How Subway Lost It’s Way

Subway, the sandwich shop, is the largest franchise by store count.  I believe McDonalds is larger by revenue, but I digress.  Back in my college days in 2008, Subway was my go to when the cafeteria food was bad.  The sandwich was just that a sandwich, the cost was $5 as the 5-dollar footlong was running. 

Bloggers Note: by no means am I saying the $5 footlong promotion should still be going on.  $16.50 minimum wage in California, plus inflation, rent etc. makes it impossible to sling a sub for $5.

1.  Price.  First of all, Subway sandwiches (footlong) are about $15.  Subway is more of a value sandwich in my opinion; this is a premium price.  Jersey Mikes and Firehouse subs near me are similarly priced and far better quality.
2. Quality of product.  Boy this was stunning.  The meat was awful, the Chicken Bacon ranch sandwich didn’t have any taste, it was shredded chicken and bacon, how does it taste like nothing?  It seemed to me the 90-day guy types started sourcing the meat from Turkmenistan or Azerbaijan to save $.10 a pound. Some online reports claim some Subway products are not even really meat, based on how this tasted, the claim might have some credibility.
3. The vegetables were on their last days.  I am not a health inspector, nor do I play one on TV, but my goodness, the lettuce was browning, the tomatoes didn’t look great, and the onions looked odd.  Outside of the jalapenos and banana peppers it looked bad. The general impression was that the franchisee was too cheap to take a loss.
4. The amount of sauce, yikes!  Peppercorn ranch and baja chipotle.  There was enough that came out of the back of the sub on to the wrapper that could cover William and his Girl’s sandwich with some to spare.  Again, speaks to a low quality meat, you are trying to cover it up with loads of sauce.
5. No couponing.  This is a big one for me.  We have a lot of Subway’s near me, only 1 took the coupon online.  $6.99 footlong just the sandwich.  Yeah, the local store took it, but after, no dice.  It seems odd that of the about 9 local Subway’s, none took the coupon.  Odd.  They come in the mail, btw waste of advertising money by corporate.
6. Inject Jersey Mikes or Firehouse Subs right into my veins!

Johnnie Does