Why I Hate Jimmy Johns Now

[biophase]

Let me first say that I do like Jimmy Johns subs. But I find their advertising very deceptive and it just annoys the crap out of me so I just cannot go back there ever.

This is why. They have 8" Sub Sandwiches at $4.50 advertised as:

"8" Sub Sandwiches - All of my tasty sub sandwiches are a full 8 inches of homemade French bread, fresh veggies and the finest meats & cheese I can buy! And if it matters to you , we slice everything fresh everyday in this store, right here where you can see it. (No mystery meat here!)"

Then they have their Giant Club Sandwiches at $5.50 advertised as:

"Giant Club Sandwiches - My club sandwiches have twice the meat or cheese, try it on my fresh baked thick sliced 7 grain bread or my famous homemade french bread!"

Jimmy John's Menu

So looking at these two choices would you assume that the Giant Club Sandwiches are bigger than the 8" Sub Sandwiches? But guess what, the only difference between the two sandwiches is that you get 2 slices of cheese on the Giant Club instead of one on the 8" Sub Sandwiches. So did you get ripped off? Read the description of the Giant Club Sandwiches again.

"My club sandwiches have twice the meat or cheese, try it on my fresh baked thick sliced 7 grain bread or my famous homemade french bread!"

Look at the difference in the Tuna sandwiches:

#3 TOTALLY TUNA®
Fresh housemade tuna, mixed with celery, onions, and our tasty sauce, then topped with alfalfa sprouts, cucumber, lettuce, and tomato. (My tuna rocks!)

#15 CLUB TUNA®
The same as our #3 Totally Tuna except this one has a lot more. Homemade tuna salad, provolone, sprouts, cucumber, lettuce, & tomato.

Guess what the alot more is? Yep, the provolone.

--------

So why do I care? Well it's because I do count my protein intake and therefore I ask questions and read things carefully. So when I began to ask the Jimmy John employees questions, it just annoyed me. I mean they are basically charging $1 for a slice of cheese.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Can you get twice the meat instead of the cheese? And I'm assuming you pick the cheese?

 

[biophase]

Can you get twice the meat instead of the cheese? And I'm assuming you pick the cheese?

No you can't. I don't think that is meant to be an option. If I ever go back I may try that though.

 

[FastNAwesome]

Been facing similar issue many times. My solutions:

1. Making my own food - cheapest and best - but too often not enough time

2. Eating at proper restaurants - may sound a bit more expensive, but compared to what you get it isn't really.

3. Good old McDonald's. No lies there, and yeah, I'm lovin' it.

 

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[piotrkrzyzek]

I feel your pain Bio. It's what has made me stop buying lots of `popular' brands. Though the sad truth is that they word is specifically deceptive in-order to reel us in. In my honest opinion: companies should be forced to write out exactly what they mean when they give us advertising!

ie:

"... now with a lot more!" should be changed to "... now with a lot more cheese and a little bit extra salsa!"

I'm all in favor of creative advertising, though there is a difference between creative and deceptive.

Sad thing is, I see restaurants as having some of the largest creativity potential and they all simply go towards deceptive practices.

"It's a mad world."

 

[The Abundant Man]

I used to work at Jimmy John's everything in here is true

 

[Kak]

The rose colored glasses are coming off at a lot of establishments.

Have you guys noticed that Starbucks is about as nice as as a McDonalds that they painted a warm color?

Costco... There are like 15 things in the whole store that are a better deal than Walmart.

Honestly... Most consumer goods are pieces of shit these days. Even the "higher end" brands.

 

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[msufan]

Related story time: I lost 25 pounds and was able to wear some old khakis from the back of my closet. These suckers had been hanging there for a decade because I had gained weight, could no longer wear them, but of course I felt like I would lose the weight "very soon" and so I kept them around. When I finally pulled them out and started wearing them again, I could NOT believe how much thicker and more well-constructed they were compared to anything made today. It's completely night and day.

