Subway v. McDonalds

Wiki (4.00 / 3)

Fred De Luca borrowed $1,000 from family friend Peter Buck to start his first sandwich shop in 1965, when he was only 17 years old. He was trying to raise money to pay for college. He chose a mediocre location for his shop, but by noon on the first day of the opening, customers were pouring in. On the radio advertisement they had promoted the name as "Pete's Submarines", which sounded like Pizza Marines, so they changed the name to "Pete*s Subs"; eventually it adopted the "Subway" name and theme decorating stores with maps of the New York City subway system, as it is known to this day. As of December 30, 2008, the company has 19,310 franchised locations in 87 countries and produces US$9.05 billion in sales every year. In 2007, Forbes magazine named De Luca number 242 of the 400 richest Americans with a net worth of $1.5 billion.

In addition to traditional restaurants, Subway operates in many non-traditional locations. For instance, there are over 900 Subway locations inside of Wal-Mart stores and 200 on military bases, including several in Iraq, in addition to three located inside The Pentagon - as well as an increasing number on college and university campuses.

Subway restaurants have been consistently ranked in Entrepreneur Magazine's Top 500 Franchises, and was selected as the #2 overall franchise in 2008. Additionally, it was ranked as the #3 "Fastest Growing Franchise", and the #1 "Global Franchise" as well.[6]

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by: OrganicGeorge @ Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 15:17:07 PM UTC

I can't comment on the healthyness of Subway sandwiches in general (4.00 / 4)

but I used to know a lady in Missouri who owned a Subway franchise. She had a farm, and was a horse breeder in addition to growing a lot of food for her family. She used to grow a lot of the vegetables used on the sandwiches sold in her franchise. Fresh and local that. She did it, if I remember right, because it was better for the bottom line to grow her own produce - it cost less, she had better control over the quality, etc. She even built a greenhouse onto the side of her house to supply vegetables and lettuces to her family and her store in the winter.

I remember one winter she got crickets. People were coming up with all sorts of interesting ways for her to get rid of the crickets without having to use a pesticide....

So, yes, Subway sandwiches can be good and use local ingredients, at least in that situation.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 15:45:31 PM UTC

Faster than market could bear (4.00 / 2)

Think Krispy Kreme. (I can't tolerate those sugar bombs.)

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by: count @ Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 17:06:30 PM UTC

I'd like to hear Susan Allport's view of this (4.00 / 2)

I have a feeling she believes Subway is better than McDonalds, but to know for sure we'd have to find out the Omega 6/Omega 3 ratio of the meats they use. Personally I have no clue what turkeys eat.. we know how most corn beef is produced..

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by: Curtis Abbey @ Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 20:08:10 PM UTC

I don't know what the birds in the commercial farms are fed (4.00 / 2)

but I can dig up the specs for poultry grower ration available from the feed store.

I feed a general layer pellet as a free choice ration and then the hens get cracked corn and wheat in the morning and sometimes in the evening.

I think that the comercial grower ration for turkeys is probably fairly close in ingredients to the layer ration that I feed. It probably has ionophores as well.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 23:14:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Also, as to the healthyness of Subway sandwiches (4.00 / 2)

I'm with Jill on this. It depends on what you're eating there. Subway uses deli meats, which if you're looking at nitrates/nitrites are higher than McDonalds hamburger patty. They also have more bread in the sandwich, especially if you order a foot long.

Either way, I don't see a problem with eating there as long as that's not the sole or primary source of food.

Personally, I'm hooked on the foot long BMT. They have other sandwiches that look mighty good, but I go there rarely enough that I always order the BMT. When I was on my county's land use policy advisory committee, we met once a month in Oregon City. My special treat on meeting day was to stop at the Subway in OC for a sammich.

Ah, a BMT with a little pack of salt and vinegar tater chips. Now that's livin'!

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 23:23:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Here's what I feed (4.00 / 2)

All feed is Albers brand purchased at the feed store.

Country Livestock fed as the primary ration to the emus, and as a supplement (treat) to the goats and Gizmo, my stallion:
Grain Products, Wheat Middlings, Cane Molasses, Malt Sprouts, Canola Meal, Corn Distillers Dried Grains, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Soybean Oil, Magnesium Oside, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin A Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganous Oside, Cobalt Carbonate, Sodium Molybdate, Magnanese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite.

Hi Lay Pellets 16% fed to the laying hens and roosters:
Grain Products, Wheat Middlings, Canola Meal, Calcium Carbonate, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Corn Distillers Dried Grains, Monocalcium Phosphate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Choline Cloride, Niacin Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Zinc Sulfate, Menadione Dimethylpyrimidinol Bisulfite, Calcium Hydroxide, Thiamine, Zinc oxide, Folic Acid, Copper Sulfate, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Vitamin E Supplement, Cobalt Carbonate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Sodium Selenite.

Scratch Grains fed as a supplement/treat to the laying hens and roosters:
Cracked Corn, Whole Wheat, Soybean Oil

The Hi Lay label says not to give scratch grains to the hens, but I do any way. I've been doing that for the last 18 years and still have birds laying into their 8th year. My birds die of old age, predators (including us) and, very rarely, disease. So I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing.

