i think the issue is the way they enter the meal....common sense may tell you the veggie sandwich is less product they are using, but common sense means nothing if their system reads the special as one thing and the veggie delight as another. You're basically asking them to make an exception for you and bend/break the rules. Can't blame the employee for not wanting to get in trouble.
Next time walk in with an Ipad and show them the statistic value of the sandwich with(+)meat and without(-) The sandwich value should not change due to persons perceived value. Also showing how not adding the meat is actually more efficient than removing it. You'll will then always get your sandwich for 5 bucks!
The real issue is that Subway may not be using a "cost plus" pricing model (e.g., the ingredient cost + some markup). They know that vegetarians likely are higher income, "enlightened folk" more likely to pay a premium.
Vegetarians would always yell at me when I worked at Pappasitos. They would order vegetable quesadillas which were not on the menu. To make them I would have to order chicken dillas and put in a $1 subcharge for the change. I would warn them about the charge before ordering the meal, yet almost every time I was lectured about how the meal should be cheaper because it did not have meat. If only they understood that is how I had to ring it up!! You people, vegetarians, can be mean!
as a vegetarian it always upsets me seeing vegetarian options at places costing more than their meat counterparts or getting charged the same as something with meat -- normally this happens at sandwich places. It is frustrating - and I cant speak for durvasa here but at least for me its not as simple as "taking off the meat" once its put on the sandwich the meat touched the other things in the sandwich whatever juices etc from the meat touched the vegetables its a religious and cultural thing for me. I've tried to ask before for a meat sandwich at places before and asked them to hold the meat and i've had the employee look at me and say "why not order the veggie sandwich then?" and I tell them that the meat version is cheaper and he goes that I cant order like that and I've asked him why not and he didnt know what to say. But it sucks - the cafe downstairs in our office they'll have a few specials daily i've ordered a breakfast burrito w/o meat and they had the sausage & egg burrito on special so when I told the guy I had a breakfast burrito he asked me the sausage one? i said no and he charged me an extra dollar and I asked him why that was when I ordered the same exact thing just with less of his product so why was I getting charged more and he said it was because I didnt order the special. So i said i did order the special but I decided to hold the sausage and he said no its too late since he knows i just ordered a breakfast burrito. His boss came in and told him to stop being stupid and charge me the lower price but I understand Durv's frustration here it happens to all of us vegetarians at some point or the other.
Go to McDonalds and order a Big Mac and fries and then complain about how it costs more to do that than it would if you had just ordered the Big Mac meal that comes with the burger, fries, and a drink. Should go over well.
Assuming it was loaded down with more veggies that a typical person gets on a sandwich that has meat, it probably actually costs them more to make the veggie over a meat sandwich. That meat is produced in much higher quantities due to our meat heavy diets, therefore making it cheaper. But they should have not argued with you anyway. Loss of a potential customer is worth more than $1. (then again it is Subway so they do not care)
It's not just one dollar..it's durvasa we're talking about here. If he ordered one subway special every week for 10 years, he would save around 520 dollars. I'm working on a pie graph right now.
Consider yourself lucky. Most places don't even have cannibalism options. And when they do, they charge a HUGE mark up.
Again, you falsely assume that all restaurants should have a "cost-plus" pricing model.....e.g., ingredient cost plus some markup. That's not the case. They know many vegetarians will pay more for meat-free food. In addition, there is extra complexity introduced into the food preparation when you start doing special orders and changing their pre-set ingredients in each item. It reduces the operations' efficiency.
I go to McDonald's and order a Double Cheeseburger with no cheese. When I ordered a double hamburger it was always about $1.50 because they don't have it on the menu and they just charge you for 2 hamburgers. A double cheeseburger is on the 1.00 menu. I never have any issue from them when I order it that way.
I had an ex who was a hardcore veggie.. vegan? I'm not sure which one is which, but it wasn't for religious reasons. NOR was it for health reasons. She's a veggie because she thinks it's a crime the way we slaughter animals. I think that has to be one of the worst reasons for being a vegetarian, especially in her case--but that's for another story. Also I didn't know vegetarian food is more expensive than meat until I dated her.
Here's the story behind it. I'm in a third world country at a McDonald's because I don't have any other options that won't give me diarrhea at this point, and your everyday American family walks in. About 10 minutes later, the mom storms up to the counter and starts bickering with the staff about something. Throwing her arms up in the arm, showing despair, acting like some genocide has just occurred, and I'm semi ignoring it because it's just another DonnyMost outside of his comfort zone getting a little cranky. But then we get to the climax, and all I hear is "THIS IS NOT. A. MCFLURRYYYYYY" followed by a tray dropping from the air onto the counter. And the woman grabs her kids and goes storming off like any warm blooded fast food aficionado would. It was beautiful.
