CHICAGO - Subway is joining the increasingly crowded breakfast scramble in a move that the sandwich chain hopes will help add customers and sales.
After years of testing, almost all of Subway's 23,000 U.S. restaurants will begin selling the meal April 5. When they do, the nation's largest restaurant chain by number of outlets will be a big player in the breakfast game, which can be handsomely profitable if done right.
The new menu, already being served in some U.S. cities and throughout Canada, sticks with Subway's sandwich specialty. Featuring customizable "omelet sandwiches," the options include a combination of eggs or egg whites, cheese, ham, bacon, steak, sausage, peppers and onions in addition Subway's other toppings. Sandwiches will be served on English muffins, flatbread or the restaurant company's traditional sub rolls.
Breakfast has become a popular addition to fast-food chains in recent years as companies clamor for diners. Since coffee, eggs and other breakfast ingredients often come cheap, the meals typically can rake in big profits for restaurants. While heavyweight McDonald's promotes its new dollar breakfast menu, other competitors are getting into the mix. Among them: Taco Bell and Wendy's, which are both testing out breakfast menus.
Let me start out by saying that breakfast at Taco Bell sounds like absolutely the worst idea I’ve ever heard. When I hear the generic morning/breakfast motto: “Start your day off right”, the last thing I think is “Hmmm, Taco Bell sounds pretty good right about now.”
But I think Subway can pull off this breakfast thing. McDonald’s has proven that fast food breakfast can be both successful and delicious. I love Subway sandwiches, particularly the sweet onion chicken teriyaki, so I am willing to give Subway breakfast a try. However, I will make one request to Subway managers everywhere: Now that you are adding additional menu items, can you please staff your restaurants with additional personnel? Every time I go into a Subway, I end up standing in line for 15-20 minutes, because there are only 1 or 2 overworked, stressed-out employees behind the counter. Seriously, you can’t find a few more high school kids to work for minimum wage? It shouldn’t take that long to get a freakin’ sandwich.
