Subway overtakes McDonald's for the title of world's largest restaurant chain

[Amerigo Vespucci]

A local deli owner calls Subway "Home of the bread sandwich." A couple of paper-thin slices of meat, a little handful of veggies, and mostly bread.

:-)

Tuesday, Mar 8, 2011 08:37 ET
Subways outnumber McDonald's worldwide
Number one no more: Subway overtakes Mickey D's for the title of world's largest restaurant chain
By The Associated Press, Associated Press

http://www.salon.com/food/food_business/index.html?story=/food/feature/2011/03/08/us_subway_mcdonald_s



Subway now has more restaurants worldwide than McDonald's.

The sandwich chain surpassed the world's largest hamburger chain in terms of number of stores in the U.S. in 2002 and now it has taken the global lead.

Subway had 33,749 restaurants worldwide at the end of last year, according to the company. McDonald's Corp. had 32,737, according a regulatory filing.

"We've been on a great run," said Tony Pace, chief marketing officer of Subway's Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust, the franchisees organization under the company's umbrella.

[cbdo2007]

1. Yum, just seeing those arches in the picture is making my mouth water.

[HopeHoops]

2. At least they stopped using that stupid fucking wedge cut.

Remember it? They used to cut a wedge out of the top of the sub that barely left any room for toppings and all you had to hold it together was a thin strip of bread that usually fell apart. Now they slice it like a normal sub and you can actually get a reasonable quantity of toppings. Frankly, the only thing I ever get is the VegiMax, but that might have something to do with being vegetarian. I could get a veggie delight, but that's just an expensive kid's salad on a sub roll.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

5. I do remember the "wedge," but that's not my "Subway Story©"...

...this is:

Back in the late 1980s, I went into a Subway with my girlfriend at the time. The place was crowded, line reaching to the door. The people making sandwiches clearly weren't keeping up with the pace. Then one of the workers announced "OK, we are going to be starting a number system," and you know how that goes. People from the back of the line...hell, people who hadn't even gotten in the line yet...immediately ran up and were the first to grab numbers. A low rumble rose from the crowd. So I said "FINE! Start your number system as soon as you wait on all of the people who have been standing in line first"...

The crowd applauded me, the "idea woman" turned beet red, continued making sandwiches, and no numbers were called out while I was there.

:evilgrin:

[TlalocW]

3. Not how I order it

I feel the meat they put on is sufficient, and I'm glad the bread is... robust... because I have them put on all vegetables (except olives). Many times, the sandwich artist has difficulty closing my sandwich.

TlalocW

[hlthe2b]

6. the "sandwich ARTIST?"

really? Umm, ok.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. YES! I found a photo of the Subway Sandwich Artist but neglected to include it in my original post:

:-)

[hlthe2b]

12. How elegant....

I typically leave my tiara at home when frequenting Subway. Perhaps I should rethink? ;)

[SPedigrees]

4. If subway would take the HFCS out of their bread..

I'd eat there again. Their sandwiches are pretty healthy, and tasty, but for that small dose of corn poison in the bread. Either way it's better than McDonalds' grease menu.

[hlthe2b]

8. Wayyyy too much sodium....

but that tends to be the case everywhere.

[SPedigrees]

10. Salt is optional. They'll leave it off if you tell them to.

I suppose cold cuts contain sodium, but you can opt for a veggie sub as I do.

[hlthe2b]

11. LOL... Sodium is loaded in all their processed meats, cheeses,

sauces, pickles, bread.... One need not have them "add salt" to get a major load.

While the daily recommended sodium level (for everyone--not just those with health issues) is 1500 mg, the majority of FootLong Lowfat Sandwiches (have 2000-2500mg sodium). So, even if you don't add it, a small sub would provide nearly ones' entire daily levels. One can select carefully to try to limit it, but because the essence of a Subway sub is the meat, almost no Subway sub is truly low in sodium.

[SPedigrees]

13. I think 'loaded' is an exaggeration.

The amount of salt in a few slices of provolone or swiss cheese is probably negligible. Sauces?? All that goes on my veggie grinder is oil (preferably olive oil) and black pepper.

