Subway Relaunches ‘Footlong Pass’ Subscription to Drive Customer Loyalty

Following a successful run last year, Subway is bringing its footlong sandwich subscription back.

The multinational quick-service restaurant (QSR) giant, which has close to 37,000 locations across more than 100 countries, announced Friday (March 17) that it is bringing back its Footlong Pass. Through this subscription program, customers receive 50% off their footlong sub purchase up to once a day for 30 days for a flat $15 fee.

Back in August of last year, when the QSR chain first launched its Footlong Pass, its 10,000 passes sold out within six hours. Now, the chain has increased the number of subscriptions available 25-fold, offering 250,000 that will drop Tuesday (March 21) morning.

“Subway’s inaugural Footlong Pass showcases all of the things our fans crave from Subway: our footlong subs, everyday value and, of course, exclusive perks for loyalty members,” Barb Millette, senior director of loyalty and gift cards at Subway, said in a statement. “The first 10,000 passes sold out in a matter of hours, and while we have 250,000 available this time around, we expect them to go very quickly.”

The program has the potential to drive loyalty for the chain in a couple of key ways. First, most straightforwardly, it is only available through the brand’s MyWay Rewards program, such that those who want to engage with the subscription offering will be entered into the brand’s marketing ecosystem.

Secondly, by incentivizing consumers to come back as often as every day, the restaurant has the opportunity to make its offerings part of consumers’ typical routines, embedding the brand more deeply in customers’ lives.

Subway’s model of sticking to limited time offers of its subscription program (as opposed to running it as an ongoing membership all year round such as Panera Bread does with its Unlimited Sip Club program) mimics Taco Bell’s approach with its Taco Lover’s Pass, which the Mexican-inspired QSR chain ran on two occasions last year.

“More than ever, customers are value-conscious, and it’s on us to narrow in on what our fans want and need,” Taco Bell Global Chief Brand Officer Sean Tresvant told PYMNTS in an interview. “The Taco Lover’s Pass was created with the digital consumer in mind, who’s looking for … value. It allows us to examine how our digital consumers engage with a tool that ultimately pays for itself in just a few visits.”

Indeed, consumers who are interested in restaurant subscriptions are the most likely to be high-value customers, according to research from PYMNTS’ study “Digital Divide: Restaurant Subscribers And Loyalty Programs.”

The study, which drew from a survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults, found that only 17% of consumers are “very” or “extremely” interested in being provided a restaurant subscription service, and 25% are neutral to the concept. Yet, 78% of subscribers and 73% of those interested in subscriptions reported being very or extremely loyal toward their preferred QSRs. Conversely, just 41% of those uninterested in subscriptions said the same.

Consequently, Subway is not the only brand reviving its daily discount subscription. Los Angeles-based, health-focused fast-casual chain Sweetgreen, which has more than 180 locations, said on its most recent earnings call that it will be relaunching its Sweetpass program nationwide in April. When the program ran last year, the brand offered up to one $3 credit per purchase per day for a monthly $10 payment for 30 days.

“I think what’s amazing about the subscription is, we’re so uniquely positioned to make that work. We have a food that is healthy, that is naturally habitual and very high digital penetration, which gives us a lot of confidence,” Sweetgreen Co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman said on the call.