You get Swiss? I would love to get Swiss cheese on my Subway sub, but our local Subways don’t have that.
We do have provolone, though. So I got that going for me.
Well, I like Subway and I like pepperjack, but what I don’t like…
Why am I paying the same $5 for a veggie sandwich that the next guy is paying for a spicy italian. Could I at least get double cheese?
I always feel slightly ripped off. The veggie should be $4 or throw in a free cookie with the veggie. That would make me happy!
Sometimes things don’t sink in until you hear someone else say it. I’ve definitely noticed the sparser application of toppings but always attributed it to “sandwich artists” not knowing better and/or not caring. And they used to always, always put several napkins in the bag with the sandwich, but yesterday…none. And I’m not going to ask for everything separately…I’ll just stop going there altogether.
And yet, somehow, it’s not quite as offensive. Port of Subs is pretty careful about how many meat slices go on each sandwich, but because they use a slicer and cut 3 slices off a loaf, it’s less noticeable than a Sandwich Artist carefully plucking out no more and no less than 3 slices from the pre-sliced bin.
A lot of the difference here comes down to mere presentation, but Subway freaking sucks at presentation.
I will say one Subway I used to go to a while back was different, mostly because of one dude who worked there. Subway was doing their Thai Chicken Sandwich which was actually really good, and the guy suggested some specific toppings. He made the process seem natural, like he was a deli worker rather than a drone.
Indeed; it’s just that, at Subway, you see it being done in front of you.
At the Subway restaurants I’ve been to, they have the three slices of meat already parceled out, in piles separated by wax paper. It seems to speed up the process of assembling the sandwich.
I grew up very close to Subway World Headquarters and have been going to their restaurants for decades, so I’m sympathetic to them, but the big thing I don’t like about their sandwiches is the bread. Even though their big thing has always been that the bread is freshly baked, it just doesn’t taste very good.
BZZZZZ.
Fries?
Ketchup Packs?
Napkins?
How about the Arby’s and Wendy’s and other joints that let you add more condiments as you like… and encourage it? (You CAN at Subway, but they avoid the issue. Neither encourage or discourage.)
While numerous places have standards (three pickles, exact beef measurements, etc), it’s Subway that runs the cheapo gamut on every conceivable item they manage. No other sandwich or burger joint rules with such widespread condiment/accessory authority.
I am a business man, lean to the right and favor conservative economics. I appreciate their effort. Hell, they can come over and fukc my dog, but the ultimate fukc you is handled by the consumer… and I choose not to deal with such penny pinchers. Accountants can run businesses (in theory… on paper), but business people need to make business decisions that don’t show up literally on tomorrow’s spreadsheet. There are certain branding issue and intangibles that will bite accountants right in the ass. Business people better step up.
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I can take as many straws and cup lids as I damn well please?
I think that is self-managed by the fact that you have/want just one.
I can’t conceive of it any other way.
Don’t ruin a good vent! 
I never miss a chance to gripe about Subway. I think its the nastiest sandwiches I’ve ever had and every time I eat there I get diarrhea. First of all, they are completley inept when it comes to making a turkey sandwhich with ranch and mayo. They always want to put the ranch on AFTER toasting the sandwich. Wtf? Are you just going to put the ranch on cold while the sandwich is toasted? You’ve got to be kidding me. Sauces/Dressings go on FIRST, everyone knows that. Also the ranch tastes like crap. Don’t know why, but it’s nasty. They’re attempt at toasting their sandwiches is pathetic. They come out barely warmed up and pretty much still cold. It’s all pathetic. They have nothing on Quiznos, the best sandwiches on this planet.
Sourdough? Who the frell can get sourdough?
My local franchiser just deep-sixed Swiss because nobody was buying it-he does have the Pepper Jack now tho.
That’s without cheese and any condiments. Cheese adds on 100-150, one dressing is about 75-100, so that’s more like 700. Plus, most people aren’t eating a dry footlong veggie or turkey in one sitting, most people are eating a footlong tuna or chicken/bacon/ranch or shudder Philly cheesesteak. And aren’t active like you (sound like) you are. Subway Cheese, 2 triangles (YMMV of course but on a footlong I seem to get 6 triangles).
I don’t eat bread and every once in a blue moon when I forgot to bring my lunch to work I get the bright idea to get a Subway salad. GAG. Their dressings are all so sickly sweet that I can’t eat the salad at all. There is nothing grosser than “lite” dressing (especially ranch) when it tastes like its half sugar.
Subway is the worst offender of the “Picture of menu item looks nothing like the actual menu item” scam that all fast food joints run. If you order a sub with all the same toppings as one shown in the picture they will look nothing at all alike. Particularly the meat. The pictures look like they have 1/2lb or more of meat on every foot long but when they put the meat on the sandwich they put what amounts to a thin layer of meat on the bread. So little that there are times when I can’t even taste it (ham). They never skimp on the lettuce though.
Burger King is probably the second worst offender.
