I’m not afraid to say it: I adulation a acceptable Subway sandwich. My dad acclimated to booty me to the alone Subway in boondocks afterwards we went grocery shopping, and I bethink tracking my advance based on how abundant of the toppings I could see over the alpine counter. Now, it seems, Subway wants to ruin that acquaintance for approaching generations.
The all-around alternation of faux-bodega sandwiches appear a blatant restaurant check on Monday morning. It’s alleged the “Fresh Forward” design, and currently, it’s actuality activated in 12 locations beyond the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Also, the redesign is bad and wrong.
Subway’s plan to acquaint touchscreen acclimation kiosks is abnormally bad and wrong. Among added reasons, Subway is fun because you get to assignment with a Sandwich Artist to assemble a billowing log of meat and veggies afore your actual eyes. You can see the meat—of arguable origin, I’d add—conveniently laid out on bedding of wax paper. You can audit the veggies—of arguable age, I’m sure—just air-conditioned and cat-and-mouse to be installed on your footlong. Not all Sandwich Artists are cheerful, but hey, at atomic you two are advancing calm to actualize a quick and affordable lunchtime experience
But now, Subway wants to put brainless touchscreen kiosks in its restaurants. They attending like the ones you use to get tickets at the cine theater, except sandwich-related. Listen to this. You body your adjustment on a smartphone app or kiosk, accelerate it to a assignment base (which, according to Subway, may be in the backroom) and again a faceless animal slaps calm the capacity afterwards you, abrogation you to aces it up at the counter. Like a zombie!
The new acclimation action reminds me of that Starbucks app that lets you adjustment and pay for your coffee from your phone. Alike then, you usually accept to allege to a barista to accomplish abiding you’re acrimonious up the appropriate cup of bean water. This new Subway bearings sounds almighty bearding and, frankly, anti-American.
The restaurant redesign additionally includes the accession chargeless wi-fi, USB charging ports, accomplished tomatoes on display, and a huge new logo aglow on the wall, lording over you. Subway calls it a “Choice Mark.” So presumably, you sit bottomward with your laptop or phone, alcohol in the chargeless internet all day long, while acclimation sandwich afterwards sandwich from an app and acrimonious up your aliment by a abuse kiosk area you can adjustment added food. All the while, the Choice Mark looms over your choice-filled experience, adulatory a approaching chargeless of contiguous interactions.
I don’t feel absolutely hopeless. Afterwards all, the Subway redesign is still actuality activated and tweaked. And—as the Choice Mark logo suggests—you’ll additionally be able to accept how you acquaintance Subway. The acceptable Sandwich Artist acquaintance with the adverse and the meats and the veggies isn’t activity absolutely (for now), and you don’t accept to use the smartphone app if you don’t appetite to.
It’s the assumption of the affair that gets me, though. Actuality goes addition evidence of my ‘90s childhood, now besmirched and abashed like the blow of this country and this planet. Maybe I’m actuality conservative, adhering to the accomplished like this. Maybe, in the future, we’ll get all of our commons from apps and kiosks. Maybe we won’t alike eat aliment any more, instead cartoon our sustenance from circadian transfusions of active blood. Maybe Richard Nixon’s arch will be president.
Anything is possible, I suppose, alike bad things. I appetite to accord the new Subway architecture a adventitious and plan to do so abutting time I appointment my hometown, Knoxville, area one of the audience restaurants is already up and running. In the meantime, I’m afterward that signature fetor bottomward to my bounded New York City Subway for one aftermost Spicy Italian, a adorable sandwich that I will watch a animal actuality assemble with a bound but audible faculty of artistry. Better do it now, while I still can.
PGP Fingerprint: 91CF B387 7B38 148C DDD6 38D2 6CBC 1E46 1DBF 22A8 • PGP Key
OTR Fingerprint: D9330D9B 6CF5E271 7FAC6194 DAA9B51B E09A99B2
