Business

I went to Subway for the first time and I struggled to see why its sales are plummeting

Subway first time visit
I went to Subway for the first time.

  • My friends were shocked I’d never been to Subway before, so I decided to try it out.
  • Subway’s sales are falling and it’s been hit by a lawsuit over its tuna.
  • But my sandwich was delicious, and the store I went to was bustling with customers.
Subway has hit the headlines recently, from its menu revamp to a lawsuit over its controversial tuna.

tuna sandwich with lettuce and tomato on wrapper paper
A Subway tuna sandwich.

Sources: Insider, Insider

Reports also say that its sales are slumping and that the chain is closing some stores, although Subway said that its menu refresh boosted sales this summer.

Subway first-time visit
I went to Subway for the first time.

Sources: Insider, Insider, Insider, Restaurant Business

I’d never been before, much to the surprise of my colleagues and friends, so I decided to finally pay the sandwich chain a visit.

Subway first-time visit
I went to Subway for the first time.

I went to a city-centre branch in Newcastle, northern England.

Subway first-time visit

The center of Newcastle is brimming with Subway stores, but I’d never been to one before, even though there was one on my university campus. I always brought packed lunches, both as a student and when I had a job on campus.

Subway Newcastle map
Subway’s website shows that Newcastle city center is brimming with its sandwich shops.

Subway also faces competition in the UK from supermarket meal deals. Major supermarket chains like Tesco and Sainsbury’s sell a sandwich, side, and drink for generally £3 or £3.50 ($4.10 to $4.80), and dedicate large areas of their smaller-format city-center stores to these.

Sainsbury's meal deal
British supermarket Sainsbury’s sells a £3.50 ($4.80) meal deal.

I went at around lunchtime on a Saturday, and though the company is popular with office workers and workers, it’s evidently busy at weekends, too. There were only two members of staff in, and I had to wait a while to get served.

Subway first-time visit
I went to Subway for the first time.

This gave me plenty of time to look at Subway’s hefty menu. There was a lot of choice, but I went for Subway’s fake-chicken sandwich the TLC, which stands for Tastes Like Chicken.

Subway first-time visit

In the UK, Subway has six main types of bread – I hadn’t expected there to be so much choice. I went for the nine-grain multi-seed bread – and of course, I had to get it as a footlong.

Subway first-time visit

There were lots of meats available, but I noticed that the UK didn’t have the new ingredients recently added to Subway’s US menus. These included deli-style sliced ham and turkey, smashed avocado, and fresh mozzarella.

Subway first-time visit

Source: Insider

The fake chicken was kept away from the meat, and it looked pretty good.

Subway first-time visit

There were plenty of salad fillings to choose from, too. I went for lettuce, tomatoes, and black olives, with vegan aioli drizzled on top.

Subway first-time visit

You could see a fridge full of peppers and cucumbers on display in the background, suggesting that Subway wanted to show off the freshness of its produce.

Subway first-time visit

It all looked pretty well stocked, though a small sign referred to supply-chain shortages and said that some items may be temporarily out of stock.

Subway first-time visit

It was fun watching the staff make my sandwich.

Subway first-time visit

I added a drink and one of Subway’s famous cookies to my order to make it a meal. It came to £7.39 (around $10.20) – the same as it would have cost to get my sandwich with roast chicken instead.

Subway first-time visit

The sandwich looked really good.

Subway first-time visit

It was bursting with fillings – there were six slices of tomato and around 30 slices of olive. My friend said he didn’t usually get such generous portions of fillings in his Subway sandwiches.

Subway first-time visit

I was surprised by how realistic the soy-based fake chicken looked. Subway seasons it to mimic its own roast chicken.

Subway first-time visit
I went to Subway for the first time.

Source: Vegan Food and Living

And it tasted really, really good. The fake chicken was perfectly moist and could have almost fooled me that it was real meat. It also really complimented the other fillings I chose.

Subway first-time visit
I went to Subway for the first time.

My main qualm was that I chose to have my baguette toasted, which seemed to loosen the seeds on top. This meant that a lot of them fell off before I had even started eating the sandwich.

Subway first-time visit
I went to Subway for the first time.

The sandwich really filled me up – a calculator on Subway’s website showed that with the bread and fillings I chose, it came in at close to 1,000 calories – but I was still excited to dig into the cookies. My friend and I got a chocolate chunk cookie and a vegan double chocolate to share.

Subway first-time visit
I went to Subway for the first time.

I think I preferred the chocolate chunk, but they were both delicious. The double chocolate was very sweet, and I was impressed to taste such a great dairy-free white chocolate.

Subway first-time visit
I went to Subway for the first time.

Ultimately, I’m surprised that Subway’s sales are falling. The chain is ubiquitous with college students and dominates many city centers.

Subway first-time visit
I went to Subway for the first time.

Sources: Insider, Restaurant Business

Most of the sandwiches were at least twice the price of the average supermarket meal deal, but this didn’t seem to be deterring diners. The location I went to was busy, despite its proximity to loads of stores and other restaurants.

Subway tuna sandwich
Subway tuna sandwich.

Subway said that its revamped US menu boosted sales to an eight-year high, but the new ingredients and sandwiches weren’t brought to the UK.

Subway menu refresh
Subway has refreshed its US menu.

Source: Insider

Despite this, there was still a lot of choice, and the ingredients looked much fresher than I’d expected, too.

Subway first-time visit
I went to Subway for the first time.

As for me, my sandwich was delicious and I can’t stop thinking about just how good the soy-based chicken was, but I don’t think I’ll stop making packed lunches any time soon.

Subway first time visit
Read the original article on Business Insider

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