With Breakfast Push Struggling, Subway Backs Off of Early Shift
- Some locations opening later amid competition, labor crunch
- Franchisees now allowed to opt out of selling egg sandwiches
An employee passes an order to a customer at the drive-thru of a Subway Restaurants location in Princeton, Illinois, U.S., on Thursday, April 20, 2017.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Eggs are going by the wayside at Subway Restaurants.
Eight years after jumping into the U.S. breakfast market with omelet sandwiches and a mandatory 7 a.m. start time, the chain is quietly allowing franchisees to opt out. That’s because relentless competition has eaten into profit margins, and the menu items have failed to catch on in some locations. A labor shortage, meanwhile, has restaurant owners struggling to find enough workers to staff the early hours.