All living creatures need salt and will die without it. Moderation is one thing; but many people get carried away with salt avoidance.

The essence of my sub sandwiches is seldom meat. You can go anywhere and make higher sodium and fat choices, but the point is that Subway does offer healthier choices. The only thing safe to consume at McDonalds is their coffee.

[hlthe2b]

16. You may need to read up about sodium if you are trying to eat healthy

Yes, we need some, but the American diet is absolutely LOADED with it. Our dietary MAXIMUM daily recommendations have exceeded those of other nations by almost 2 fold and most Americans may well get much more than THAT-- as much as 4-8 times that. Only recently have our own official maximum daily NA recommendations been brought down to levels consistent with healthy levels advocated by other worldwide health experts. Yet recommendations, hardly echo what is actually consumed.

Veggie sandwich with no sauces? No pickles, no meats, no salt added? Sodium levels in the few slices of cheese are still going to add 100 to 200 mg sodium to a small sandwich--and that is before anything else.

Per Livestrong.com: "Even if the calorie content in a Subway sandwich is relatively low, the sodium can be very high. All Subway's 6-inch sandwiches have 300 calories or less, but the sodium ranges from 410 mg to 1,140 mg, according to Subway's nutritional information. Even the low-fat foot-long sandwiches have between 830 and 2,400 mg of sodium. The lowest sodium choices include the kid's veggie sandwich at 280 mg, roasted chicken salad at 270 mg, and a plain veggie salad with no dressing at 65 mg of sodium. Adding one packet of fat-free Italian dressing adds 720 mg of sodium to a lower calorie salad."

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/393221-is-subway-really-healthy/#ixzz1G1mmihrh



While I likewise would like to see HFCS taken out, that is not the only issue upon which to focus. Subway does have healthier options than most, but you really have to watch what you add to the mix.

[SPedigrees]

18. You're not speaking for me

when you refer to the American diet. My diet is NOT loaded with sodium and a few slices of cheese are not going to poison me.

[hlthe2b]

19. The point is that HFCS is not the only issue

that makes Subway's sandwiches require a bit of scrutiny and educated choice, if your goal is to eat healthy. You argued against that documented fact and made it personal. There was no reason to do so. That you don't have reason to be personally concerned about sodium levels, does not mean that it is not an increasing problem for the population at large.

[defendandprotect]

20. 'Cause salt is addictive -- brings the customer back -- or kills them ...

[Johonny]

17. they use to be good

I really never go there now. Their food quality has gone the way of all those huge fast food places. It's 5 $ of blandness these days :(

[elocs]

7. Read about it here yesterday afternoon:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x580801

[WatsonT]

14. Excellent

not my favorite joint but far better than McDs.

[PBS Poll-435]

15. Yuck

Never had a good Subway experience.


His name is Jared...

[begin_within]

21. I'll stick up for Subway...

They bake the bread right there. The bread is fresh. There are a lot of choices of types of bread. There are many choices of sandwiches. You choose which cheese you want. You choose whether the sandwich is toasted or not. You choose which veggies are added, and there are a lot of those. You choose which sauce or condiments are added. It's labor-intensive for them, but you get the sandwich you want. You can add soup for like $2 and the broccoli soup isn't bad. There's a good choice of drinks and they carry a honey-sweetened green tea that I like. They have Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, which aren't bad... the raspberry ones are my favorite. The have specials all the time, for example, most footlong sandwiches were $5 for the whole month of February. I think they do a lot of things right there. For fast food I think it's a good choice.

[flvegan]

22. Slightly better crap overtakes lesser crap. Film at 11.

[HEyHEY]

23. Hate them. As the owner said, it's just bread.

[HEyHEY]

24. Why is McDonald's headquartered in Oakview (or whatever) illinois?

[MilesColtrane]

25. Meh

Subway has always seemed like a mass produced approximation of a sandwich.

The Quiznos toasted tuna (hold the mayo, add red wine vinaigrette), on the other hand, can kick ass if you carefully monitor its construction.

[Tabasco_Dave]

26. Subway is ok

but a sub made in an authentic Italian deli is the food of the gods.:9