Building H Index

Subway

INDUSTRY

food

Category

restaurant chain

products Profiled

Subway restaurants

H-Score

45

ranked 8th of 16 within food industry

ranked 20th (tie) of 37 overall

product description

Subway is a chain of fast food restaurants, estimated to have over 24,000 outlets across the U.S.(1) It serves meals throughout the day and evening, offering consistent menus throughout the U.S. Subways serve submarine sandwiches, wraps, chips, soft drinks and other food items. Subway emphasizes fresh food and “better-for-you” options in their marketing.(2)

product usage

Customers can purchase food by ordering at the counter, at a drive-thru window (where available), or via a website or app. In recent years, customers can also have Subway’s food delivered. Customers can eat inside the restaurants or take their meals away.

influence on health-related behaviors

EATING

slight to moderate negative influence

Subway serves fast food, which, broadly speaking, can be unhealthy. Researchers have found 70% of meals served at fast food restaurants (not specific to Subway) to be of poor nutritional quality.(3)

Subway was found to have a Restaurant Nutrition Quality (RNQ) score of 1.14 in a study by USC researchers that looked at the nutritional quality of the menus of over 500 chain restaurant brands.(4) (The RNQ is the ratio of nutrients recommended by dietary guidelines, e.g. protein and fiber, to ingredients whose consumption should be restricted, such as sugars, sodium and saturated fats, for the median menu item. A score of more than 1.0 means that the median menu item has more recommended nutrients than restricted nutrients.) Subway’s score places it in the 76th percentile (higher is better) of the chain restaurants that were evaluated.

In terms of calories, a sample of featured breakfast meal combos averaged 1,291 calories, representing 3.7 times the recommended calories for women at breakfast and 2.9 times the recommended calories for men at breakfast.(5) For their standard menu, featured meal combos averaged 1,086 calories, or 1.9 times the recommended calories for women at lunch, 1.5 times the recommended calories for men at lunch, 1.6 times the recommended calories for women at dinner, and 1.2 times the recommended calories for women at dinner. Approximately 5-15% percent of Subway’s sales take place during the breakfast hours, 45-55% percent during lunch hours and 15-25% percent during dinner hours.(6)

Subway does not feature or facilitate the choice of its healthier items in its online menus. The most prominent items are those for which Subway is most well-known, such as hot or cold submarine sandwiches. Healthier items, such as wraps, salads and “no bready bowls) are available lower down in the menu.

Subway promotes additional consumption through the use of cross-selling in the ordering and checkout processes. Subs come in three sizes: 6”, footlong, and “footlong pro,” with orders defaulting to footlong. Customers are prompted to turn their subs into meals, offering chips (or cookies) and a drink. Before a customer finishes checking out Subway prompts them to add additional items.

PHYSICAL ACTVITY

neutral to slight negative influence

One way in which restaurants contribute to physical activity is how people arrive at them. Restaurants in walkable locations are more likely to get customers to walk or bike to them than restaurants located in car-dependent neighborhoods. Building H reviewed a sample of Subway locations and found that 79% were in either “most walkable” (47%) or “above-average walkable” (32%) neighborhoods. 21% were in “below-average walkable” (20%) or “least walkable” (1%) neighborhoods, using the US EPA’s National Walkability Index.(7)

An additional factor that affects physical activity is the presence of drive-thru windows, which enable customers to pick up meals without ever leaving their cars. Approximately 10% of the Subway locations Building H reviewed had drive-thru service available.

neutral influence

Studies have shown that eating within three hours before bedtime increases the likelihood of sleep disruption.(8)

Subway locations typically close between 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm. Based on Google data about a sample of locations, it appears that less than 5% of Subway’s activity takes place after 9:00 pm.

Note that late night eating does not necessarily result in eating shortly before bedtime or extending into people’s sleep windows as there is diversity in daily schedules (due to reasons such as shift work).

Engaging Socially

neutral influence

Eating in a restaurant can be a social experience, especially when one eats with family or friends. It is not clear how many of Subway’s customers eat in the restaurant in groups or take food out for groups.

A Building H analysis of Google data on a sample of Subway locations shows that the typical amount of time spent at Subway is between 10 and 15 minutes(9), which suggests that most customers are not staying to eat in the restaurant.

Drive-thru service and delivery service would typically involve less social interaction. Building H reviewed a sample of Subway locations and found that only approximately 10% offer drive-thru service. It is not clear what proportion of orders are either delivered or picked up at drive-thru windows.  

Getting Outdoors

neutral to slight negative influence

Providing outdoor seating can positively influence the amount of time that customers spend outdoors. Building H reviewed a sample of Subway locations and found that only 17% offer outdoor seating.

The walkability of restaurant locations can influence the amount of time customers spend outdoors. The more walkable, the more likely it is that customers walk or bike to and from the locations and thus spend time outdoors. As noted above, 79% of Subway's locations were in either “most walkable” or “above-average walkable” neighborhoods, while 21% were in “below-average walkable” or “least walkable” neighborhoods.

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1. Based on 2018 data. See Ranking The Top 50 Fast-Food Chains in America. QSR. Accessed February 12, 2022

2. Subway. About Us. Subway website. Accessed February 23, 2022

3. Junxiu Liu et al. Quality of Meals Consumed by US Adults at Full-Service and Fast-Food Restaurants, 2003–2016: Persistent Low Quality and Widening Disparities. The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 150, Issue 4, April 2020, pp. 873–883.

4. Iris Liu et al. A continuous indicator of food environment nutritional quality. MedRxiv. November 26, 2021

5. Based on a Building H review of the top five listed meal combos, as compared with federal data on how Americans distribute their calories across meals (see Eliana Zeballos et al. Frequency and Time of Day That AmericansEat: A Comparison of Data From the AmericanTime Use Survey and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. USDA Economic Research Service, Technical Bulletin Number 1954. July 2019) and federal dietary guidelines for moderately active adults (see U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. December, 2020. P. 140).

6. Based on a Building H review of Google’s “popular times” data for a sample of 20 randomly selected Subway locations.

7. Based on a sample of over 200 locations (data from Yelp and Google). For the National Walkability Index, see U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. National Walkability Index: Methodology and User Guide. June 2021.

8. Nicola Chung et al. Does the Proximity of Meals to Bedtime Influence the Sleep of Young Adults? A Cross-Sectional Survey of University Students. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Apr 14;17(8):2677

9. Based on a Building H review of Google’s data on how much time people typically spend at a location for a random sample of Subway locations.