Subway Started Toasting Its Subs To Compete With This Once-Popular Chain

It may sound unusual, but there was once a time when a toasted sandwich was a unique and innovative idea. Today you can go to Firehouse Subs or Jimmy John's for toasted subs, but in the early 2000s this was still novel. During this time, Quiznos swiftly took the sandwich world by storm and by 2003, it had more than 2,000 locations worldwide, with new ones reportedly opening every 16 hours. The chain even peaked at over 5,000 restaurants. To differentiate itself from the competition, every Quiznos sub ran through a conveyor belt toaster oven. Business was pretty good for a while. But then Subway, which had previously only offered cold sandwiches, introduced toasted subs in 2004.

Subway had nearly 20,000 restaurants across North America in 2004. Despite Quiznos' popularity, Subway was in a better position to attract more customers who wanted a warm sandwich. Quiznos' advertising relied heavily on the idea that it offered toasted subs, making it unique. One slogan was just "Mmm ... toasty." Subway switching to toasted subs cut that unique angle off at the knees, so much so that Quiznos eventually dropped the toasted focus from its advertising.

Interestingly, the conveyor belt toaster at Quiznos took 45 seconds. Subway's appliances got the job done in half the time. It may not seem like much, but this is fast food we're talking about. Subway's famous $5 Footlong promotion, now with toasted subs, was stiff competition for Quiznos. Subway was just too widespread and offered better deals, even if it placed last out of 20 sandwich chains that we ranked. Regardless of Quiznos' popularity, franchise owners were already struggling to make profits before Subway introduced toasted subs, largely due to a shaky financial model.

There is a rumor that Subway didn't even pay for the toaster ovens it installed in every restaurant. According to some Redditors, Coca-Cola footed the bill for the appliances as part of an exclusivity deal that saw Coke replace Pepsi in Subway locations. At the end of 2003, nearly one year before the toasted sub debut, Coke and Subway reached the deal. At the time, per QSR Magazine, a Pepsi spokesperson speculated Coca-Cola must have offered an "incredibly big bag of cash" to get Subway to switch. The deal lasted two decades, before Subway switched back to PepsiCo in 2024. 

The financial incentives from Coca-Cola may have influenced Subway's rollout of toasters across thousands of locations within the following year. As a result, Subway would have been in a great position to take on Quiznos and introduce toasted subs, with minimal risk on its part. 

By the end of 2009, around 700 Quiznos franchises closed, and even more shut down the year after. The company's reliance on creepy, rodent-like mascots didn't help much, and customer feedback was poor. The 2009 recession contributed to Quiznos' downfall, along with a corporate buyout and several lawsuits. There's no way to know if the chain might have succeeded if Subway hadn't switched over to toasted subs. To be fair, though, Quiznos isn't gone completely. There are just under 150 locations left across the country. But it's not the success it once was, and toasted subs aren't unique enough to keep the chain afloat anymore.