Next Monday, all 43,945 Subway sandwich shops will be closed and when they reopen on Tuesday, every one of them will have a somewhat new menu with somewhat new sandwich components. There will be a couple of new breads available and there will be new, better ham, turkey, bacon and other ingredients. They are pointedly not changing their tuna, which has come under fire lately by lawsuits and news reports that charge it is not real tuna.
They insist it is, has been and always will be real, 100% tuna…and maybe it is. Under all that mayo, it could be mattress stuffing for all I can tell.
(If you yearn to know more about the upgrade, here's a PDF of a press release about the changeover.)
All of this is fine but I hope in the upgrade, they're upgrading the cleanliness and efficiency of their stores. I used to be a regular customer of Subway. As a person with many, many food allergies, I sometimes depend on chains that offer no surprises. McDonald's may not be the best place to eat but when you're out somewhere and need to grab a bite in a hurry, it's easy to find one and I always know exactly what I'm going to get. Same with Subway.
The last few years though, the Subways into which I've gone have seemed understaffed and undercleaned…and I got one tuna sandwich which may indeed have been "premium 100% tuna" but not for over a month or so. Also, twice in the last three years, their app told me a certain Subway outlet was open and it even took my order…but in one case, I got there and found the store had closed an hour earlier than the app said. In the other, it had been outta-business for weeks but no one had told the app.
What I felt they needed was not better ham but better management. And I've never been in one that didn't feel like it needed one more employee than they had on duty.
Anyway, I'll give the one nearest to me a chance after next Tuesday and try their new menu. I hope someone thinks to tell their app about it.