Noodle
Brisbane, QL
Male, 24
I have been working in Australia at Subway restaurants for 6 years and have been a manager at a Subway in a shopping center for the past 4. Unlike from what ive heard about McDonalds managers, Subway managers are VERY hands on; washing dishes, serving customers, cleaning and everything in between. I will Q&A some common questions to save peoples time
This one may be a little difficult for me to answer because at Subway we are not aloud to have a 'tipping jar' on the front counter (or anywhere).
But from my experience, in the past 5 years I have been tipped about 3-4 times and it is nearly always in the situation where someone is in a hurry, the change comes to 50 cents or less and they just run off and you hear a faint "keep the change" in the distance.
From what I have observed, places like resturants and cafes have a tip jar but most people don't tip, a few people use the jar to 'throw away' the coins that they just got from change (mostly $1 or less) and only like 1% actually tip generously.
My friend, when he was working at a sports bar said that he got tipped frequently tho. Usually after someone had ordered a round and their hands were too full for the change (and you would want to look generous infront of your friends by not taking the change) or when some older guy wone a bet on a horse race and he would share a bit with the bartender while getting another drink.
So in conclusion, tipping is not completely absent. But it is a rare occurance in anything but bartending (probably only because people are drunk) and when it does happen it is mostly just the loose change they don't want so they throw it in the tip jar or tell you to keep the coins.
And you will almost never get looked down upon if you don't tip in Australia.
Our wages are generally higher (bartenders usually get paid about $23 - $25 an hr) so we don't rely on tips so get by. But having said that, lots of things are more expensive
TL;DR - Its not absent but it almost never happens. And if it does its just loose change.
Im guessing because the bread is baked as a 12" and then either served as a 6" of a 12". So if you made the 9" there will be 3" of wasted potential. and then there is the problem with how much meat will go on it With the meat products like the chicken fillet, you put 1 patty on a 6" and 2 on a 12" but you cant really put 1.5 patties on a 9".
Also if you give someone too many choices they may not make a purchase at all (I have read a study about this but cant remember the source, sorry)
And finally all the effort that Subway would have to go through to implement that change would be huge (advertising, re training, producing new menu signs)
TL;DR - The Subway formula has been based around 12" and 6" subs. Changing it up with a 9" sub would lead to unessary food waste and would require a huge change to implement.
Im just going to assume the "chicken breast" is the same as "roast chicken" because we don't have something called specifically "chicken breast" in Australia. People do refer it to both names tho.
Probably about one year or more ago Subway done a product change on its Chicken Breast (Roast Chicken) product, so im not sure what one you are talking about. The 'old' Chicken Breast was pretty bad, it tasted like cardboard and was about 3rd on my 'most disliked subs' list, just above the Seafood and Tuna.
I find the new one very nice, it is advertised as "Made from 100% real chicken breast" - but don't be fooled, what it means by that is all the chicken in the product came from the breast meat (which is really good because some chicken products from other places that aren't 100% breast meat probably use parts of the chicken you would never knowingly eat to fill out the product).
But in reality the Chicken breast (Roast chicken) sub is about 86% Chicken (All Subway chicken products range from about 72% (Chicken Schnitzel) to 95% (Chicken Strips) actual chicken) the rest is stuff like Wheat, Water, Salt, Thickener, Sugar, Soy Protein etc. So it could taste processed to you because it is.
In my opinion, food is ALWAYS going to taste better when you buy whole foods and fresh ingredients and cook it yourself (And thats why your home cooked chicken breast tastes better). But it is nearly ALWAYS going to be more expensive and take longer to make. Thats the trade you make when you buy fast food.
TL;DR - Subway's "Chicken Breast" product is processed, prepared and cooked off site, then frozen and delivered to Subway stores.
The most frequent is probably when the meat product is not heated up to a sufficient temperature. And even then its not really a complaint its just;
Customer: "My chicken is still cold"
Subway: "Sorry, let me make it again for you"
Its usually due to new employees not knowing how long to heat the product for, someone using the wrong toaster setting or the product was not 100% thawed before heating (which is fine, you just have to heat for longer)
Even so we only get about 2 - 3 of these complaints a week.
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Not that I know of. If there was an old menu item that can be made by mixing and matching the current meats avaiable we could do that (but it would likely be at a different price). Beyond that extent, no. Atleast nothing that Subway HQ has made us aware of.
Some individual Subway stores may have their own 'special' menu items made by mixing and matching meats.
I believe it is, our store is in a food court right next to McDonalds and we get comments atleast 3-4 times a week (when im working) saying things along the line of "atleast Subway is healthy", "I only come here because all the other places are processed/shit/unhealthy" and things of that nature. So I would say that it is viewed as the healthier option.
For your second question, Yes. Australia's obesity rate has something like doubled in the past 20 years, Obesity is now the leading cause of death (smoking use to be number 1) and some reports even say that for the first time in human history ever, the current generation has a lower life expectancy than the generation before it.
And Australia is 3 in the world for percentage of overweight/obese people. I think really any country that has easy access to unhealthy food and technology that makes your life less active is going to have problems with obesity.
If we are talking about straight up min wage, US is about $8? and AUS is roughly $16. So yes it is about twice as much, but if we calculate minimum wage by "international dollars" - a hypothetical unit of currency thats based on purchasing power of goods and services (Minimum wage versus how much things actually cost in that country) - Austraila's minimum wage purchasing power is equilivent to $10.64 per hr while USA is at $7.25.
So in reality, minimum wage in AUS is twice as much, but things in AUS are also alot more expensive, we pay more tax so after expenses the wage gap isin't that crazy.
For the whole career thing, my wage ($22/hr) is because im employed as casual, so Instead of getting paid holidays and paid sick leave etc I get paid a higher base hourly. And so I only work 23-28 hours a week so enough to support myself and still have some savings, but not enough to support a family. For the most part we do just have students working 5-10 hrs/week while studying.
Best case senario as a Subway worker (not owning a store), if you were managing a store/s for a multi unit owner, getting paid $25/hr and working full time (38hrs/week) then it would be a carrer that you could support a small family on by yourself. But you wouldn't have any disposiable income and would be quite poor.
Additionally, USA has a higher max salary. So while the minimum wage in USA is lower than Australia, the income potential is higher.
TL;DR - Because we pay 2 to 3 times more for everything. You still can't support a family on a minimum wage job in Australia.
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