New York (CNN Business) Subway, the world's largest fast-food chain, is struggling to adapt to more health-conscious, tech-savvy customers. So it's rapidly downsizing.

Subway closed more than 1,000 restaurants in the United States last year — way more than it originally planned

The company's net closures include new Subway stores that it opened last year, which means the number of closed Subways is even larger than the company is letting on. The privately held company confirmed the number of net closures to CNN Business, but did not disclose the number of openings. The closures were earlier reported by the New York Post

Subway started its restaurant purge in full force in 2016, when it had more US closures than openings for the first time in its history . It said it plans to keep closing restaurants as it tries to become more profitable.

"Our main goals are to drive guest traffic and grow franchise owner profits. Everything we do has to achieve these goals," a Subway spokesperson said in a statement.