Topical Tuesday 06 - Subway

I read an article that said Subway is poised to soon have more worldwide locations than McDonald’s. Subway opens 40 new stores a week and will soon have 31,800 stores compared to McDonald’s 32,158 stores; at that rate, Subway will pass McDonald’s in about two months. Really, Subway needs to have a mascot because it would be great to Photoshop some anthropomorphized Subway car attacking Ronald McDonald and beating him into submission. It is pretty impressive, though, that a little sandwich shop is about to pass a worldwide institution like McDonald’s. McDonald’s stores still average significantly more sales than Subway stores; the average McDonald’s store does $2.3 million a year in sales while the average Subway store only does $455,000. In spite of those sales numbers, Subway and their market share is still impressive.

For my part, I’ve never been a huge fan of Subway. It’s true that their ingredients are fresh, but their meat seems to be the lowest grade meat possible while still being able to call it meat. When I buy a Subway sandwich I feel like I’m paying somebody to make me a sandwich out of the cold cuts I can buy at the grocery store. My attitude towards Subway has changed recently, though, as I’ve started buying into their advertising. Their sandwiches are better for me than In-N-Out or Del Taco and the sandwiches are fairly inexpensive, even if you venture beyond the $5 footlong.

Subway’s advertising is probably the greatest thing they ever did, marketing themselves as health food. It was either extreme luck or a complete stroke of genius to stumble upon Jared, the man who lost the equivalent to several small children by eating Subway. Now the company has a poster boy, literally, to tell people that eating subway is healthy. Well, eating Subway can be healthy, as long as you avoid the extremely thick layer of mayonnaise they like to put on the sandwiches.

In spite of my best efforts, I now frequent Subway with some amount of regularity. Partially because I can eat their food and not feel terribly afterwards, but also because it’s cheap and close. With 40 new stores opening every week, it’s no shock that there are at least three Subways within three minutes of my house. They don’t offer the best sandwiches but, for what you pay, it’s a pretty good deal.

How do you feel about Subway? What do you get when you go there?