who would understand what you’re talking about? and what makes you think Subway would carry your made up specifications
I think you’re gonna run into these types of issues in other fast food restaurants too.
I worked at Burger King for many years, and learned that data existed on how much of each type of product was typically consumed at our restaurant. This was achieved by knowing what was sold over the course of the day, and counting the waste product at the end of each shift, too. We had general guidelines on how much of each type of product to have ready at any given time; so many trays of sliced tomatoes, so many tubs of pickles, so many bottles of ketchup, and so on.
We routinely discarded expired product both still packaged and prepared (opened and made ready for use). Either our restaurant did a poor job maintaining proper stock or it was just not possible to really dial in stock levels. We also occasionally just plain ran out of certain items.
In regards to the difficulty of managing how to make menu items, it took me a couple of months or so to commit every single menu item to memory. This wasn’t even something I had to work at since the repetition of making everything on the menu board over and over left an indelible impression. Indeed, I can still remember how to make all of the menu items (at least, all the ones that were current at that time) at Burger King, even though it’s been about 15 years since I worked there. I don’t think it’d be hard for Subway to accomplish this, but I would guess their emphasis is on custom-made sandwiches.
That’s precisely how Jersey Mike’s works. You just say “Mike’s Way” and that gets you the recommended sub. And it’s not weird to say “Mike’s Way plus mayo and banana peppers” or “Mike’s Way without onions”
Jersey Mike’s will let you specify each ingredient, go for the default, or a mix.
That’s operating under the assumption that every customer would get it the “standard” way. If only 1% of customers want it “Subway-style”, you’re right back where you started.
But the appeal of going their in the first place, to many of us, is that there are no standard toppings. Yes, I can ask them to “hold the mayo and mustard,” but 1) other places can’t quite master that simple request with consistency, and 2) I enjoy creating my sandwich from scratch rather than modifying theirs.
I checked the Subway website, and what they say about the new featured sandwiches is “try it with X, Y and Z” or “tastes great with X, Y and Z”. So the new sandwich doesn’t come with a set of ingredients, but they do have suggestions for what would taste good on it, which is what OP is asking for. Do they really not include that on the poster advertising the new sandwich on display in the restaurant? The workers could then just point to the sign when asked what would be good on it.
I’m a big fan of Jersey Mike’s but I’ve noticed that requesting “Mike’s Way without…” will confuse most of the associates. It’s not that they don’t understand the request but rather their autopilot kicks in and they almost always miss the request for a subtraction.
I always order my subs without tomatoes and I used to say “Mike’s Way without tomatoes” only to watch the associate build my sandwich, add tomatoes, and then look up and say “You said no tomatoes” as they remove the tomatoes that they accidentally added.
I tend to have more success waiting for them to ask me “Mike’s Way?” and just saying “No tomatoes” without adding anything else. It doesn’t always work, but it does have a higher success rate.
Since this got bumped (and rightly so… with a handy hint), I’ll just chime in with another vote of appreciation for the “buffet style” way Subway makes your sandwich.
Because then I can eat a little healthier. Someplace else, a standard sub might come on white bread with mayo and cheese. But at Subway, I can pick and choose, AND I can ask for “a couple of peppers and onions, LOTS of spinach and tomatoes (Frosted_Glass, I’ll take yours).”
I’ve walked out of Subway with a salad bar piled high on a (multi-grain) bun.
…
ps: The OP should have learned by now…