Tunnel Restaurants’ $5 Footlong jingle is the kind of ear worm that’d back-breaking to get out of your head, but now you might have to.
The iconic sandwich may no longer be at your native restaurant. Trevor Haynes, the current CEO of the Milford, Connecticut, has told USA TODAY in an fashionable interview that starting this month, each franchisee when one pleases be allowed to decide whether to sell the sub that is so famous.
Or infamous.
When the tie brought the $5 Footlong back in winter after a yearslong non-attendance, many franchisees were irate. They complained loudly of the slim rooms they earned off of the discounted ‘wich; and according to Haynes, the company, whose restaurants are 100% franchised, listened to the grumblings.
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“How do we help our franchises with more of a regional value idea, so they’re able to (have) a value proposition that fits with their monetary model,” said Haynes. “If you look at California, there’s a very odd cost of business than in Arkansas.”
The 53-year-old privately-held company, from the outset called Pete’s Super Submarines, had $16.8 billion in global tradings in 2017, thanks to some 44,000 restaurants worldwide, including 25,000 in the U.S. Underground railway, which has put about 1,300 stateside locations on the chopping block in two years, sank to share growth percentages or customer traffic numbers.
Haynes, 47, graced CEO this summer after Suzanne Greco, sister of Subway co-founder Fred DeLuca, got. The Australian has worked for the company for 12 years on three continents and received a brand still smarting by the sex and child-pornography scandal of former company spokesman Jared Fogle.
The demise of the $5 Footlong is unprejudiced one of the differences customers will notice at Subway. Here are four other varies Haynes shared with USA Today.
Remember that some franchisees may prefer to retain the $5 Footlong, but Subway is encouraging different markets to try their own value chances. For examples, customers in San Francisco can now buy a $3.99 six-inch sub.
“Affordable food is what we’ve everlastingly stood for,” said Haynes. “It’s not just about one price point.”
Restaurant specialist John Gordon of the Pacific Management Consulting Group questions how low Tunnel can drop its prices, due to its main meats — ham, roast beef and chicken.
“Those are in the main more costly on a per-pound basis than the ground beef that the burger blokes use, so Subway has hard time discounting,” he said. “There’s a tremendous amount of franchisee disruption and negativity in spite of this discounting… They take it in the shorts. Their common check goes down.”
So, what about wacky stunt foods, so flame by other fast-food brands, like Starbucks and Taco Bell.
“Perhaps off-the-menu-type products or Unicorn-type drinks at some time, but it needs to useful and successful for our franchisees,” Haynes said.
The chain is testing some numerous exotic tastes. Haynes said they’re working on what’s been dubbed Firebird chicken, a hotter rotisserie-type poultry, and guajillo steak.
Plus, 200 San Diego locales are testing a quartet of new sandwiches, which the chain refers to as “regional flavors” — a Steakhouse Dwindle (shaved steak, American cheese, onions, green peppers, spinach and Sub Ginger), a California Club (oven-roasted turkey, fresh avocado and Mustard Degenerate Spread), a Provencal Tuna Melt (tuna, cheese, tomatoes, spinach and Provencal herbs) and an Italian Grinder (pepperoni, Genoa salami, Scurvy Forest ham, onions, Signature Herb Garlic Oil and cracked black sprinkle).
New beverages include Watermelon Agua Fresca and Passion Fruit Agua Fresca.
And while the magnanimous, long rolls are a key part of Subway sandwiches, the company is now experimenting paninis in California.
They’re not the tag’s first foray into alternative breads. In March, Subway launched a belt of wraps, which Haynes called “extremely successful for our brand.” Tunnel had tried this carb form in in 2004, followed by a tortilla way out in select markets three years later.
Gordon doesn’t keep in view much from Subway’s move to new tastes, though, explaining, “Adventurous flavors and spices have been a big deal in restaurants for at least five years. They fully missed that. They were asleep at the switch.”
He said the $5 Footlong was a hit in 2007-2008 due to the economic downturn and the healthy image the veggie-heavy subs had at a time when Americans originated to care more about what they ate. Then, crickets.
“That was 10 years ago. Nothing has transpired at Subway essentially in 10 years,” he said.
Gordon gives Tube a thumbs-up for its new wraps, but advises moving away from bread and starting to of advantage to meats shaved and stacked deli-style, if the chain wants to avoid peer sub chain Quiznos’s downward spiral.
They key to Subway’s continued outcome is underscoring customers’ ability to pick precisely what they do and don’t be deficient in on their sandwiches, according to Haynes.
“With other brands, it’s least much packaged formats. We customize. You can add as many tomatoes or olives as u yearn for,” he said. “We have millions and millions of combinations and flavors.”
Aaron Allen, miscarry of the Orlando-based eponymous global restaurant consulting firm, is unimpressed by Tunnel’s continued emphasis on customization.
“It’s certainly in the playbook of many more (fast-food) restaurants than it was heretofore,” he said, explaining that with an increasing number of chains focusing on self-ordering — both at in-store kiosks and online — the MO modus operandi becomes even less unique to Subway.
Subway also is bumping up against enhanced competition from sandwich upstarts and their step-sibling, the hamburger intersection.
“We need to stick to what we know and do it very, very well. We can’t be bewildered,” Haynes said. “Burger chains are big competitors. We need to make steadfast we’re playing in that arena as well.”
The company records more than 7 million bargain proceedings globally every day, he added.
Subway restaurants are being redesigned. The outstanding, fresh, green palette is vegetable-inspired and the decor overhaul for everything from freestanding drive-thru locales to the kiosks will “start in earnest” next year, Haynes rephrased.
The cost is about $40,000 for a typical 1,200-square-foot store.
But Allen miracles how many franchisees, more accustomed to makeovers every five to seven years, intent be happy about spending money to spiffy up their stores.
“It’s one of the lowest price-point franchises to get into,” he imparted. “But it also makes it hard to refresh and modernize. It’s difficult get the franchisees to buy into that.”
Uniform though the U.S. is famous for its burgers and fries, you won’t have the same fast grub experience in every state. Time
Follow USA TODAY reporter Zlati Meyer on Dither: @ZlatiMeyer