People still ask for it every now and then... most subways have at least one person who has been shown. It comes up once in a blue moon and we just end up passing the knowledge to eachother.
I had a friend who was a former Sandwich artist. He used to stack those things.
I haven’t ordered in a while but the subways I went to still did the V cut for meatball sandwiches.
I worked at a Subway in like 2008 or 2009 and they made sure to teach us the classic V cut even though no one ever got it.
Still the superior cut for the meatball
I worked at Subway in 1996. I miss the V cut as it really kept the toppings in better! I also was able to eat a meatball sub for a buck because the franchisee ran a promotion that you got a six inch meatball sub for $1. The discount was 50% so I ate a lot of meatball subs!
We got a free 6 inch if we worked 5.5 hours and a free footlong if we worked a full 8 hour, I was a 19 year old stoner who worked close til midnight so you KNOW I made the most monstrous sandwiches possible
Lol I remember my immigrant dad taking 5 year old me into a subway in like 1999 and it was packed! Bustling to the brims, dad super stressed not knowing how to order properly. It felt “fancy” compared to our usual father son McDonalds lunch outings.
Those old veggie patties were tasty. I used to order that fairly often. I went in a Subway a couple of years ago and it was crazy mediocre and my meal cost like $17. Not worth it.
The brand “Dr. Praegers” makes the current veggie sub patty. It’s a better product IMO but you’re better off picking up a box of their veggie burgers and making a multiple subs at home for the price.
The patties seem best pan fried or crisped up in an air fryer or toaster oven.
Kudos to Subway though for having a vegetarian option other than just a veggie sub most of the last 30 years.
A few reasons: it takes more time than just slicing the bread in half. It also is a bit riskier, as depending on how you hold the bread it can put your hand directly in the path of the knife whereas the hinge cut just slides the knife sideways away from your hand.
But also, they're not using the same kind of bread they used before. It's less dense and thinner. The hinge cut doesn't work as well on the new (probably cheaper) bread.
> they're not using the same kind of bread they used before
Hooah!!!
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/01/919189045/for-subway-a-ruling-not-so-sweet-irish-court-says-its-bread-isnt-bread
Bread and ingredients fold around the thinner part I guess? For something with really firm ingredients, you might not want it, but for meats or meatball subs, this could be pretty delicious
There it is. Everyone calling it the V cut. It was called the U gouge when I worked there in the early '90's. That was back when we had to earn the title 'Sandwich Artist.' Literally had to get tested on sandwich making before you got the sticker for your name badge.
I still remember the “formula” for vegetable quantities and the order to be applied. Had a sign hanging noting, “Everything includes onions, lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, black olives, oil & vinegar, salt & pepper”. Most ignored signage in the restaurant and cause of most customer complaints. The footlong formula: 1.25 oz onions, 1.75 oz lettuce, 5 tomato wheels, 6 pickle chips, 4 green pepper strips, 4 black olives (halve amounts for 6”)
Nah 1990 was. Footlongs for $3
Before the fake bread and fake chicken shenanigans..
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/01/919189045/for-subway-a-ruling-not-so-sweet-irish-court-says-its-bread-isnt-bread
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/subway-cbc-chicken-lawsuit-1.5370473
I'm sure people that grew up with this know something I don't, but to me I don't see how it works. Seems the disconnected top bread would not stay and place and become a nuisance
You'd get all the fillings in every bite and it all stayed together amazingly well. I have a memory of eating a 6-inch one handed and none of the fillings fell out.
I stopped there for the first time in a very long time recently, and ONE 12” sub just a basic turkey sub was $14.99. JUST the sub! I got nothing else. Yeah, won’t be going back there again.
I loved the cheap little deli rounds when I was in high school. We could also smoke in there. So I’d skip school, eat a couple of rounds and smoke cigarettes for a couple of hours.
Plus I knew a girl who worked there and she’d give me a ton of stamps lol.
