Subway Deems Breakfast Offer A Success

After serving breakfast for four months, Subway said the daypart has increased sales systemwide and exceeded expectations, leading the sandwich chain to expand its early-morning menu with limited-time offers and explore offering more coffee and espresso-based beverages, according to published reports.

"We're very excited that our initial results show it is outperforming even our original expectations," said Larry Varvella, Subway's research and development project leader. "Those original expectations were based on our franchise owners breaking even at the least. Of course we fully realized that to be a major player [at breakfast], we needed a long-term commitment. We figured that would be a three- to six-month period. The last thing we wanted was for our owners not to be profitable."

The Milford, Conn.-based chain introduced its breakfast program April 5, in more than 25,000 Subway restaurants across North America. The menu features egg and cheese sandwiches served on whole-wheat English muffins, flatbreads or Subway's traditional 6-inch and footlong hoagie breads. The two best-selling breakfast items for Subway are the egg white western melt and the double bacon and cheese omelet. Prices range between $1.75 and $2.25 for the English muffin melts; $2 to $3.50 for the 6-inch hoagies or flatbread sandwiches; and $4 to $6 for the footlong variety.

"The franchisees are happy and the customers are buying the product," he said. "In the past, the menu mix was higher in non-breakfast items, but now we're seeing equal amounts [in sales] of about 50 percent breakfast and non-breakfast, which again, is ahead of projections."