Subway revealed it will tweak its marketing strategy as it grapples with a recent downturn in sales — switching from promoting snacks to offering value meals, according to sources who attended a conference call with franchisees.
CEO John Chidsey said on Thursday that Subway beginning Aug. 26 will launch a $6.99 promotion for a different foot-long sub every day for online orders. The promotion will start in two weeks.
That could amount to a discount of more than 50% on some days. At full price, a foot-long Titan Turkey sub is priced at $11.89 and The Beast is $13.99 in some New York City locations.
While the chain recently has been hawking buy-one-get-one-free sub promotions, there will be no requirement to buy two sandwiches for the discount, executives said.
Subway tried a $7.99 foot-long promotion in Los Angeles, the company said in the call, but it did not drive enough traffic so they have decided to drop the price by another dollar.
The company is also planning to offer a triple play: a four-inch sandwich, soup, chips and two cookies for $6.
A Subway spokesperson declined to comment on Thursday.
Subway is experiencing same store sales declines in certain regions of more than 8% in recent weeks compared to last year, well worse than peers like McDonald’s and Burger King, The Post reported exclusively this week.
During the conference, Subway said the top 20% of restaurants had same-store sales that were 5% better than last year.
Rival McDonald’s has extended its $5 value meal into October putting pressure on Subway during a time less consumers are going to fast-food restaurants.
For the last few months, Subway has been heavily promoting Dippers snacks (with flavors like pepperoni and cheese) for $3 each. The expectation was customers would buy subs and the Dippers. But the Dippers are not selling.
“They are getting rid of Dippers. That was a horrible idea,” a Subway restaurant owner told The Post.
Chidsey stressed the need to focus on core menu items, sources said.
The CEO made it sound like the brand was in a dire situation, the owner said.
“He said this downturn in the quick service restaurant industry happens every eight to 10 years and Subway needs to set itself up for 2026 and beyond.”
Franchisees posed some hard-hitting questions in the chat box like how these promotions could be profitable for operators, but Chidsey did not answer them, the owner said.
Subway owns none of its own stores and many franchisees are barely turning a profit, sources said.
