Study Names Subway As Having Least Loyal Customers Among Major Fast Food Chains

Photo: SoHome Jacaranda Lilau

Subway just can’t seem to catch a break these days.

Just a couple weeks out of their Canadian chicken controversy, the sandwich chain was named as having the least loyal customers in the United States amongst major quick-service restaurants (QSRs), according to a new study from prestigious brand research consultant Brand Keys.

The Motley Fool reports that thirteen QSR chains were evaluated in the study, including Chick-Fil-A and Mcdonald’s. Subway came in at dead last in the customer loyalty rankings in the report.

Several reasons can be attributed to the extremely low ranking for Subway: from their former spokesperson Jared Fogle’s child pornography scandals to the aforementioned issues with the DNA content of their chicken.

Subway, who has marketed itself as a healthy build-your-own sandwich shop, also struggles due to the sheer number of competitors it has in that sector and inability to live up to their value propositions of perceived health, nutrition, and bang for your buck.

The sandwich giant lost those core values when their subs began featuring more indulgent items, such as pulled pork and loads of steak with cheese. The death of the 5 Dollar Footlong also killed the aspect of Subway being a great deal for the amount of food you were getting.

How can Subway possibly rebound and get back on the right track? Repositioning themselves as a healthy restaurant with more vegan and vegetarian offerings and baking more whole grain or ancient grain breads in-house could be a good fresh start, as it would draw in consumers looking for healthy, nutrient-dense sandwiches at a lower price.

Further tweaks to convenience and quality of their products would help elevate the chain to a status in which they may see a return of customers that have fled the chain due to its many issues.

For now, Subway is going to have to eat the costs of all of the bad press they’ve had over the past couple of years.