Subway is on a renewed mission to get back its customers who migrated to recent rivals including Chipotle Mexican Grill and Potbelly. It has added new and improved ingredients to recapture its original standing in the market. It has kept some of its original sandwiches including its popular tuna sandwich, which brought it past success.

Subway’s U.S. restaurants will be offering about a dozen new or improved ingredients. The chain will also give its customers a choice of 10 original or reinvented sandwiches. Award winning chef Nancy Silverton and consultant James Beard have worked together on the new menu.

Some of the new items in two types of sandwich bread: white and multigrain with protein favorites which are back in the menu. Some of them include rotisserie chicken, roast beef, thin sliced deli ham and turkey, sliced deli style. Few unique ingredients such as fresh mozzarella from BelGioioso and smashed avocado and a new fresh, salad dressing – parmesan vinaigrette, will also be added. Prices are not expected to change.

The company has been struggling from close to a decade, even before its founder Fred DeLuca’s death in 2015. It was very successful in 2008 during the financial crisis and recession when its $5 footlong was very popular. However rapid expansion, turf wars among franchisees and a stable menu without innovations led to its declining popularity.

New chains and rivals including Chipotle Mexican Grill and Potbelly rushed in to fill the gaps in the market, as customers left as they moved away from standard fare to new and innovative foods.

CEO John Chidsey, the first leader not related to a founder, joined the sandwich company in 2019 after the food innovations had begun. He said that people were crying out for innovation and that is what the chain had responded to.

Subway is planning to continue with innovative ingredients and has also updated its app with consumer-friendly features. It is also planning to make a splash with a huge advertising campaign which according to the company “will be everywhere” though additional details have not as yet been shared.

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