To settle that big class-action lawsuit about exaggerating the size of its sandwiches, Subway has agreed to start measuring them. Nation’s Restaurant News got a look at the proposed deal, which still needs final approval in January, and reports that the job duties for sandwich artists may have just increased: “According to court documents filed late last month, the settlement deal includes requirements that franchisees measure bread to ensure that Footlong and 6-inch subs are the correct length.” Subway will also pay the attorneys’ fees (they come to nearly half a million dollars), and plaintiffs could be entitled to as much as $1,000 for the horror of consuming a slightly too-small sandwich.
This mess began in 2013 when a kid got miffed about his 11-inch Footlong and posted a photo of it that went viral. Subway tried to explain the disparity by saying, “With regards to the size of the bread and calling it a footlong, ‘Subway Footlong’ is a registered trademark as a descriptive name for the sub sold in Subway Restaurants and not intended to be a measurement of length,” but understandably, nobody liked that explanation. People went on lunch breaks with tape measures, a bunch of them sued, and somewhere along the way, the Post pretty accurately summed up the gravity of this national nightmare by reporting that customers who, heaven forbid, bought a $7 Footlong every other day would ultimately get shorted $100 over the course of a year. The rest of life’s problems will remain, but now at least, foot-long sandwiches will be 12 inches.
[NRN]
