Subway Sale to Roark

[storewanderer]

Some Roark owned concepts that might fit (I didn't realize how many of these they owned);

Auntie Anne's, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, McAlister’s, Schlotzsky's, Seattle's Best Coffee (when did SBUX give that up?), Baskin Robbins, Dunkin Donuts, Jimmy John's.

I think any of these would be an upgrade from the bottom of the barrel Subway. I had only mentioned Jersey Mike's because they're killing Subway as they're perceived to be serving fresher food. Subway has never recovered from the perception of the chemicals in the bread. Wherever Jersey Mike's opens, the nearest Subways close shortly after.

I think the "chemicals in the bread" was a bunch of hogwash that was completely overblown. The only reason it gained any traction was the distinctive "Subway smell" which everyone knows about but no one can adequately explain.

Compare the Subway bread ingredients to the ingredients in most grocery store bakery breads or the breads on the bread aisle in most grocery stores, or the bread any other restaurant uses, and I have some bad news for everyone... chemicals everywhere...

I think the smell is onions+vinegar.

[ClownLoach]

Some Roark owned concepts that might fit (I didn't realize how many of these they owned);

Auntie Anne's, Carvel, Cinnabon, Jamba, McAlister’s, Schlotzsky's, Seattle's Best Coffee (when did SBUX give that up?), Baskin Robbins, Dunkin Donuts, Jimmy John's.

I think any of these would be an upgrade from the bottom of the barrel Subway. I had only mentioned Jersey Mike's because they're killing Subway as they're perceived to be serving fresher food. Subway has never recovered from the perception of the chemicals in the bread. Wherever Jersey Mike's opens, the nearest Subways close shortly after.

I think the "chemicals in the bread" was a bunch of hogwash that was completely overblown. The only reason it gained any traction was the distinctive "Subway smell" which everyone knows about but no one can adequately explain.

It just added to the perception that Subway is factory food that is not fresh. The chemicals were preservatives that are not normally used in the bread industry if I remember the story correctly. The chemical might not have been harmful, but it just added to the overwhelming evidence one would see as prepackaged tubs of produce were dropped into the rack and the plastic lids peeled off, and prepacked and measured rolls of overly salty and unnaturally shaped meats opened and unrolled. Meanwhile Jersey Mike's was expanding with at least one new store a week and slicing all the meats to order in front of the customer plus offering bread that didn't have a strange, sickly sweet chemical smell to it. Obviously Jersey Mike's could possibly be more risky than Subway if they failed to properly sanitize equipment and such but it doesn't change the brand perception. I think in SoCal the timing of the Jersey Mike's mass rollout helped doom the sandwich counters at the chain grocers too. I used to love the Ralphs sandwiches but really they were the same thing as a Jersey Mike's sub.