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Subway introduces new premium itemsSubway introduces new premium items

The sandwich chain also moves up rollout of antibiotic-free chicken

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

February 25, 2016

2 Min Read
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Subway is introducing several premium menu items while speeding up its timeline to serve chicken raised without antibiotics.

At a press event introducing new chicken, turkey and bacon, representatives of the Milford, Conn.-based sandwich chain said the new chicken, which will be introduced to its 27,014 domestic restaurants on March 1, would be its first antibiotic-free meat product.

The new rotisserie-style chicken is slow-cooked chicken breast that will be hand-pulled in restaurants and available on any sandwich. It’s available at a suggested price of $4.75 for a 6-inch sub and $7.75 for a Footlong. It will be offered along with the current grilled chicken strips, which will be antibiotic free as of April 1.

Subway logo

The chain is also introducing a more thickly sliced turkey breast and applewood smoked bacon. The turkey will be priced similarly to the rotisserie chicken, and the suggested retail price of the bacon will be 75 cents on a 6-inch sub and $1.50 on a Footlong. Subway will be promoting the two new items starting April 11, with a Carved Turkey & Bacon Sub made with those ingredients on toasted Italian bread, along with American cheese and vegetables, at a suggested price of $5.25 for a 6-inch and $8.75 for a Footlong.

Additionally, the chain announced the introduction of Simply Lemonade and Simply Lays Thick Cut Potato Chips, both of which are made without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

In January 2015, Subway relaunched its chicken without artificial flavors or preservatives, along with a more pronounced chicken flavor and visual freshness cues including pieces of fresh parsley.

The chain subsequently made commitments to remove artificial ingredients from its sandwiches, soups and cookies by the end of 2016.

In October, it set a timeline for moving entirely to antibiotic-free meat by 2025.

The chain, with more than 44,000 locations worldwide, also recently relaunched its logo, changing the colors of the lettering from yellow and white to green. A spokesman for the company said the logo first appeared in December in the chain’s “Founded on Fresh” TV spot.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality.

Hi is responsible for spotting and reporting on F&B trends across the country for both publications. 

He is the co-host of a podcast, Menu Talk with Pat and Bret, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities, and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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