Long gone are the days when you could walk into Subway and buy a footlong for $5. Five years ago, the company removed the iconic promotion for a variety of reasons, such as growing food costs and struggling profits. A man discovered how the Subway foot long was no longer a menu item, shocked by how much it now costs.
TikTok user Matt Grippi (@mattgrippi) claimed that Americans need to take a stand at some point, revealing the “dire situation” he was in. “I had to set foot in a Subway for the first time. I haven’t walked in there since Jersey Mike’s showed up,” he stated, pausing in shock. “They’re charging 12 bucks for that f*cking footlong now? Are you kidding me?” he asked, flabbergasted. Then, Grippi geared a comment toward Gen Alpha. “There was a song about how cheap these sandwiches were,” he said.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t shake off how expensive the footlong was and said he couldn’t afford it. As a result, the content creator settled for the 6-inch sub. Because of the astronomical prices, Grippi proposed a solution. “We gotta put these places outta business,” he stated. “Even the sh*tty food is too expensive to eat.” This made Grippi confused as to how the company was still in business. Overall, he felt “crazy” with the inflated food prices.
In an interview with the Daily Dot, Grippi shared how he went to a Subway in Hollywood that was next door to his work. However, it the prices took him by surprise because he hadn’t eaten there since college.
“Subway was something I used to eat on my 30 min break while working at Blockbuster in college. Scraping together like 5 bucks and change and getting a sandwich I could potentially turn into two meals was huge,” he shared via Instagram direct message. “That’s why it shocked me. I just don’t know what a starving college kid with no money can easily eat anymore. Especially since half the videos on my For You Page are young people who can’t find a job.”
Despite this, the content creator revealed the video was more satire, believing he or anyone else could put Subway out of business.
“Truthfully, this was a comedy video. I said that as a shorthand for ‘why are we letting this happen?’ I don’t think me or any group of people can truly put Subway out of business,” he said. “But maybe if we stopped going there for a bit, they’d have to do something to win us back. I just saw that McDonald’s has officially abandoned the value consumer’ in pursuit of people with more money. That just seems to go against the entire idea of a fast drive thru restaurant.“
Furthermore, the content creator refused to download apps to save money. Grippi doesn’t want a phone full of apps from different restaurant. “That’s not the world I want to be in,” he stated.
@mattgrippi This will not stand, man. #subway #sandwich #food #prices ♬ original sound – Matt Grippi
The video racked up over 305,000 views where viewers recalled the $5 footlong.
“Honestly we were being generous by paying $5 for subway in the first place,” one viewer said.
“I thought 5 dollar was high considering the quality of the sandwich,” a second comment.
Even one viewer asked, “Anyone remember the $5 footlong song?”
In addition, others revealed their similar Subway experiences.
“It’s $13.49 here in fl (no chips or drink) it’s crazy,” one user shared.
“Just experienced this today, hadn’t been in subway in awhile. Foot long double meat and it was $18 for just the g*ddamn sandwich,” a second remarked.
Why is fast food expensive? Essentially, the answer is to combat inflation and high wages. Ever since the pandemic, prices have skyrocketed. Within a year, fast food prices jumped 6.2%, which is increasing faster than inflation. Unfortunately, prices are expected to continue to climb, especially in California. In California, prices at certain fast-food restaurants will jump even more due to the minimum wage increase.
