My go-to is a footlong tuna w/ extra veggies. When we step down to the veggies I ask them to give me as many extra cucumber, green pepper and pickle slices the owner will allow. They’re always quite generous, maybe since those are the only veggies I ask for.
My one gripe? I miss the baby spinach. 
I used to like the veggie sub with V&O, but their lunchmeat is sub-par, and the bread, while fresh, is pretty gluey stuff.
Went back again today (one more trip and I can throw away that gift card), and checked. The chicken patties are still present, as are the chicken strips.
But I found a new gripe. I ordered my sandwich with bacon (an extra $1.50 for a footlong!!!) and received four of the thinnest slices of bacon I’ve ever seen. I wonder how long it takes to butcher a pig with a microtome. I literally could not even taste it. I won’t be making that mistake again.
If the sandwiches were not profitable at $5, then there’s no sense in offering them at that price point. That is, if the ingredients + labor to make an average turkey sandwich is equal to or greater than five bucks, then an owner would be nuts to offer the sandwich at five bucks, because there would be NO profit, and possibly a loss. I’m amazed at how many people think that businesses should sell products or services at or below cost.
Yeah, I want provolone. And I’m willing to pay extra, if I have to, to have it available. Maybe Subway is getting too focused on short term profits rather than long term, because if they don’t offer value for money then a lot of customers are going to find another restaurant. Subway’s accountants will have to see if customers perceive turkey sandwiches as being too expensive, and they’ll have to figure out whether having a higher price point makes up for a slightly lower demand. But it’s quite possible that a turkey sub really DOES cost Subway more to offer than other subs do.
Stores can take a small loss on certain items if they serve as loss leaders for selling other profitable items (chips, soda, cookies…). I just don’t see turkey as being 20% (1/5 of $5) more costly to them than chicken, pound for pound. Maybe because turkeys can’t be caged as tightly as chickens and require more room to grow? How do turkey v. chicken prices compare in grocery stores? (I mostly eat out). Of course they lose some sales when they raise the price but apparently the higher price more than makes it up; I don’t believe they’re stupid up at HQ. I wish I didn’t have to pinch dollar bills but unfortunately I do.
I didn’t know about the disappearing provolone…seems it’s always been available around here. I usually forgo the cheese anyway if I’m eating meat, just to reduce the fat a bit. But I’d be just as happy w/ Swiss or American.
Once or twice a week, I’ll hit up my local SW for a 6 inch Veggie on wheat. First few times I went, I had to keep saying “a little more of that please” with every topping.
“Banana peppers”
(she sprinkles on banana peppers like they are coming straight out of her paycheck"
“A few more of those please”
(she puts on a few more, okay, I guess that’s enough)
“Pickles”
(again, like she pays for each pickle out of her own pocket)
“More of those please”
repeat for green peppers, repeat for onions, etc, etc, etc.
After a few times in they began to remember me, and I no longer have to beg for more toppings.
Usually have to remind them to double up on the honey mustard though.
Look, what ticks me about Subway is that everything is done on a spreadsheet. They must have narrow margins or something.
I’d rather go to traditional a fast food joint where sometimes you score with the largest large order of fries ever and 10 extra packs of ketchup. Sometimes, you get a right-sized large and one pack of ketchup, but you get the feeling that they can rough out some measurements.
Every Subway I’ve been to uses a sparse am’t of everything, then hands you one napkin. Where is the napkin dispenser? I ain’t see one yet! You have to ask for napkins.
And I am far from cheap. I just hate the ‘atmosphere’ it creates. I ask for olives and I probably wind up with 1.35 actual olives once they are spread out. When the olive market get volatile, I am sure they slice them thinner and put one slice per 4" of sandwich.
.
Yeah, the napkin thing really is ridiculous.
They also know from human behavior studies that X am’t of people won’t speak up for extra toppings or napkins.
Can you? Yes. Will you? Probably not.
Again, eating there is like eating while someone tracks my sandwich contents with a spreadsheet.
Peering at security camera:
“Hey, Steve, look at this pig getting double of every topping?”