So yeah, it isn't just fast food places using sketchy marketing while cheapening products...

 

[Niptuck MD]

agreed with the post but what pisses me off even more is that Subway actually no longer has 5$ whole sub days anymore (store specific) and often it costs 7$+ for a sub despite all the crap they had like the yoga rubber mat material found in their breads etc etc. At the end of the day, they both suck lol

 

[eliquid]

Kinda unrelated...

But I am old enough to remember that if you waited too long in a drive thru or had something messed up with your order, places would give you free cookies or an apple pie ( specifically McDonalds, but I am talking other places too ). Sometimes you got a voucher for a free meal next time. Not saying I want a sugary reward for the error, but it's the thought behind it.

These days?

Nothing.

Just a "sorry about your wait" while they slam the window shut in your face. Got my order wrong? Now I have to wait another X minutes while you prep the right food.

Add this to the story @biophase presents about the trickery in the product and prices and you see a story unfold about how "downward" the whole system is steering to.

I use to handwrite letters to companies when I got bad/poor service. I would always get a letter back 99% of the time with an apology and some form of "fix" like a free meal. I didn't care about the meal honestly and most times threw the coupon away.

Today though?

I have to email someone or tweet them and I never get a response back. Sending a real letter.. yeah it's not getting to anyone at corporate anymore.

I understand times have changed and I know the exact reason why.

However, I think this opens a world of opportunity for someone that can face the challenges of the restaurant business. There is a lot that could be improved on.

I eat out a lot. Like 3-4x a day so I experience this daily.

About the best run place I have experienced in the fast food world is Chic-fil-a. Nothing I have found ( fast food wise that is ) has beaten their speed, friendliness, cleanliness, and overall experience for fast food joints.

Doing the right things is escaping most of these places.

.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Personally, I just don't like Jimmy Johns because the owner kills elephants for sport...

I wasn't gonna say it, but since you opened that box...

Ditto. I can't stand the guy. I'm not contributing to his sport kills. Never.

 

[socaldude]

Honestly... Most consumer goods are pieces of sh*t these days. Even the "higher end" brands.

True.

I tend to avoid products that are intended for the typical household consumer and instead look at products intended for commercial purposes and use those for household purposes. Way better designs and quality.

It seems like these days corporation are doing everything they can to cut corners and reduce costs all on the gamble that somehow we won't notice. SMH

 

[Kak]

True.

I tend to avoid products that are intended for the typical household consumer and instead look at products intended for commercial purposes and use those for household purposes. Way better designs and quality.

It seems like these days corporation are doing everything they can to cut corners and reduce costs all on the gamble that somehow we won't notice. SMH

I do the same. Totally, 100 percent agree.

 

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[Guest58302]

Most consumer goods are pieces of sh*t these days.

I could NOT believe how much thicker and more well-constructed they were compared to anything made today.

All I see here are opportunities for upcoming entrepreneurs.
In the Millionaire Fastlane , MJ lists off these expressions as open roads for needs:

“I hate…”

“Why is this like this?”

“I’m tired of…”

And I’m going to add two more to his list:

“________ used to be so good….”

“They used to make ________ better…”

Why was that service or product better? How was it better? There’s a real need for genuine value these days and there’s your opportunity, my friends.

 

[Xeon]

All I see here are opportunities for upcoming entrepreneurs.
In the Millionaire Fastlane , MJ lists off these expressions as open roads for needs:

“I hate…”

“Why is this like this?”

“I’m tired of…”

And I’m going to add two more to his list:

“________ used to be so good….”

“They used to make ________ better…”

Why was that service or product better? How was it better? There’s a real need for genuine value these days and there’s your opportunity, my friends.

I hope there's more threads like this. All we need is to compile a list of these rants, then do the exact opposite for our own business, and/or implement them if it doesn't already exist.

