Yesterday, DoorDash announced an incredible promotion: on June 7 and 8, customers could get “up to $25 off any Jersey Mike’s order of at least $12 between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. local time,” per an article in USA Today.
“Once you are on the DoorDash app, head to the Jersey Mike’s storefront and place your order. Make sure it adds up to at least $12. Then enter the promo code JERSEY at checkout to get up to $25 off,” explains author Mike Snider. “That means, if your order is $20, for example, your order is free (not accounting for gratuity or fees like delivery/service fees). If your order is more than $25, you will get the full $25 discount on the cost of the order.”
The promotion came about due to a partnership with TikTok food creator Keith Lee, who had previously made waves with his viral “Keithadilla” Chipotle hack.
There was just one problem with the Jersey Mike’s “SUBperior Happy Hour” promotion: stores weren’t ready and, according to some, employees at several locations were not aware that the promotion would be happening.
On Reddit, one user described their store as being “bombarded” with orders.
“Our store had no knowledge of the doordash promotion today,” writes user chaseguy23. “We fully ran out of bread halfway through the rush of doordashed. The fact that we received no indication of this promotion is bullsh*t.”
Several users on the subreddit say they were informed of the promotion a month prior, while others say they were unaware until its launch yesterday.
TikTok was also filled with videos of overwhelmed stores.
In one video, customers appear to have been instructed to find their own tickets, otherwise, their sandwiches wouldn’t be made. Someone in the video can be heard telling customers that if they want to cancel their order and “go to Wendy’s or something, I don’t blame y’all.”
@nickkal24 Naa jersey mikes was not ready for this #jerseymikes #doordash ♬ original sound – Kal
Other videos simply showed stores filled with customers, all eagerly awaiting their sandwiches, or workers dealing with large stacks of order slips.
“THEY HAD 200 ORDERS IN THE FIRST 10 Minutes,” one customer claimed in their video’s caption.
@itskaliwithak THEY HAD 200 ORDERS IN THE FIRST 10 Minutes #jerseymikessubs #jerseymikes #food #foodie #foodtiktok #fyp #fypシ #viral #chicago #sandwich ♬ original sound – Kali💕
@brooklynndrawdy Its only from 5-6PM and I’m feeling bad about my $4 dinner #jerseymikes #promocode ♬ original sound – Brooklynn Drawdy
@denisethedasher Waiting almost 1 hour for two orders #fyp #doordash #doordashdriver #jerseymikes #doordashpromo ♬ original sound – Nissey
@jsantanaback Doordash screwed Jersey Mikes sooo hard
♬ original sound – Jake
A customer who recorded one of the above videos, Jake (@jsantanaback) said that, though he was eventually able to pick up his order, the process itself was a bit rough.
“[It] took about an hour,” he said in a TikTok direct message exchange with the Daily Dot. “The restaurant was chaotic but the staff was friendly, organized, and very professional.” He also described the group waiting as a “50/50” split between “people [who] were patient” and “some [who] were a**holes.”
“I think the promotion is done horribly,” Jake continued. “I think the staff did their best, but I don’t think any employee should have to go thru that.”
A user on the Jersey Mike’s subreddit claims that the promotion has since been canceled. While Jersey Mike’s has not confirmed this, they have deleted the tweet announcing the promotion. Keith Lee also appears to have deleted videos related to the promotion.
That said, the terms of the promotion are still available on the DoorDash website.
On the subreddit, employees were livid about how the situation was handled.
“I wish we could go on strike after today,” reads a post. “I want compensation for that. Corporate should’ve NEVER APPROVED THIS. It was bad experience for workers, dashers, AND customers…Corporate wins, we lose. It was a night mare.”
“I hope whoever’s idea that was got fired,” stated another.
“Oh yeah, and reminder: DoorDash tips go to drivers, we don’t get SH*T,” noted a commenter. “F*ck this whole promo and whoever the f*ck signed off on it. Besides pissing off every single employee who worked tonight, they also managed to piss off literally millions of customers in a single hour. That’s gonna hurt sales numbers on a macro scale, and by extension, f*ck up OUR money. All because they decided to run a free food promo with no f*cking planning. Yeah, great f*cking idea, guys.”
The Daily Dot reached out to DoorDash and Keith Lee via email; @nickkal24, @brooklynndrawdy, and @itskaliwithak via TikTok comment; Jersey Mike’s via media contact form.
