When it comes to picking out what I want to eat I am not a picky eater. If something is considered food, I will most likely try it (besides frog legs, because that is disgusting).There is only one category of food where I become picky, and that category is sandwiches, specifically subs.

I am a man that likes my subs. I have been making sandwiches since I could make food myself, and I have always enjoyed being able to add whatever I wanted onto my sandwich. Then one day, I was brought into a Subway restaurant with my family, and I was instantly excited that I could put whatever I wanted on my sandwich, just like I could do at home.

Even though I did not frequent Subway as a little kid, I can remember telling my parents that one day I wanted to work at Subway, for the sole purpose of fulfilling my love of sandwich making.

Eventually the day came, where once I turned 16, I could officially work at a Subway restaurant, and just three short months after my 16th birthday, I became an official Sandwich Artist (or Sandwich Sculptor, as I like to call it), at the local Subway.

At Subway restaurants, you get to make a free sub every time you work, no matter the length of time. With that knowledge, I started experimenting right away, for there are countless combinations one could do at a Subway, and I wanted to try as many things as I could. 

Like I said earlier, I am not picky with food, but I love being able to choose what goes on my sandwich, because I know what tastes good together.

Now I had never tried any other sandwich shop other than Subway, so when I started hearing more and more people talk about Jimmy John’s, I was intrigued to try it.

My first visit at Jimmy John’s started off well. I enjoyed all the humorous signs on the walls and the atmosphere of the shop.

But then I looked at the menu, and noticed each sub already told you what you would get on it if you ordered it. Then I noticed that I would have to pay extra if I wanted to add any more veggies to my sub. Then I noticed the prices next, stating that an eight inch sub was $5+.

I am not saying that Jimmy John’s subs are bad, because I rather like the taste of them (same goes for Erbert’s and Gerbert’s, Sub Club, Firehouse Subs, etc.), but the one thing I do not like about all these sub shops is that your choosing rights are taken away.

Unless one wants to spend an extra $2 for some spinach, tomatoes and cucumbers, they will not be receiving a hefty sandwich from any of these places. That is where Subway stands out to me.

At Subway, I can get a footlong sub for $5+, and add as many veggies to it as I want. At Subway restaurants, the menu only tells you what meat is on a sub. As for the rest of the contents of the sub, that is the customers given right to choose what they want.

Of course extra meat and cheese will cost more at Subway, but that fact is true for almost any other sub shop as well.

Subway gains its uniqueness from not charging customers more money to put extra ingredients on their sandwiches, and for offering their customers reasonable prices for what they are paying for.

Now some may say that I am a bit biased because of my extensive career as a Sandwich Sculptor, but nevertheless, I still give any sandwich shop a chance to change my mind. Still to this day if I am ever craving a sub with freshly baked bread, tender meat and freshly cut veggies, I know that Subway is the only way.

Jordan Bierbrauer is a psychology major and can be reached at [email protected]