*Side note: I google images of "Jimmy John trophy hunting". WT actual F*ck. Look at how nicely posed the photos are. It's almost like he stood on top of the dead animal and try out different shots and angles and post the best one. Sick bastard.

 

[Kak]

What's with the anti-hunting stuff? The guy serves foot long sandwiches featuring dead animals.

Granted I know nothing of the Jimmy Jons CEO, and I'm not interested in going hunting in Africa... But I thoroughly enjoy an annual dove hunt. I have also killed wild boar and I have a deer in my office.

Meat comes from animals. I would argue livestock cows, chickens and pigs live a much more disgusting/miserable existence than anything I hunt. Hunted meat is organic and natural.

 

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[Kak]

One of those topics that people don't generally change their minds on, so I won't belabor the point... But, in my opinion, there is a big difference between killing animals that are over-farmed and animals that are being hunted near extinction. Also a difference between killing animals for food and killing animals for sport.

I'm an animal lover, so both bother me (and in a lot of ways, the livestock animals bother me a lot more), but I don't find them equivalent.

Again, just my opinion (and I completely get and appreciate your point).

I'm not trying to stop him from doing it...I'm just choosing not to fund and support it by spending money on his products.

Fair enough and a totally unhypocritical point of view. Nicely put.

 

[Raoul Duke]

What's with the anti-hunting stuff? The guy serves foot long sandwiches featuring dead animals.

Granted I know nothing of the Jimmy Jons CEO, and I'm not interested in going hunting in Africa... But I thoroughly enjoy an annual dove hunt. I have also killed wild boar and I have a deer in my office.

Meat comes from animals. I would argue livestock cows, chickens and pigs live a much more disgusting/miserable existence than anything I hunt. Hunted meat is organic and natural.

 

[Kak]

I sold Ted a gun once. Great guy.

 

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[ZF Lee]

True.

I tend to avoid products that are intended for the typical household consumer and instead look at products intended for commercial purposes and use those for household purposes. Way better designs and quality.

It seems like these days corporation are doing everything they can to cut corners and reduce costs all on the gamble that somehow we won't notice. SMH

Excellent idea!

I was reading Fascinate: How to Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist,and apparently, the beloved friendly neighbourhood PlayDoh used to be a special clay to layer chimney surfaces as a means of clearing the worst of the soot.

Although its a long jump from cleaning utilities to children art and craft, I'd like to think that the material toughness and malleablility got passed on to the PlayDoh versions.

What's with the anti-hunting stuff? The guy serves foot long sandwiches featuring dead animals.

Granted I know nothing of the Jimmy Jons CEO, and I'm not interested in going hunting in Africa... But I thoroughly enjoy an annual dove hunt. I have also killed wild boar and I have a deer in my office.

Meat comes from animals. I would argue livestock cows, chickens and pigs live a much more disgusting/miserable existence than anything I hunt. Hunted meat is organic and natural.

I got the chance to go to new Zealand once.

There, the hunting of certain animals was allowed and even REWARDED, as they are considered as pests and dangerous to the environment.

For instance, rabbits, which were brought in from the outside in the old days, are actually legal for hunting everywhere, as they breed like crazy and just destroy your vegetable garden. So yeah, you could run them over or shoot them ,and the sheriff won't bat an eye.

But I like rabbits too much to kill them....nice woffly creatures they are.

 

[advancedyn]

I was in a hurry and ran through a McDonald's drivethru about a month ago. It took a little longer than normal but wasn't horrible. I didn't complain but they handed me two cards for free shakes and verbally apologized for the wait before they handed me my order. I was pleasantly surprised. People don't forget CSO - Customer Service Over-delivery.

Kinda unrelated...

But I am old enough to remember that if you waited too long in a drive thru or had something messed up with your order, places would give you free cookies or an apple pie ( specifically McDonalds, but I am talking other places too ). Sometimes you got a voucher for a free meal next time. Not saying I want a sugary reward for the error, but it's the thought behind it.

These days?

Nothing.
.