Subway calls ‘emergency’ meeting with franchisees as sales plummet

[RAR]

Subway in the 80s was ok. Simple menu and it was decent.

I went there a couple of months back. Disappointed. I ordered through their app and it was mediocre. But it’s fast food so what should I expect?

As for franchises - in our small city of about 15,000 with surrounding communities adding about another 15k people, we don’t see a huge variety of the fast food restaurants. It’s Subway, McDonalds, Burger King, a Hardee’s that’s hanging on, two taco joints, Arbys and Culver’s. Even a Jimmy John’s and one called Elbert and Gerbert. So when we’d see a new restaurant is opening, hey we’re interested.

Until we see it’s just another franchisee for Subway saying “Me too!” Disappointment all around. We have three Subways in town.

 

[Slick3914]

They lost me when Megan Rapino was a spokesperson.

And what is so difficult about spreading the mayo on the roll? There are so many places better than Subway.

 

[Pablo]

They lost me when Megan Rapino was a spokesperson.

Good point. They should fire the folks making those decisions. I mean think of Jared.

 

[John105]

Last time I went to one was 2019. Unless something has changed, they are expensive, and doesn’t taste good. And ads with Patrick Mahomes don’t really get me to budge. Maybe if I were a younger man. Ditto with Taylor Swifts boyfriend.

 

[GON]

I eat there once a month or so, but always with a coupon. Jimmy John’s Beach Club with extra peppers is my goto. Do better Subway.

Jimmy John's and Subway are owned by the same holding company.

 

[PF52]

I've been to countless Subways over the years..... On a road trip it is often the only option in a small town. But like many others have said already, they've gotten much too expensive. Something like triple what it was a few years ago.

I do like their food. And not too many other places are open at 8AM on a Sunday when I want to pack my cooler for lunch at a car show an hour away. Subway was my go-to for that reason!

 

[Hermann]

I believe one of the cheapest fast food franchises to get into, Probably reasons for that

Steak 'n Shack has a really low buy in also = Last time I saw an offer on the wall in the restaurant was a $10K in. No idea what that included. Hopefully a spatula or two.

 

[dogememe]

Subway was reasonable 7 years ago.

Now the quality is down and the price is up. No thanks!

 

[Pablo]

Steak 'n Shack has a really low buy in also = Last time I saw an offer on the wall in the restaurant was a $10K in. No idea what that included. Hopefully a spatula or two.

Just the initial franchise fee.............

 

[Hermann]

Subway was reasonable 7 years ago.

Now the quality is down and the price is up. No thanks!

Went to a Subway ONCE. 40 years ago I ordered a 6" roast beef with double meat, Had to get out the magnifying glass on my SAK to see the meat. Knew what Subway was all about in that one visit. Sandwich was OK after I made it a 3" and threw away half the bread.

 

[PWMDMD]

Food is mid at best…

Did I use that correctly?

 

[GSCJR]

i just make my sandwich's at home

This Better quality and cheaper.

the grocery store deli has good subs

I tried Publix recently, the crispy chicken tenders were so big, they turned me off. I'll stick to my imported Italian cuts and make it myself.

 

[Mechanician]

Food is mid at best…

Did I use that correctly?

Slay

 

[jeepman3071]

Expensive sandwiches with awful quality and terrible customer service... hmm I wonder why they are doing terribly? There are so many better sandwich options now. We have a local old fashioned general store that has a deli in the back. $7 for a sandwich twice the size of a Subway footlong made with actual real ingredients by friendly people.

 

[brandon9715]

Subway is the only chain in my small town. I used to go there occasionally but don’t anymore. They have gotten way too expensive, quality has dropped, and portions are sparse. I would say it’s not surprising they aren’t doing well.

 

[DriveHard]

Worked there 4 years through high school...then didn't eat there for many years (too many free subs from those not taking their stamps). Met my wife ~15 years ago, and she loved it. We used to split a $5 foot long ham on wheat with all the veggies. Now it is just so expensive. We MUCH prefer Pita Pit (hard to find), but now they are the same price, and so much higher quality.

 

[Kira]

Going back to the '80's........
1) EVERY Subway I ever saw was dirty. If you saw clean ones, I don't know what to tell you.

2) They were so antiseptically foul, I walked visitors passed a demo near me. It was a 1930's 'strip mall' with a Subway. I'd tell visitors to just walk in and smell. The cardboard bread and whatever other smells would hit them hard, and they'd make faces.

3) +1 to whoever said the employees are the most disinterested. Subway boasted that they'd custom fit a Subway counter (that famous, yellow Formica) into whatever business you or your family happened to own. Why I found such opportunism so revolting, I can't tell you.
Nothing more charming than a failed storm window installer assembling prison food with an air of contempt.

3a.) Back when franchise opportunities were the darling of financial magazine editors, weren't Subways praised as, "the most successful franchise businesses in the USA"?

4) My old college roommate loved going to his 24-hour Subways on Long Island. I must say, the fare dovetailed perfectly with his alcohol-based, indolence rich, suicide life plan. When he moved to Brooklyn and found the Subways closed around 10PM, he was shocked.

5) I clearly recall my friends looking forward to munching on Subways while driving back from Burlington, VT. There was real sandwich competition in that charming college town. That was in the '70's. How "independently" the menus or food purveyors could be managed, is another thing I do not know.

6) Wasn't it Subway who ran a huge ad campaign in the early '90's, touting their improved bread? It's what made me go in and take a smell (see #2).

7) Recently, one opened in upstate NY and a coupon got me to go....the one and only time.
Even with the coupon, it was expensive for what you got. The 'assembly line' of stacks of pre-cut, chemically treated meats and cheeses didn't strike me as appetizing.
Also, and I hate to sound like this, watching young people automatically grabbing those hideously overpriced lunch-sized bags of chips/Doritos/whatever and waiting for their sodas and sandwiches (sammies-from another thread) is way too '1984' for me.

8) I'd love to know why it's so hard for many to bring their own lunch. Will the big boys laugh at them? And please, skip the, "It's their money to spend as they wish", argument.
In a society which shrieks at a 5-cent/gallon fuel price increase (ours), the pure rip-off offered by Subway's value/price mix points to a deep laziness.

 

[hrv]

for me Jersey Mikes is the place to go....number 13 mikes way...

 

[Cheetah-kins]

Good riddance to them and their overpriced, served by miserable employees, cardboard flavored food.

I fixed your reply for you. It's was an accurate reply, you just left out part of it..

 

[Glenda W.]

I just don't think it tastes very good.

Me too. A standard pizza place has better subs imo