Subway Franchisees Are Criticizing Its New Meat Slicers

Some Subway operators have concerns about the chain’s new $6,000 meat slicers.

On Jan. 22, trade publication Restaurant Business interviewed Bill Mathis, a Minnesota-area Subway franchisee and chairman of the North American Association of Subway Franchisees on its podcast “A Deeper Dive.” In the episode, which covered a range of Subway-centric topics, the NAASF chairman discusses meat slicers and the impact the machines have had on the bottom line of some franchisees.

“We haven’t seen any data that says these slicers have driven sales, driven customer counts or profitability,” Mathis said on the podcast, adding that there is a wide range of opinion on the slicers. “I think the bottom line here is nobody is saying this is the greatest thing since sliced bread or since sliced meats.”

Another operator told Restaurant Business that stores “were not built for slicers,” adding that franchisees “gain nothing except a lot of waste and a lot of labor.”

Mathis reiterated this issue, pointing to waste created by “end cuts” of meat.

“Sometimes we have to slice so much at a time, lower volume stores may have to throw away product before the shelf life is up, which we encourage everybody to do because we want to serve the best product available,” he said.

In August 2022, Subway first shared its plan to add automatic slicers to all 22,000 of its restaurants. By early 2023, the chain began rolling out the slicers by region to complete the switchover.

“We were one of the few, if only, sub shop that didn’t slice in restaurant. Not only does it give the guest a better perception of seeing the nice, fluffy meat, but we save a lot of money since we were paying a lot of money to have it sliced upstream,” Subway CEO John Chidsey told CNN at the time.

At the time, anonymous workers on the r/Subway subreddit discussed how workflow could change, with some expressing fear about using the machines and who would be required to operate them.

Now, on Reddit, the conversation has shifted to critiquing the way it’s changed the job for some franchisees and their employees.

“Anyone got some solid tips to make the experience better,” one Redditor asked in a post about their thoughts on the slicer, adding that they feel that the meat is harder to put on subs and that prep is “super annoying.”

“As a closer it can totally slow/derail the night if I have no prep for meats compared to the past where I’d just open a bag and have more prep,” the Reddit user continued.

“At my store we are batch cutting 2 days of meat in the evening, absolutely no time for slicing during the morning or afternoon,” one Redditor replied. “IMO as a franchisee since 2008, it’s a stupid waste of time that isn’t saving me any money, but does take up my employees time like no other.”

A spokesperson for Subway says these perspectives don’t represent the views of all franchisees.

“As a natural next step in Subway’s transformation journey, we rolled out automatic meat slicers to restaurants across the U.S. — elevating the quality of our protein offerings even further,” the spokesperson tells TODAY.com. “The slicer and installation was provided at no cost to the franchisee as it was an effort to deliver better food and a better guest experience.”

Subway also says that consumer research shows that slicers improve the perception and taste of the product.

“Franchisees have told us that they are easy to use, and streamline the labor previously needed to prepare the meat,” the representative adds.

The company directed us to franchisees who share a different perspective, like Michael Rodriguez, who owns multiple North Carolina Subway locations.

“Slicers and freshly sliced proteins were overdue guest-driven changes, and Subway listened,” Rodriguez tells TODAY.com. “Slicing our meats fresh every day has improved both the quality and the taste of our product, which I’ve always felt was already superior to our competitors.”

Jonathan Tolliver, a Subway franchisee who owns several Ohio locations, shares Rodriguez’s perspective.

“The fact that our slicers are visible has already built trust and increased positive sentiment amongst our guests,” Tolliver tells TODAY.com. “From a labor perspective, the slicer makes preparing proteins easier on employees and I haven’t heard any complaints that they would rather go back to individually stacking proteins.”

Washington, D.C. native Joseph Lamour is a lover of food: its past, its present and the science behind it. With food, you can bring opposites together to form a truly marvelous combination, and he strives to take that sentiment to heart in all that he does.