Imperial Subway under new management supporting youth, community

By Becky Kuntzelman-Clarkn
Imperial Republican Correspondent
Imperial Subway has taken on new life while providing the community with more available options to dine-in or take-out tasty sandwiches plus additional selections.
Casey and Kristen Malone took over ownership of Subway in September 2024. They moved to the community from Corsicana, Texas in November 2022 with their two children, son Brecken, who is now a freshman at Chase County Schools and daughter, Reese, who is in 7th grade.
Casey is a native of Imperial and Kristen is originally from Lincoln. The couple brings to the community a wealth of experience in the food industry.
Between the two, they have owned several businesses. Casey was previously the head of finance for House of Blues in Las Vegas, Nevada and Dallas, Texas. House of Blues is a multi-million-dollar entertainment, restaurant and hospitality company.
While attending college in Lincoln, Kristen managed several bars and restaurants in Lincoln, which is where the couple met. Altogether, she worked in the food industry 10 years while there.
“We saw a need and wanted to offer a place that could benefit the community while giving back. We are both entrepreneurs and wanted to add to our portfolios as well,” Kristen said.
She added it was fun working as a family and providing great bonding time with their two kids, who both work at Subway with their parents.
The new store hours of operation are Monday – Saturday 7am – 9pm, Sunday 9am – 9pm with breakfast sandwiches offered all day.
Aside from the owners, they currently have 14 on staff which includes the store manager, Karen Jensen, and nine of those staff members are high school students.
They encourage more students to apply who would like to work and gain valuable experience, said Kristen.
The Malones have hit the ground running by providing excellent customer service plus offering rewards and incentives to the employees working at Subway.
For employees, they will be honoring an employee of the month as well as employee appreciation parties, said Kristen.
In addition, there is a bonus structure for hitting goals and referring new hires. There’s a time for work, but there’s time for fun, too, said Casey.
“We like to do fun stuff with the youth on staff like rewarding them with movie tickets as Honor Roll incentives,” he said. “We will also be offering ‘Xtra Pickle Community Scholarships’ to graduating high school seniors who want to apply for a scholarship. This is for any graduating senior, not just Subway employees.”
“It’s important to develop a good work ethic. We want the kids to know they are heard and appreciated by listening to their ideas and rewarding them for thinking outside of the box,” said Kristen.
She expounded on the importance of the students who work at Subway to enjoy working there so when they return to the community after going off to school, they will relate positively to friends and family on how much they enjoyed the work experience.
“Our goal is strong ‘Community Outreach’,” said Casey. If the community is going to support our business, we want to support our community.”
“That’s why we want to invest in the youth of this community in hopes they will give back to the community in the future,” Kristen added.
The Malones are excited to announce an accomplishment with Subway Corporation for achieving special recognition since taking over the local restaurant location. They are going to do a feature interview for the Subway internal website for taking over a location while doubling revenue and staff in less than six months, especially during one of the most difficult economic times for U.S. franchises plus it’s Subway’s slowest time of the year.
Upcoming Plans
The Malones, on behalf of Subway, have a number of upcoming plans, not only for the restaurant itself, but interaction within the community.
•They are planning on sponsoring Imperial Country Club by providing flags for the greens.
•Subway is launching a brand awareness later in March with a partnership with other food companies like Oreo and Doritos by offering footlong Dorito Nacho Snackers and an Oreo footlong cookie.
A new Hot Honey Chicken sandwich and Pepperoni sandwich will be added to the menu the end of March.
•Subway will be sponsoring a golf tournament in June, on Friday the 13th, called “Green & Glo” tournament. It will be a night time Glo Ball tournament for all ages. They will also be partnering with different local charities to raise money for needed turf on the course. There will be prizes at each hole during the tournament and one large prize at the end.
•Next fall, Imperial Subway will be working with CCS to help raise funds for their concession stand, working with and providing incentives for their reading program as well as the student achievement program.
•Plans are in the works for a complete remodel, inside and out, of Subway including equipment updates.
•There are plans to expand into more rural markets—to be announced at a later date.
“We want to thank the entire community for their support for our business. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Chase County community,” said Malones.