie and Scott work on the line, the couple splits the other duties involved with running the business.

"Katie takes care of most of the accounting and things like that," Scott said. "I'm working the day-to-day scheduling, leading the employees, food safety, running the business."

Since taking over, the Nassets decided to start accepting credit and debit cards at both Subway locations.

"That's something the customers really appreciate," Scott said.

A second change is breakfast being served at the north location inside Wal-Mart.

"We're planning to do that at both locations," Katie said. "But that will probably be incorporated with our grand opening."

The grand opening is on hold for now with the couple expecting their second child in just a few weeks.

"We're going to do a grand opening sometime this fall after the baby comes," Katie said. "Right now things are a little uncertain, but there will be a grand opening later on."

The Subway restaurants are located inside Wal-Mart as well as in the T-Rex Plaza.

"We both really enjoy having our own business," Scott said. "It's been a fun experience so far. It makes the days really fly by."