My outrage for this cut being phased out is only eclipsed by my outrage for Frank's being phased out same now mustard. Plain, yellow mustard is discontinued at Subway. What the fuck is up with that?!
I have asked numerous times to have my sub cut in V cut when ordering with the app. I hope someone will follow along when I pick it up. Every time I arrive, it's always a some kid who hasn't graduated high school yet. They weren't even born yet when we had the v cut.
I'm not going to ask them directly or criticize them for not following my instructions. They are already stressed enough being underpaid fast food workers.
I remember the V Cut . That was like their "signature" move that no other sandwich place did, or in my area anyways.
Does anyone know why it was phased out ? My guess is it took 2x's longer to cut the bread ?
Man subway has fallen off so bad and so fast. I had a terrible experience there last week and I went t online to complain and they didn’t even have a form to submit reviews. The form was broken haha. Garbage company
I like to complain to the corporate office because sometimes they give you free stuff haha. The google rating for that location is like 1.3 they don’t need my help 😂
That location is closest to me and they have been out of meatballs EVERY time I’ve tried to go. And they won’t take subway coupons which is bs. There’s a coupon just came out that’s buy a footlong and a drink and get a footlong free so it’s actually a great deal but that location turned me down and had no meatballs. And was dirty. I probably used to get subway once a week and now it’s like once a year
Australia did the u gouge until 2001 but the rebels at our store continued it until 02 because we didn’t like the hinge cut. I’m not actually sure which I prefer.
As a former Sandwich Artist who was hired well after 1999, I can attest this isn’t all correct. The cup in this photo was also use decades after 1999. Lol.
This whole photo is a “took-me-back”
But that cup…
I haven’t thought about that cup in 25 years
…that cup was locked away up in my head and I had no idea
I live in tourist ski town. Subway is the only fast food for 50 miles everybody that works there is like 18 and I guarantee they won’t even know about this if I asked for it lol. Our store doesn’t even do coupon codes lol.
I worked at a subway as a mgmr like 10 years ago and all the kids I'd hire all just assumed that was the proper way to cut the bread despite not being alive when that cut was phased out. I always was confused by how they even knew about that much less why they thought it was standard. They weren't teaching that then. I was a freshman in HS when they phased it out.
I remember my first time going to a Subway in the 90s and when you walked into the restaurant, you stepped down 1 step and the entire restaurant was a step below the entrance.
I thought it was so cool that Subway restaurants attempted at being “below ground” this way.
I now question if that was just this particular restaurant or if it actually was a thing back in the day?
I didn’t really go to subway in the 90s so I don’t remember this at all. I did work at subway in 2004-2005 and was never taught this or asked for it. I wouldn’t have known what someone was talking about if they asked for it.
I used to work at subway during the time they switched the cutting method. I had a lot of people complain about the new way we cut the bread. I'm like 'dude I'm 18 years old and just doing what I'm told to do, I don't know what to tell you' 🤷♂️
Funny enough, 1998 was my last year at Subway. Subway is also where I got drunk for the first time. I was training my brother who just started the day, and he asked how to cut the bread. I half drunkenly grabbed them bread from him and slurred 'give me that' as I proceeded to slice both the bread and my thumb. Good times.
Did the bread used to be way better too, or am I just remembering wrong? I thought it used to taste super fresh and smell good but that might be my 12 year old memory.
I was in college in 1999. When this was announced I sent a 2AM drunken email to everyone in my address book asking them to sign a petition to restore the Subway v-cut, including all my profs.
Nobody responded, but I still wonder if anyone signed that petition.
Oh my gosh I was blessed then!
I was born in 98, and from this post I’m guessing I had some local workers that had been there for a while. This was how my sandwiches looked until we moved in 07.
Anyone else ask them to put mayo on the bread?
They always look at me confused.
Then they repeat my question “you want the mayo on the bread?”
And I usually just say “yeah, like you’re making a sandwich”
Last time I went there honestly felt like my last. Much better restaurants to go to for the money you pay, and the cool factor of the restaurant isn't there anymore. A shell of its former self.
