I have been a fan of Subway restaurants since they first appeared here, in Saskatoon. I loved the taste of the freshly baked bread versus the packaged buns of their competitors. Fresh veggies and cold cut meats, versus the packaged products of the other guys. And the friendly service I always got, unlike the other sub shops where the employees acted like they didn't want to be there. Plus, Subway had another practice that toppled the competition -- the V-cut.
Where every other sub shop that I ever visited, did the traditional hinge cut, where as Subway perfected the cut by introducing a "U-gouge" down the middle of the warm bun, fresh from the oven. Subway proved by cutting their buns in this fashion kept all the fresh toppings inside the sandwich, rather than spilling all over the patron's shirt and all over the table. This proved especially handy with Meatball subs. I can remember several occasions of eating at the Mr. Sub with my dad and both of us cursing as the meatballs, heavily doused with tomato sauce, would shoot out the side of the hinge-cut sandwich and deposit themselves in our laps, leaving a saucy trail down our shirts. In those days, it was not unusual to see customers leaving the restaurant with parts of their meal stained on their apparel. Subway's unique V-cut eliminated that probability.
The history of Subway began in 1965, when a seventeen year old Fred DeLuca borrowed a thousand dollars from his pal, Peter Buck, to open the first restaurant, simply called Pete's Super Submarines, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Two years later, the duo would change the name to Subway. Then in 1974, the restaurant began franchising, seeing a second location open in Wallingford, Connecticut. Soon the restaurant, rising in popularity, would spread across the continental USA, the first Subway restaurant opening on the west coast, appeared in Fresno, California in 1978. After this it wouldn't take long for Subway's appeal to spread across the world, having approximately 41,600 restaurants, worldwide, by 2021. Primarily located in continental North America, Subway has roughly 21,800 restaurants in the US, alone, with an additional 2881 in Canada and 758 in Mexico. The rest are peppered across the globe, like parmesan cheese on your favourite sandwich. Fred DeLuca would serve as the company CEO until 2015 when he lost his battle to Leukemia which he'd been battling for the previous two years. Several CEO's have succeeded Fred DeLuca since his passing, including his sister, Suzanne Greco.
It's my opinion that Subway began to falter in the absence of it's founder, Pete DeLuca. Despite its continued success climbing in numbers, the restaurant seems to have altered the restaurateur's original vision. It seems like it was around this time when the traditional V-cut was abandoned, replacing it with the problematic hinge-cut. When asked, I was originally told that people "complained" about the V-cut, but later sources have made claims that it was a safety concern. The latter excuse makes no sense as the sandwich artists still use a sharp knife to slice through the buns. If anything, the hinge-cut would be more detrimental as one cuts the bun while holding it with their opposite hand.
Reports lay claim that if you wish your sandwich to be cut the old way, Subway staff are more than happy to oblige. However, in all the Subway restaurants that I've been in, in Canada, the staff look at you like you've just spoken an alien language, having no clue as to what you're referring to. There is only one Subway, that I continue to patronize, who knows how to cut the original V-cut. I went so far as to sing their praises on Twitter, but was contacted by Subway Canada, inquiring as to which location this was, adding that the store was in direct violation of Subway's practices. I never snitched, because I don't want to lose my preferred method of eating my delicious Subway sandwiches.
Subway restaurants have altered their practices and added options to their menus and subtracted other popular sandwiches and in recent years, as popular as the restaurant chain is, attempted some maneuvers that even an untrained eye would recognize as somewhat desperate. Granted they had that setback when Jared Fogle, the patron who alleged that he had lost over 200lbs by eating healthy sandwiches from Subway in his native Indiana, who was later found to be in possession of child pornography and having sexual misconduct with a minor. Fogle was immediately erased from Subway's lexicon and subsequently sentenced to 15 years in prison as a result. On a side note, if you go to YouTube, you can look up comedian Tom Segura's tale of how he was hired and had actually shot some commercials that would never air, where he portrayed Fogle's fat brother, Jerome, who ate all the unhealthy sandwiches and remained fat. I heard him tell this story on Conan O'Brien and it was f**king hysterical.
Subway calls their employees, Sandwich Artists, but all the artistry is lost. The same great taste is their, although in recent times, I've heard people relentlessly criticizing the taste of the bread, claiming they add sugar or something like that. I don't know, the food tastes the same today as it ever did, as far as I'm concerned. People just don't seem happy unless they have something to complain about. Hell, this whole blog complains about how the hinge-cut as much as it praises the restaurant chain on it's uniqueness.
Someday, the proprietor of the Subway that I frequent, will sell her franchise and then the art of the V-cut will truly be dead and that saddens me greatly. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. YouTube being the phenomenal site that it is, has people demonstrating how to make the V-cut at home. At some point, in the not too distant future, I will set aside the kitten videos and game playthroughs and settle in to learn the artistry of the infamous V-cut. Then I can start making my own Meatball subs at home, carefully avoiding the peril of dumping saucy meatballs down my shirt and into my lap. Tomato sauce is difficult to remove from the sofa upholstery.