“Yeah, and he asked for extra napkins”.
“Well, we’ve only had 3% of the customers ask for extra toppings and 4% ask for an extra napkin. We can handle up to 20% of both”.
.
Not having extra napkins available without asking for them IS annoying. And I can’t think of any other fast food restaurant that doesn’t have napkins in a dispenser.
There must be a lot of variation from franchise to franchise. The one I go to regularly still has both provolone AND baby spinach, although I usually skip the cheese altogether. I haven’t tried the chicken so I don’t know how good/bad it is.
I have noticed that they have gotten lighter on the veggies, but have always given me more on request. Lately they’ve been skimping on the green peppers it seems.
I agree about the napkins. One napkin is not enough.
After working for Firehouse Subs for 5 years, I cannot stand the way any Subway is run. If I were in charge, ticket times would be cut in half and many of the options would become standardized. The last time I ate there, it took 20 minutes to get through the line. It was ridiculous.
Fun read:
http://mybiggestcomplaint.com/subway-sandwiches/
When a common theme develops, the franchiser had better pay attention. I’m not saying a theme has developed, but I could see how it might play out over time and hurt their image.
Apparently, it is 6 olive slices per foot-long! Say what?!
Definitely. None of the complaints here about stinginess with cheese and veggies apply to my local outlet. If anything, they have to be restrained from putting on more than some people want.
You people who have pepper jack cheese as an option are lucky. All we got here is american, swiss and provolone.
I too have noticed that they are scimping on toppings these days most likely because the economy tanked.
A few years back when the economy did tank the scimping on the toppings was very noticable. It was night and day. One week I went in and got a sub and I was satisfied. Then next week I went in and had to tell them to add extra for every topping but the meat and cheese.
The most notable was the pickles and onions. It used to be they just grabbed a handful and threw it on which was perfect. That next week the guy was counting how many pickles he put on. The onions used to have substance. As in they were crunchy and meaty. Then I noticed as the guy was counting the less-than paper-thin slivers how much thinner the onions had gotten.
I’m surprised at the variations of Subway. We were on the road this weekend and had Subway twice along I-70.
I know that “nicer” subways will have lettuce and spinach and sweet peppers. But apparently some people don’t have provolone or pepper jack.
When we get Subway (which isn’t often after we learned from Eat This not That that the wheat bread is not real wheat) we get a veggie sub (much safer than any meat). I ALWAYS ask for a ton more veggies than they offer; 3 years ago I never had to ask for extra. Not a big deal, though, I’ve never been told no and I ignore all dirty glances. Sauce always on the side is never a big deal either.
$6-7 for a sandwich that feeds two isn’t a big deal, though the ire at the recently jacked up prices is certainly understandable. But nobody should be eating a footlong in one sitting in the first place unless they’re some sort of uberathlete.
I have a Subway just around the corner; I go there a couple of times a month. My only real gripe is that the people behind the counter just don’t pay attention(this happens every time):
SST (Subway sandwich tech): Hi, welcome to Subway, what can I get for you?
Me: A foot long tuna on sourdough, please.
SST: Okay. What size would you like?
Me: Foot long, please.
SST: What kind of meat would you like on that?
Me: Tuna, please.
SST: What kind of bread?
Me: Sourdough, please.
:smack:
How on earth do you figure that?
I’m sure it varies depending on type and quantity of toppings, bread, etc., but from what I’m finding on the web, it looks like a Subway turkey footlong has about 570 calories. For me (a fairly big guy, but by no means an uberathlete), that’s less than 1/3 of my daily caloric requirement. Are you really saying I shouldn’t be eating a meal’s worth of calories at one sitting?
Do you honestly think that other chain restaurants don’t do the same thing? Of course they do. They all carefully calculate the amount of each ingredient to use.
McDonald’s killed the local hamburger joint. They still exist, but they are few and far between.
But, for some reason. Subway has NOT killed the local sub shop. Almost every town has at least a couple of local, independent, shops that produce a waaaay better sandwich.
I will only eat at Subway if I’m with someone who insists on it for mysterious reasons.