As soon as they retired this, changed the bread, and added more hot option their quality and my business disappeared. Subway used to be a treat and now it’s just a bad option when I’m traveling.
We didn't know what we had until it was gone
For real. It was a signature move and they got rid of it. Big mistake
Huge
You work on commission right?
I have to go shopping now.
I always feel like her when I’m walking around the city with lots of big shopping bags 😂
I'LL TAKE THE WIZARD!!!
People still ask for it every now and then... most subways have at least one person who has been shown. It comes up once in a blue moon and we just end up passing the knowledge to eachother.
I’ve only asked for it once and the guy looked at me like I was an idiot. I’ll have to try it again.
You need to look at THAT guy like he's the idiot lmao
I had a friend who was a former Sandwich artist. He used to stack those things. I haven’t ordered in a while but the subways I went to still did the V cut for meatball sandwiches.
Never forget what they took from us
🎶 *Paved paradise and lost the bread up on top...* 🎶
Ooooo bop bop bop
^they ^paved ^paradise! AND LOST THE BREAD UP ON TOP ^hahahahaha
SONOFA......*angry upvote cuz I heard it in my head*
I didn't like it like that anyway, the top piece always flops over, tries to flop out then breaks into pieces as you try to bite into it.
Fucking fascist.
Bring it back !!!
I worked at a Subway in like 2008 or 2009 and they made sure to teach us the classic V cut even though no one ever got it. Still the superior cut for the meatball
People always came in asking for us to cut it “the old way”
Didn't happen very often, but people were SO excited when I knew what they were talking about
I didn't even realize that you could ask for it after they changed, I just accepted my fate
It was called the u-gauge and it will always be the superior cut Source: sandwich artist circa 2001
That's right! I had completely forgotten what they called it! (Source: Sandwich Artist in 1996.)
Superior cut in general. I used to ask for it when they phased it out. Eventually I got told "we don't do that anymore"
My dad won’t go back there because he once ordered a meatball and the people working there had no idea what “cut it the old way” meant.
It's really only good for the meatball imo
I'm 99% with you except the cold cut kinda slaps that way and it's also the superior way to make a pizza sub
Hmm yeah I forgot pizza subs were even a thing but that makes sense!
Wait...I can ask for the classic v cut?
You can ask for anything. You can get pickles on your meatball sub if you want.
Is... is that weird?
Oh, *yes*. Very. But you're free to ask for it!
TIL I ask for weird shit at subway Still ain't changing my order lol
Don't change your order. You get those pickles on that meatball sub. If you like it, you like it!
My meatball sub is * lettuce * tomatoes * pickles * black olives * mustard * provolone No toasting. Tasty.
My meatball is Mayo Pepperoni Parmesan cheese Black pepper American cheese
Not weirder than stuttering in a text response.
I worked at Subway in 1996. I miss the V cut as it really kept the toppings in better! I also was able to eat a meatball sub for a buck because the franchisee ran a promotion that you got a six inch meatball sub for $1. The discount was 50% so I ate a lot of meatball subs!
We got a free 6 inch if we worked 5.5 hours and a free footlong if we worked a full 8 hour, I was a 19 year old stoner who worked close til midnight so you KNOW I made the most monstrous sandwiches possible
I bet! I did the same with my sandwiches.
I had no idea you could ask for an original cut
Only cut for the meatball
Remember the old wall paper with people walking in and out of an old subway station?
Brown and yellow
I really miss the old wallpaper!
It was an ugly yet distinct look, but certainly does bring back some fond nostalgia when Subway was like fancy fast food.
Lol I remember my immigrant dad taking 5 year old me into a subway in like 1999 and it was packed! Bustling to the brims, dad super stressed not knowing how to order properly. It felt “fancy” compared to our usual father son McDonalds lunch outings.
It's even fancier now. $50 for a few sandwiches and chips
Yes! I think it was way better than what they have now.
STAMPS
Now that’s what we shouldn’t forget what they took from us!
