Spudway: Subway expands into jacket potatoes in bid to boost UK sales
Subway has revamped its menu in the latest change to its marketing strategy as it looks to boost UK sales.
The fast-food giant will trial a customisable jacket potato in 170 UK stores, citing the humble potato’s social media “renaissance” and “fame on social media”.
Deniz Safa, Director of Innovation & Culinary at Subway EMEA, said the decision had been made given “surging popularity” for jacket potatoes and “growing consumer demand”.
Subway has faced increased competition from brands like Greggs and Pret in recent years, with Greggs recently overtaking Subway in terms of total UK restaurants.
Quick-service restaurants like Subway are in a “fierce competition… not just against each other, but also with major European supermarkets like Tesco, Mercadona, and Edeka”, Edurne Uranga, VP of Foodservice Europe at Circana, said.
“These grocery giants are becoming formidable rivals, offering convenient meal options that challenge traditional quick service food. It’s a battle for the consumer’s palate, where both sectors are vying to capture the attention of hungry customers looking for convenience, variety, and value”.
Subway has been making significant efforts to entice more UK customers, rolling out its new store layout, Fresh Forward 2.0, last November.
The chain described the plan as ”the next iteration of its global restaurant image, designed to further enhance the guest experience, improve convenience and help drive franchisee profitability.”
It also launched a new Subway Series menu in 2023, the biggest change to the menu in almost 60 years.
Subway has faced some criticism of its expansion in the 1990s and 2000s, with concerns that the rapid growth created oversaturation of restaurants and made it difficult for franchise partners to make money.
Subway’s franchise model allows an independent business owner to run an individual store using its branding, business model, and intellectual property.
Subway closed some 7,000 worldwide restaurants between 2015 and 2024, including more than 400 locations in 2023, and was sold to the private-equity firm Roark Capital for $9bn (£7.12bn) in May 2024.
However, since its sale it has had a renewed focus on growth and expansion worldwide: it said last year it was on track to open “more than double” the number of outlets globally in 2024 than in 2019.