Subway's Fan-Favorite Sauces Are Hitting Grocery Store Shelves
Subway has been making a lot of big moves recently, and now it's making one of its biggest announcements in years as the sandwich chain joins the rapidly growing ranks of restaurants that are moving their fast food sauces into grocery stores. After decades as one of the country's most popular chains, Subway fell on hard times in the late 2010s, with year after year of store closures dropping the number of retail locations to a 20-year low in 2023.
But the company bounced back last year and started expanding again, while Subway also revamped its menu with new deli-sliced sandwiches. That was followed up at the beginning of this year with a splashy rollout of eye-catching Subway footlong snacks like churros, including a 12-inch variation of its popular chocolate chip cookie. Now, Subway is looking at a new way to repackage fan favorites, as four of its most popular sauces are being bottled for retail sale.
Subway's sauces will hit store shelves starting Wednesday, March 20, according to a press release sent to Tasting Table. The collection will include the three existing flavors Sweet Onion Teriyaki, Roasted Garlic Aioli, and Baja Chipotle, along with a brand new creation, Creamy Italian MVP, which is based on Subway's existing MVP Parmesan Vinaigrette. The four sauces will come in 16-ounce bottles and will be available at large nationwide retailers including Kroger brands, Albertson's, and Walmart, with more stores expected to stock them in the future.
Subway's new bottled sauces are helping to support employee education
While the at-home availability of these Subway sauces is the biggest news from a food perspective, the new products are also being launched to support the company's Fresh Start Scholarship Fund, according to the press release. The fund is a program that offers tuition assistance to Subway Sandwich Artists and restaurant employees by giving them $2,500 toward their secondary education — and it's already helped over 1,700 people so far.
The sauces are coming to stores through a partnership with the T. Marzetti Company, which also produces sauces from other chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Buffalo Wild Wings. Senior Vice President of Culinary and Innovation at Subway, Paul Fabre, says of the pairing, "This partnership takes our sauces to another level and enables our fans to take their culinary creations from ordinary to extraordinary while also contributing to an important cause."
While Subway's sauces are obviously associated with topping sandwiches, they are also made for dipping, cooking, and any other normal sauce uses. Subway and T. Marzetti are even teaming up to create recipes as examples of how to use the new bottled fast food sauces, like an Asian Chicken Bowl or Grilled Shrimp Salsa, with those and other recipes found on Subway's Newsroom. With four unique flavors to choose from, you might find yourself relying on Subway for more than just a quick lunch.