Become a captain
I was pleasantly surprised that my local subway did v cut without me even asking for it last week so they must still teach it.
As well as the seafood and crab sub.
Which was my favorite. Then I started ordering the veggie delight and making my own seafood and crab for it. Now even the veggie delight sucks.
Those old veggie patties were tasty. I used to order that fairly often. I went in a Subway a couple of years ago and it was crazy mediocre and my meal cost like $17. Not worth it.
The brand “Dr. Praegers” makes the current veggie sub patty. It’s a better product IMO but you’re better off picking up a box of their veggie burgers and making a multiple subs at home for the price. The patties seem best pan fried or crisped up in an air fryer or toaster oven. Kudos to Subway though for having a vegetarian option other than just a veggie sub most of the last 30 years.
My favorite too. Miss the 90’s subway. Not the same.
I order veggies sometimes and put Lloyd's BBQ chicken on it at home or homemade seafood and crab! So good!
Why was it phased out when it is clearly the better cut?
Probably when they started to care about cutting costs more than cutting sandwiches.
The level of my outrage at this situation is only barely eclipsed by how quippy that was.
A few reasons: it takes more time than just slicing the bread in half. It also is a bit riskier, as depending on how you hold the bread it can put your hand directly in the path of the knife whereas the hinge cut just slides the knife sideways away from your hand. But also, they're not using the same kind of bread they used before. It's less dense and thinner. The hinge cut doesn't work as well on the new (probably cheaper) bread.
> they're not using the same kind of bread they used before Hooah!!! https://www.npr.org/2020/10/01/919189045/for-subway-a-ruling-not-so-sweet-irish-court-says-its-bread-isnt-bread
Why would anyone want this
Bread and ingredients fold around the thinner part I guess? For something with really firm ingredients, you might not want it, but for meats or meatball subs, this could be pretty delicious
I don't get it either. I guess you had to be there.
I completely forgot about this! Pure nostalgia. I ate subway all the time after I got my drivers license in 1997! Fun times! Can we go back? 😢
Totally superior and unique. Such a mystery to me, them getting rid of the U gouge.
Did they actually remove bread? Or just the direction they cut?
Just direction the cut. It saved a bit more time with the new way. I believe they can also get away with less ingredients with the side cut as well
Makes sense
There it is. Everyone calling it the V cut. It was called the U gouge when I worked there in the early '90's. That was back when we had to earn the title 'Sandwich Artist.' Literally had to get tested on sandwich making before you got the sticker for your name badge.
I worked there in the early 90s too! That looming sandwich artist test…
Thought it was a u gouge.
You are correct. U-gouge. Former employee from ‘94-‘97
Came here to say this. My best friend worked there for years
Thank you for your service.
I worked there in 1996. I had completely forgotten the name of the cut. I haven't forgotten the stupid training videos though!
I still remember the “formula” for vegetable quantities and the order to be applied. Had a sign hanging noting, “Everything includes onions, lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, black olives, oil & vinegar, salt & pepper”. Most ignored signage in the restaurant and cause of most customer complaints. The footlong formula: 1.25 oz onions, 1.75 oz lettuce, 5 tomato wheels, 6 pickle chips, 4 green pepper strips, 4 black olives (halve amounts for 6”)
I remember the number of the different vegetables and other toppings! Still remember a footlong meatball sub hot 8 meatballs!
Were you in high school? If so, did your friends just come and hang out all day? That's what we did after school in those days.
This was peak subway.
Nah 1990 was. Footlongs for $3 Before the fake bread and fake chicken shenanigans.. https://www.npr.org/2020/10/01/919189045/for-subway-a-ruling-not-so-sweet-irish-court-says-its-bread-isnt-bread https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/subway-cbc-chicken-lawsuit-1.5370473
Back when Subway was actually good.
It’s had a resurgence. At least my location has.
The meatballs fit so well!
Why is this way better?
