Subway's Revamped Menu Will Look Familiar To Sandwich Fans

If you're in the mood for a healthier alternative to fast food, Subway has long been the way to go. Insider reports that the chain opened in 1965 and grew steadily throughout the decades, reaching peak popularity in the 90s and early 2000s when diet culture was in full force. Subway saw increased sales with the Jared Fogle weight loss campaign and the $5 footlong, but in 2014 Subway began to drop off, and from 2016 to 2020, it closed thousands of its locations.

It could've been easy for the once-thriving sandwich chain to throw in the towel, but CEO John Chidsey remained optimistic. As he shared in a Forbes interview in 2020, his plan to recoup profits included improving presence on food delivery apps and using Subway's large number of locations to its advantage. A revamp of the menu would come later, by 2021 at the earliest, he explained, and now, that time has finally come.

According to a press release sent to Tasting Table, the Subway menu has undergone its biggest change in nearly 60 years, and it's being rolled out on July 12, along with a nationwide giveaway of one million sandwiches.

Subway gave customers a taste of the new menu in summer 2021 with Eat Fresh Refresh, when it introduced 20 "new and refreshed" ingredients to the menu. As stated in the press release, those same ingredients were used to create the Subway Series, which is a collection of 12 signature sandwiches. Instead of ordering customized footlongs, guests are able to choose from the 12 sandwiches and order by name or number. The menu is divided into four categories: Cheesesteaks, Italianos, Chicken, and Clubs, and the 12 sandwiches in numerical order are The Philly, The Outlaw, The Monster, Supreme Meats, Bella Mozza, The Boss, The MexiCali, The Great Garlic, The Champ, All-American Club, Subway Club, and Turkey Cali Club.

Subway assures guests that they can still build their own sandwiches. But given that it took a team of culinary experts over a year to come up with the recipes, the chain stands by its new menu items. That's why on July 12 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. local time, you can try one for free at any participating location. But with a limit of one million free 6-inch Subway Series subs during those hours, it's best to get there early.