Subway has surpassed McDonald's to become the world's largest restaurant chain in terms of units, the sandwich company confirmed.
Subway had 33,749 restaurants around the globe at the end of 2010, said company spokesman Les Winograd. McDonald's had 32,737 at year end, according to a February regulatory filing from the burger giant.
"Last year was actually pretty average for us, growth-wise," Winograd said. "We aim to open between 1,000 and 2,000 locations globally each year."
A McDonald's spokeswoman said in a prepared statement that her company "continues to be focused on our business, and serving our customers. Our business continues to be strong and we are growing by being better, not just bigger."
As of Monday, Subway has 34,218 locations globally -- all of which are owned by franchisees.
About half of the company's unit growth is overseas, Winograd said. Subway now has more than 1,000 locations in Asia, and it just opened its first store in Vietnam. Other high-growth nations include Brazil, Mexico, India, China, Russia and France.