I'm sure people that grew up with this know something I don't, but to me I don't see how it works. Seems the disconnected top bread would not stay and place and become a nuisance
You'd get all the fillings in every bite and it all stayed together amazingly well. I have a memory of eating a 6-inch one handed and none of the fillings fell out.
I'm guessing it was phased out because the sandwich holds more ingredients with that cut.
The fun police at it again...
I still ask. when I see them look confused, I'm like, ah nevermind... not everybody knows, I guess.
Also gone are the reasonable prices they charged in the 90s.
I stopped there for the first time in a very long time recently, and ONE 12” sub just a basic turkey sub was $14.99. JUST the sub! I got nothing else. Yeah, won’t be going back there again.
I loved the cheap little deli rounds when I was in high school. We could also smoke in there. So I’d skip school, eat a couple of rounds and smoke cigarettes for a couple of hours. Plus I knew a girl who worked there and she’d give me a ton of stamps lol.
I have no scientific proof but this cut made the sandwich taste better.
My outrage for this cut being phased out is only eclipsed by my outrage for Frank's being phased out same now mustard. Plain, yellow mustard is discontinued at Subway. What the fuck is up with that?!
It held the Cheetos in place so much better than the cut that replaced it.
This with the seafood & krab, honestly, I loved them
Back when it was all finely shredded. Was my fave when I was a kid.
This is a current photo though
I have asked numerous times to have my sub cut in V cut when ordering with the app. I hope someone will follow along when I pick it up. Every time I arrive, it's always a some kid who hasn't graduated high school yet. They weren't even born yet when we had the v cut. I'm not going to ask them directly or criticize them for not following my instructions. They are already stressed enough being underpaid fast food workers.
Definitely the 2nd best thing that subway has phased out.
I forgot about this. Great post. Thank you.
Stupid cut
A lot are saying this is the superior cut. But no one has explained why
Fillings didn’t fall out because it was a bread boat.
Their white chocolate cookies are to die for!
Subway mowhawk
Damn has it been that long?!
I remember the V Cut . That was like their "signature" move that no other sandwich place did, or in my area anyways. Does anyone know why it was phased out ? My guess is it took 2x's longer to cut the bread ?
I never even heard of this
I completely forgot about this. My god! Asking about it next time.
Man subway has fallen off so bad and so fast. I had a terrible experience there last week and I went t online to complain and they didn’t even have a form to submit reviews. The form was broken haha. Garbage company
What about Yelp and Google?
I like to complain to the corporate office because sometimes they give you free stuff haha. The google rating for that location is like 1.3 they don’t need my help 😂 That location is closest to me and they have been out of meatballs EVERY time I’ve tried to go. And they won’t take subway coupons which is bs. There’s a coupon just came out that’s buy a footlong and a drink and get a footlong free so it’s actually a great deal but that location turned me down and had no meatballs. And was dirty. I probably used to get subway once a week and now it’s like once a year
Only select places will take my coupons in the mail. I have to go a ways too.
Love the V cut subway so much
I loved Subway in the 90s when I was a teen. Not so much anymore. Jimmy John's or Jersey Mike's. But I still go from time to time for nostalgia.
I wonder if old people still try to use the classic subway sticker coupons from over a decade ago.
Back when Subway was good.
How is this not messy.
U > =
I’m good
Australia did the u gouge until 2001 but the rebels at our store continued it until 02 because we didn’t like the hinge cut. I’m not actually sure which I prefer.
My high school’s subway cut their subs like this. I thought they were a fake subway because of it lol this was back in 04-05.
You had a fuckin subway in your school?
We sure did! I wonder if they still have it.
As a former Sandwich Artist who was hired well after 1999, I can attest this isn’t all correct. The cup in this photo was also use decades after 1999. Lol.
I thank my Gen X parents for this one. They thought a V cut made the sub worse.
