After Russia invaded Ukraine, a bunch of companies decided that it was probably time to get out of the country. Consequently, many international chains got replaced by Russian alternatives — for example, you can’t go to McDonald’s anymore, but you can swing over to Vkusno i Tochka for a “Bit Hit”! (Yeah, the names aren’t great.)

Speaking of bad names, Subway has been slow to leave the country, by which I mean they haven’t at all. According to them, all their restaurants in Russia are “independently owned and operated by local franchisees and managed by an independent master franchisee,” meaning they can’t just pull them out in a flash.

Now, it appears they might have a new plan: Change the name of the Russian stores to “SubBoy.”

Russian Subway is officially (almost) rebranding to SUBBOY.

I have no idea who and how came up with that name

Saying "I had a sub boy for lunch" is slowly becoming real pic.twitter.com/eENxdqlIhb

— rexy (@rexzyyowo) July 18, 2025

The chain recently filed for a trademark in Russia for the name SubBoy, with the application stating that the new SubBoy “plans to provide restaurant services, namely, the provision of food and beverages, the production of sandwiches, cooking and delivery.”

So if you’re living in Russia and want a sub sandwich, you can simply order a SubBoy. Just figure out some better phrasing before you tell anyone.