Wait, what? Is this really the standard for most people, to toast the mayo with the sandwich? I like my mayo-based products cold on a sandwich, thank you, unless they’re being spread lightly on the outside of a grilled cheese sandwich to provide extra browning/crisping action. Warm mayo makes me slightly queasy. It would never occur to me to toast the sandwich with the mayo on it–the mayo is for after. I mean, do you toast your mustard and ketchup too with a hamburger?
When I worked at Arby’s, we had huge signs that listed the cost of every single tub of sauce, napkin, lid, and straw we carried so that we knew if we put an extra thing of sour cream dressing in an order, that was 12 cents we were practically stealing from the company. I know I’m just a number in someone’s spreadsheet. I’ve made my peace with it.
Former (thank god) Subway worker chiming in here. Though I can’t speak for more recent changes (I only worked there for about six months in '06, or something), I can comment on the stuff I experienced while working there:
On the sparseness of veggies: yes, that is a requirement. Yes, it really is 3 olives per 6-inch, 6 olives per 12-inch. Yes, it sucks, and yes, I tried to give the customer what they wanted, but during inspection days and when, say, management was in, I could only do so much. At employee meetings we were told that we had to make the sandwich the way the customer wanted (which meant giving more olives when they were requested), but after the second or third “more please,” we were supposed to distract the customer by then saying “now what kinds of sauces would you like?”
Of course, when I made my own sandwich at the end of my shift I always tossed on an entire handful of olives, because fuck them. They consider olives a “garnish,” and if the olives they used were, say, really flavorful green ones, I would agree with them. Instead, they are generic black ones that have very little flavor. You NEED a handful of those babies!
On cheese: pepperjack is where it’s at. That’s literally the only cheese that has any flavor whatsoever. My coworkers and I would not eat anything else. Though admittedly I can’t remember whether or not we ever carried provolone. I think we did when I first started, but then stopped? Swiss would’ve been cool, too, but we never carried it when I was there.
On cheese tessellation: I hear it’s a requirement now! That makes me happy because I always used to tessellate anyway and it always bugged me when my coworkers didn’t. It melts more evenly that way! The only problem I’ve found with tessellation is that when the employee does it too quickly, the squares get kind of flung about and then it still isn’t even.
On napkins: yeah, it sucks. Management explained it to us as supply cost, like what Inner Stickler said. But do restaurants that have napkin dispensers have printed napkins? That might be why they’re so persnickety at Subway–their napkins are printed, and thus likely more expensive. Which is still silly (who the hell cares about printed napkins anyway?) but that’s probably the logic behind it.
On “I’ll have a 12-inch tuna on wheat with American cheese” rapid orders: I probably would’ve been okay with this method of ordering at non-busy times (though I might have had to ask you to repeat something for clarification), but when there was a line out the door, there was no way in hell I could process all that info at once. Which is probably one of the reasons I don’t work there anymore, but my mind would be going in a million different directions at the same time when someone was ordering during rush times. This isn’t to say I wouldn’t have tried to process it all at once–I always made an effort to take in the information as it was presented to me–but if I seemed like I was still asking you for everything, that was why. This was just me, though; I can’t speak for other employees.
On bacon: I always ask for double meat whenever I get a BLT (which isn’t often). I don’t care if it costs extra, if I don’t get double meat, I’ll feel like I’m eating bread and veggies.
Phew! That’s it for now. Maybe I’ll think of more stuff later.
TL;DR: I used to work at Subway and I feel your pain, promise.
Actually, one more thing: some of you got sourdough?!? You lucky bastards.
Have any of you read Fast Food Nation. It goes into a bit of detail on Subway and it’s franchise operation. It’s an example of about all the worst of the franchise industries abuses with regards to their franchisees. They are practically predatory against their own franchise owners and subcontract 3rd party salesmen to recruit new franchisees to open up franchises practically on top of existing ones. Franchise owners can open a store relatively cheaply relative to most of the other big name franchises but the remaining profit margin for the store owner is razor thin, most store owners are required to own 3-6 stores in order to make a living wage and they have essentially no protection against another Subway opening up on the next corner down and diluting their business further.
Long story short, most of the issues people have with Subway’s portion control and ingredient options are a result of a franchise owner who’s barely scraping by. Either he’s in a low traffic area or an over-saturated area or he’s operating just one or two stores and barely squeaking by. It’s not directly an issue with Subway’s corporate control of portions, it’s the store owner struggling to survive and trying to stretch ingredients and limit overhead. Because of this you’ll often see great variation in Subways.
Here in downtown Chicago there’s a ton of Subways, some practically next door to each other in the loop serving the office workers. When I was a cube farmer down there everyone had a favorite Subway and would often walk an extra block or two past one in order to visit the one that doesn’t skimp with the tomatoes or sauce or whatever. If you feel like you’re getting screwed on your sub, hit up the next store down the road on on the opposite side of town. With luck it’ll be owned by someone else who’s not quite so eager to pinch every penny in the name of customer service. Here in Lincoln Park there’s a relatively low concentration of Subways and the one on the corner that serves the DePaul kids and late-night bar crowd is pretty cool with heaping a sandwich with toppings if you ask. The bathroom and extra seating in the back is treated like a part of the holy land though. Hehe.