Subs are indeed good, but Subway's success astonishes me. It's about the worst sub shop I've ever been to. Now, that's not knocking them TOO bad - their sandwiches are generally tasty, but that's basically because you just can't screw up a sub too much
. Still though, by comparison Firehouse, Larry's, Jersey Mike's, Quizno's, etc all have better subs IMHO. Some of them just want to charge too much for them though. That said, the local Subway's have all raised their prices lately too, so it's evening out.
Back to burgers. I'll agree on the shifting of the mindset. I'm a young-ish person (28), and when thinking of fast food burger joints I visit them literally about 4-5 times per year tops (and I actually eat out almost every meal - I'm single and don't cook much
). Part of it is that I only want a burger but so often, but the other part is that when I DO want a burger, those places make a poor product. Burgers are not conducive to being cooked fast, nor are they stored well. If I WANT a burger, than a bar and grill will cook up a heck of a nice one for only about 25% to 30% more money. You'll just have to sit down and wait on it.
If I'm in a hurry, I'm more likely to eat things that CAN be made fast, or store well:
cold-cut sandwiches - not only subs but general deli's are becoming more and more popular lately
tacos - usually the meat on these can be kept simmering in a crock-pot for hours and end and is still great
sushi - fresh out the case and made immediately
chicken fingers (or fried chicken sandwiches - basically chicken other than large fried traditional cuts) - drop em' in the fryer and let em go for a few minutes and they're great.
The sandwich thing I think is the main thing. Around here, we've had the same burger joints since I was a kid: BK, McD's, Hardees, Wendys. While I was growing up Sonics came to town, and lately Jack in the Box has been coming closer (there were some around the college town that I was at for school, but back home there are none yet). So 1 more place open here in that time.
Compare to the rise in sandwich shops that I've seen spring up, all since being a kid. When I was a kid there was ONE place in town: Substation II. Since then I've seen spring up close to here: Subway, Blimpie's, Quiznos, Jersey Mike's, Zero's, Schlotskys, Firehouse, Larry's Giant Subs, McAllister's, and Jason's Deli.
That market is just growing faster.
And I'm still trying to place Arby's somewhere in this mix. They're not a burger joint for sure, but they have a different feel from most deli's. IE, most of their stuff still comes with french fries and they have milkshakes and such like a burger joint. I think they're kind of a transitional entity between the two
.
