New York (CNN) — It’s not $5, but Subway is bringing back cheap footlongs and joining the fast food value menu wars.
Beginning August 26, Subway will sell any footlong sandwich for $6.99 — a steep discount considering that some footlongs can cost as much as $14 in some cities. It’s the privately held chain’s latest attempt at luring back customers who are balking at rising fast food prices and spending less when they do go out.
The deal has a catch: The offer is only available via its app or website with the code “699FL” and ends on September 8.
Subway is owned by a private equity firm and doesn’t often reveal sales like its publicly traded rivals. However, its sales and traffic struggles, according to trade magazine Restaurant Business, mirror the issues McDonald’s, Burger King and Starbucks have been facing this year.
“Today’s diner is stretched more than ever, and too often that means a tradeoff on quality, variety or flavor to find an affordable meal,” Doug Fry, president of Subway North America, said in a press release. “Our menu is full of footlongs for every budget, and this new deal means our guests can get the sandwiches they crave at a great value.”
Subway also has been diversifying its menu as the prices of its sandwiches rise. The chain recently started selling $3 Dippers and Sidekick snacks priced between $2 and $5, to target cash-conscious customers who are perhaps turned off by the higher prices of its other items.
The addition of Sidekicks and Dippers “makes sense,” said David Henkes, senior principal at Technomic, previously telling CNN that Subway needs to increase revenue somewhere since fast food customers have begun pushing back on price increases amid inflation.
“They’ve underperformed in the sandwich segment, so they need to shake things up a little bit and drive some incremental traffic,” Henkes said. Technomic data shows that Subway also lags in sales for sides and snacks compared to its competitors.
In recent years, Subway has added customization to its menu, doubled down on pushing orders to its app, increased its international presence and introduced freshly sliced meats — a major shift from Subway’s previous method of delivering cold cuts pre-sliced.
Another major hurdle for Subway is it its dwindling store count: The chain closed more than 400 restaurants in the US in 2023, finishing the year with its fewest (20,133) since 2005.
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