The Subway Design Feature That Reddit Thinks Is A Flaw

Since it is the largest fast food chain as measured by number of locations, on the surface one would think everything is going pretty well for Subway. Yet over the last couple of years, Subway has been reworking its menu and pumping more money into advertising to address slumping sales, according to Reuters.

One of those major marketing campaigns has involved the rebranding slogan "Eat Fresh Refresh™" and its accompanying menu updates, described in a PR Newswire press release as celebrating "the biggest changes in Subway's history including improvements to almost every core product and a better digital and in-restaurant experience, ensuring the brand delivers better choices every day." Subway has hired sports superstars past and present to help endorse the revamped menu, airing commercials with the likes of Tom Brady, Stephen Curry, Megan Rapinoe, Serena Williams, and Charles Barkley, among others (via Nation's Restaurant News).

The emphasis has been on offering customers more fresh and creative options. Unfortunately, according to Reddit comments on r/subway, a subreddit for customers and employees of Subway, a design feature of Subway stores is presenting an impediment to seeing ingredients while a sandwich is being constructed.

In a r/subway forum post shared by u/Arck155 that ribs on Subway's latest catchphrase, they quip "You can't eat fresh if you can't see fresh." The photos depict how the lettering and logos on the sneeze guard glass divider obscure a customer's view of the ingredients.

Subway employees flocked to the thread to air their grievances regarding the perceived design flaw. Informal_Conflict351 griped, "As a worker I hate it too. It's just a way to encourage the customers to look up at our new menu and to keep the recipe the same." User Conscious_Item_7952 said their store had to remove them due to the number of customer complaints they received. "Honestly it's a terrible idea to put something on the glass that impedes the customer's view of the products."

Commenter and Subway employee crowning_sapphire remarked that they get a dozen complaints per day about the glass. Pandaproblemz injected a little humor into the conversation, joking "Subway is going to move to block customers' view completely. We are only in the 2nd refresh in a five year plan."

Just remember that no matter how bad it gets, please resist the temptation to reach over the sneeze guard glass and point, even if you're the president. It's considered bad etiquette and employees will not look upon you favorably.