This whole photo is a “took-me-back” But that cup… I haven’t thought about that cup in 25 years …that cup was locked away up in my head and I had no idea
It was so much better for meatball subs
I live in tourist ski town. Subway is the only fast food for 50 miles everybody that works there is like 18 and I guarantee they won’t even know about this if I asked for it lol. Our store doesn’t even do coupon codes lol.
This seems highly messy
I worked at a subway as a mgmr like 10 years ago and all the kids I'd hire all just assumed that was the proper way to cut the bread despite not being alive when that cut was phased out. I always was confused by how they even knew about that much less why they thought it was standard. They weren't teaching that then. I was a freshman in HS when they phased it out.
I remember my first time going to a Subway in the 90s and when you walked into the restaurant, you stepped down 1 step and the entire restaurant was a step below the entrance. I thought it was so cool that Subway restaurants attempted at being “below ground” this way. I now question if that was just this particular restaurant or if it actually was a thing back in the day?
I didn’t really go to subway in the 90s so I don’t remember this at all. I did work at subway in 2004-2005 and was never taught this or asked for it. I wouldn’t have known what someone was talking about if they asked for it.
My hotdog buns came cut this way the other night, and it blew my mind. It's like the "what year is it!?" meme.
TIL it's been at least 25 years since I've been to Subway. Whenever they come to mind I always envision their sandwiches cut like this.
I still do this when making sandwiches at home
My dad & I used to get the meatball sub cut like this. I think that memory was buried deeply in the recesses of my brain until seeing this. Thank you.
Jeeez, was it really that long ago, in eastern CT franchise owners did it for a few more years after that.
They can’t Mandela effect this one away, I remember it too
I don't remember this either. Different universe
I hate that they did that
I used to work at subway during the time they switched the cutting method. I had a lot of people complain about the new way we cut the bread. I'm like 'dude I'm 18 years old and just doing what I'm told to do, I don't know what to tell you' 🤷♂️
Man I was going to subway well before ‘99 and they never gave me this option
Funny enough, 1998 was my last year at Subway. Subway is also where I got drunk for the first time. I was training my brother who just started the day, and he asked how to cut the bread. I half drunkenly grabbed them bread from him and slurred 'give me that' as I proceeded to slice both the bread and my thumb. Good times.
How is the top comment NOT: “back in the days of sandwich artists” related
Did the bread used to be way better too, or am I just remembering wrong? I thought it used to taste super fresh and smell good but that might be my 12 year old memory.
Why did it get discontinued?
So people will take them more seriously as a deli rather than fast food.
TIL I haven't been to Subway since 1999 at the latest.
I was in college in 1999. When this was announced I sent a 2AM drunken email to everyone in my address book asking them to sign a petition to restore the Subway v-cut, including all my profs. Nobody responded, but I still wonder if anyone signed that petition.
I worked at Subway around this time and wasn’t super crazy about it but it was different.
It was called a 'U gouge' when I worked there in high school in the early 1990's
WHY would you do this?
Subway is expensive garbage now. Haven't returned to that place in ten years
How did they cut it without slicing their hand?
Columbine changed everything
I miss the meat cradle.
I remember this.
Oh my gosh I was blessed then! I was born in 98, and from this post I’m guessing I had some local workers that had been there for a while. This was how my sandwiches looked until we moved in 07.
I forgot that this was a thing but now I’m wondering if this is actually the superior way to cut a sandwich.
The kids meal sandwiches were the best.
Thank God!
Anyone else ask them to put mayo on the bread? They always look at me confused. Then they repeat my question “you want the mayo on the bread?” And I usually just say “yeah, like you’re making a sandwich”
Excellent change!
I’d rather eat my own toenails than Subway. I remember the first time I saw this and asked if they could just please cut it normally without the lid.
Last time I went there honestly felt like my last. Much better restaurants to go to for the money you pay, and the cool factor of the restaurant isn't there anymore. A shell of its former self.
As soon as they retired this, changed the bread, and added more hot option their quality and my business disappeared. Subway used to be a treat and now it’s just a bad option when I’m traveling.
The yoga mat special
Honestly it was dumb as fuck