America’s biggest sandwich chain is welcoming a new sound to its restaurants: the sound of ham, turkey and roast beef being sliced on-site.
On July 5, Subway announced the arrival of freshly sliced meats in its restaurants, nationwide. The chain heralds this as its latest, biggest and meatiest change to its offerings since it began its “Eat Fresh Refresh” campaign in 2021. It first told Restaurant Business Online about its switch to automatic slicers in August 2022.
To showcase its grand entrance into the sliced meat game, Subway revealed a major expansion of its Subway Series menu. This includes a new category it calls “a collection of the ultimate deli subs” that are ordered by name and number, including a hefty sandwich that boasts a half pound of meat.
“Over the past two years, we overhauled our expansive pantry of ingredients and debuted a whole new way to Subway with chef-crafted signature sandwiches. These major changes led to rave reviews from our guests and record-breaking sales,” said Trevor Haynes, Subway’s North American president, in a press release.
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“This year’s changes are even bigger and more transformational,” Haynes continued. “The addition of freshly sliced meats is the most impactful yet as it gives our guests a better sandwich — raising the bar even higher for the brand that defined fresh. We can’t wait for America to taste the difference and see how far we have come on our journey.”
Subway says it spent over two years preparing for the debut of freshly sliced meats in its stateside restaurants, adding that it was one of the most complex changes it’s ever made. These preparations included reorganizing its supply chain and installing a deli meat slicer in 20,000 Subway restaurants, which meant that for nine months, a slicer was being installed about once every five minutes.
Subway spent more than $80 million in deli meat slicers for all of its U.S. franchisees. The slicers, by the way, are automatic, meaning that Subway employees won’t have to manually slice all of the meat. The chain added that feedback from Subway customers helped inform all of these updates.
U.S. & World
Subway’s new subs
Subway says its culinary team spent over a year crafting the quartet of new, classic deli-style sandwiches to highlight the new slicer tech. The Titan Turkey and Grand Slam Ham feature 33% more meat than traditional subs, and the Beast, mentioned earlier, is the big boy that boasts a half pound of meat.
The brand new lineup of new Deli Heroes, which all come served on “Artisan Italian bread” with double cheese, sauces and freshly sliced veggies, includes:
- The Titan Turkey (#15), which comes with turkey, double provolone cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions and mayonnaise.
- The Grand Slam Ham (#99), which comes with ham, double provolone, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, and mayonnaise.
- The Garlic Roast Beef (#17), which comes with roast beef, double provolone cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions and Roasted Garlic Aioli.
- The Beast (#30), which comes with pepperoni, salami, turkey, ham, roast beef, double provolone cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, mayonnaise and MVP Vinaigrette.
As part of this new rollout, I got to try all four new sandwiches a little early, and I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you what I thought of them. All four get my thumbs up, though there's one I'm definitely ordering again: the Garlic Roast Beef sandwich.
This comes as a bit of a shock to me because I personally don’t even eat beef all too often, but the freshly sliced roast beef paired with provolone, veggies, including my favorite red onions, and that tangy and flavorful garlicky aioli crowned it as the winner for me.
The Beast, while delicious, was quite a lot of meat — I could see myself running to order one for lunch if I missed breakfast, because it’s truly a buff and burly lunch option. The Titan Turkey and the Grand Slam Ham as well were both substantial and would be good options for those with larger-yet-reasonable appetites.
Subway is helping its customers taste the difference, so to speak, by offering a whole lot of freebies as part of this rollout. The chain is “putting its new slicers to the test” by offering up to 1 million free six-inch Deli Heroes subs.
The freebies can be scored at participating restaurants across the States on July 11, between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. of each shop’s local time, where the first 50 consumers to ask will receive a free six-inch Deli Heroes sub — but only one per person, so maybe bring a friend.
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