Anyhoo, that's what my birds get fed. It's probably not too far off what the commercial birds get fed. The commercial birds may be on a higher protein ration though.
 

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 23:55:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Oy (4.00 / 2)

Oside = Oxide

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 23:56:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Turkey Based (4.00 / 1)

I was in Subway the other day, and noticed the cold cut sub had ham, bologna, and salami. In small print the sign said all meats are turkey based. I do not know if that applies to all the meats or just in that particular sandwich.

That has got to be some highly processed and flavored turkey.

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by: cheflovesbeer @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 03:59:01 AM UTC

You can make ham (4.00 / 1)

bologna and salami out of turkey. Well, you can use the same processes on turkey that are used to make ham, bologna and salami out of beef and pork. Just like you can make bacon out of beef. It has to do with the type of process, not necessarily the meat used. I think.

I have a book on smoking and curing meats, and it uses all sorts of meats. Poultry, beef, lamb, pork, venison, goat, elk, etc. I've had emu done up as pepperoni. Actually emu pepperoni and sausage are very good, as are those products made from caribou.

The all meats are turkey based perhaps was just for that sandwich, but who knows. I'll have to take a look next time I go to Subway.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 04:30:25 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I do know that some people prefer turkey (4.00 / 1)

ham, etc. I think because it's supposed to be lower in cholesterol.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 04:31:58 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Bacon (4.00 / 1)

Interesting point, Joanne. I wonder how it came about that pork is the default meat for bacon.

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by: count @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 04:37:22 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Good question (4.00 / 1)

until I got that book I didn't know that you could make bacon out of beef.

When I told Harold, he said "Of course". Figures....

Makes me want to smoke an emu. Of course, emus don't have any fat in the meat so it probably wouldn't come out the same as even beef or venison bacon.

I do know that the fattier the stuff you're making the bacon out of, the better the bacon. Of course I probably shouldn't say that, only ever having had pork bacon. Bacon isn't just smoked meat or fat. There are other things you do to make it bacon. You have to cure it first, then smoke it. Kind of like ham. The really good hams like proschuto and country hams take a long time to make. Salumi takes a while too, but not as long as the really good hams.

I was watching Andrew Zimmern's Bizzar Foods when he was in Spain. He went to what ammounted to a ham bar, I forget what they called it, calling it a 'Ham Bar' is kind of disrepectful to what they were selling there. The most prized ham was from the Iberico pig. Similar, I think, to what they can make from the Mangalitsa pig. It's a whole leg ham and they leave the hooves on so that people can see that it's Iberico. Very high end ham.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 06:06:30 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I asked Harold about the pork/bacon question this morning (4.00 / 2)

He said he thought it was because because of the fat on pork bellies and jowl, the two parts of the pig that are used for bacon. Those parts have to be preserved differently, and they're generally preserved in a way that is condusive to bacon making, than the meatier parts of the pig.

Remember, it's only been a very short time that we've had refrigeration. So in times past, when you butchered an animal, you were going to have to preserve the meat by brining, pickling, fermenting, smoking, drying, etc. When you butcher a pig, you've got a lot of parts that are very high in fat. If you're butchering a lard hog, you've actually got a whole animal that is high in fat. Assume you have no electricity, no refrigeration, no access to frozen storage unless you're in an area where there are winters that will keep your meats frozen for a period of time.

If you have beef, sheep or goats, they're going to be a lot leaner because they're not going to be grain fed. That's a luxury that industrialized countries with large city populations and the feedlot/feed producer infrastructure has.

Think as if you're living 100-150-200 years ago and most of the people in this country are producing their own food. You go to all the trouble to grow grains, you're not going to feed them to animals. The crop residues yes, but not the grains themselves.

Also, because it takes a long time to get your pig to slaughter size - perhaps a year, you're not going to waste any of it. Not one bit, you're going to use the hide, the entrails, the brains, all of it. But if you don't preserve it, the animal's going to go bad pretty quick.

This whole subject would be an interesting topic for a diary. People forget how important animals are to those living a subsistence life. When you homestead, which is the modern equivalent of subsistence living in an industrialized country like the USA, you become painfully aware as to just how dependant you can be on your animals. I can understand how indigenous people and subsistence farmers don't like to waste anything.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 19:11:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Cold Cut Combo (0.00 / 0)

From the website, that is just for the Cold Cut Combo, in the U.S. The meat is pork in Canada.

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by: count @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 04:33:39 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

McDonald's still clobbers Subway at the bank (4.00 / 1)

McDonald's revenues last year were in the order of $23.5 billion, compared with a measly $926 million for Subway. McDonald's may have fewer stores, but they focus on bringing in as much business as possible to those stores, and that makes them far and away the industry leader, profit-wise.  Looks like, even if we consider Subway healthier, junk food still wins, and we have a lot of work to do!

Challenging Corporate Abuse of our Food!

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by: Judy @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 18:26:45 PM UTC