Subway, which is reportedly experiencing tanking sales while the competition grows, has announced it is rolling out new menu options to try and stop its slide. It’s also reaffirmed its previous commitment to switch over to ingredients which don’t contain antibiotics or artificial compounds…
Subway’s sales are reported to have dropped 3.4 per cent last year and that decline is continuing. I think the fact that Subway started, just over a year ago, slicing its Meats, Cheeses and other ingredients only half as thick as they used to has a lot to do with it. Disappointed, feeling betrayed, I gave up on them and moved over to Quizno’s. Many others have followed suit, no doubt.
Now, Subway is trying to change-up its menu and add some upscale sounding new menu items to try and get folks back in their stores. They already tried a series of ‘specials’ with reduced prices for some 6 in. sandwich deals, but folks apparently didn’t bite. Their pledge, a few months back, to go ‘clean’ – removing all artificial ingredients from their foods by the end of next year – apparently didn’t resonate, either.
The next hopefully-big thing…
Their newest attempt to tempt diners back to their fold involves upscale menu items, notably a ‘Carved’ Turkey Bacon sub, the meat in which is supposed to be different from the regular Turkey Roll that goes into Subway’s usual sandwiches in that it’s sliced off a real Turkey, not a sausage of processed meat product. The photo (above) is enticing. But that’s what marketing photos are meant to be. If the difference between the official photos of other Subway sandwiches and the thing you get served at the store are any guide, the ‘Carved’ Turkey sub won’t look anything like its official portrait. We’ll have to wait and see.
Subway says it’s also planning to offer seasonal and regional specialty sandwiches on a limited time basis through the remainder of this year. Ergo, some markets will get an Italian sub with ‘premium’ cold cuts in June. Many will also get a ‘holiday’ sandwich which ‘might include Cranberry’ at the end of the year.
We’ll continue to watch closely as the Subway story continues to unfold…
~ Maggie J.