A $9.80 Turkey Sub Beat Two $7.99 Rivals. Here's Why

Business Insider put the same ordinary sandwich in front of three chains. The cheapest option finished last.

Three counters, one sandwich, one winner

A Business Insider reporter ordered a plain turkey sandwich at Jersey Mike's, Subway and Jimmy John's, took each one as the chain builds it by default, and compared bread, meat, produce and value. All three chains sell a version of her usual lunch, which made the comparison unusually clean. Jersey Mike's won outright. The other two were, in her words, passable — fine in a pinch, not worth a special trip.

$9.80 for seven inches, $7.99 for five and a half

The receipts tell their own story. Jersey Mike's regular sub, just under seven inches, cost $9.80 before tax, about $1.40 an inch. Subway's six-inch turkey cost $7.99 and measured closer to five and a half inches, about $1.33 an inch. Jimmy John's Turkey Tom, eight inches, also cost $7.99 — roughly a dollar an inch, the best length for money in the test. The chain that charged the least per inch finished last.

Subway's answer was customization, not flavor

Asked about the review, a Subway spokesperson did not dispute the tasting notes. "For over 60 years, Subway has been built on customization," the statement said, adding that any sandwich can be tailored with extra cheese or protein, different vegetables and adjusted condiments. That matches the chain's September campaign, which leans on freshly sliced meats, bread baked daily and heavy vegetable builds. But the reviewer bought the standard build and saw no reason to come back for it.

Sliced to order, finished with "the juice"

At Jersey Mike's, the reporter watched staff slice turkey and provolone behind the counter. Her sub held at least five slices of turkey and three of cheese, and both were noticeably moist. The bread was soft with a crusty edge, and the Mike's Way finish — oil, red wine vinegar, oregano and salt — turned a plain turkey sub into something closer to an Italian sandwich. There was no mayonnaise in it. Her one complaint: the lettuce, tomato and onion soaked in that dressing during a 30-minute drive home and lost their crunch.

Where the other two fell short

Subway was generous with turkey, but the slices were paper-thin, dry and reminiscent of supermarket deli meat. The lettuce was crisp, the tomato thick and the red onion sharp — arguably too sharp for turkey. Jimmy John's Turkey Tom came with turkey, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise, no cheese. The eight-inch length impressed her; the sandwich did not. She found it short on both flavor and filling, and the much-praised French bread did not rescue it. Tasting Table's 2023 ranking of Jimmy John's sandwiches also placed the Turkey Tom near the bottom.

Two losers, one owner

Set the sandwiches aside and the ownership chart is stranger than the review. Subway was sold to Roark Capital in April 2024 for a reported $9.6 billion. Roark-backed Inspire Brands bought Jimmy John's in October 2019. So both chains that lost share an ultimate owner, while the winner, Jersey Mike's, belongs to Blackstone, which announced an $8 billion majority-stake deal in November 2024 and closed it early the following year.

A $1.4 million store against a third of that

The operating numbers explain the gap on the plate. Subway's US footprint has shrunk from more than 27,000 locations in 2015 to fewer than 19,000, with more than 700 closures in 2025 alone. Jersey Mike's runs more than 3,300 stores and booked about $4.3 billion in systemwide sales in 2025, up 13%. Its average store turns over roughly $1.4 million a year, about three times an average Subway. Slicing to order costs labor and equipment, and the bill shows up in the price and the queue.

Trading below its $23 IPO price

Jersey Mike's priced its IPO at $23 a share on July 29, sold about 43.5 million shares and raised $1 billion before listing on the NYSE as JMKE the next day. By September 23 the stock sat at $17.76, a market value of about $4.1 billion and well under the offer price. Winning a taste test has not yet won the valuation argument, which helps explain the expansion talk: management says the US alone could hold about 7,500 restaurants.

Subway's countermove: a new store format

Subway is not standing still. On October 8 it unveiled Blueprint, a redesigned restaurant format for Europe, the Middle East and Africa; from January 1, 2027 every new store and remodel in the region will follow it, and the company wants to nearly double its footprint there within five years. Its UK estate stood at 2,081 restaurants at the start of the year, after 51 closures last year, and Subway has signed a 300-unit master franchise deal across five Central European countries over ten years.

Jimmy John's bets on a pickle

Jimmy John's is taking a different route: in October it launched five Picklewich sandwiches in Canada, swapping the bread for a whole dill pickle. The chain has about 2,700 US locations, and its parent, Inspire Brands, filed confidentially for an IPO in May. Losing one turkey comparison is not existential. Losing traffic is.

What a shopper should take away

Read as a buying guide, the test is simple. Jimmy John's gives the most inches per dollar. Jersey Mike's costs $9.80 against $7.99 and returns more meat, better bread and a dressing that does real work. Subway hands the decision back to the customer, which is a fair defense and also an admission: the default build is the one that lost.