The Subway Effect

How life gets better without anyone noticing

Image adapted from photo by Matheus Bardemaker on Unsplash

For a good portion of my childhood, Subway was my favorite fast food restaurant. And I wasn’t alone.

The chain exploded in popularity sometime in the late 90’s or early 2000’s.

You could get $5 footlongs. Jared Fogle was blowing everyone’s mind with how much weight he lost eating nothing but fast food. The endless customization was a novelty. All these factors came together to make Subway a sensation.

But it’s popularity has been waning. I’ve been noticing it in my own life. I basically never ask my family if they’re in the mood for Subway. In fact, if they ask me about it, I’m likely to counter with a different suggestion.

So what happened? Maybe the quality went down. Maybe I got sick of it. Or maybe, there are just better options out there.

The Fast Food Landscape of the 90's

Here’s what you need to understand about the fast food environment I grew up in: Burger chains were super popular. So were pizza chains. Everything else, not so much.

So imagine you want to grab something quick and your best options are McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s.