The spacious restaurant with its chic lighting, flat-screen TVs, stuffed chairs, pastries and bistro sandwiches is not typical of Subway.
The bright images of vegetables that line the sandwich counter have been replaced by strands of wheat, the artwork is more sophisticated, and the smell of fresh-baked bread is gone. The decor and expanded menu are part of cafe concept being tested by the nation’s largest sandwich chain that aims to steal a portion of the breakfast market, lure coffee drinkers from its competitors and get customers to stick around for a while.
“Sometimes in our Subway locations, we want people to get up and go,” said Mark Roden, who opened a Subway Cafe in Flagstaff on Wednesday. “Here, we want people to stay.”