It must have been your local shop. The quality at each of the Subways we've been to, whether in Hualien on Taiwan, in the UK, or in Canada or the US, has been very consistent, and worth the money, in my book.

And the the reason they are the biggest fast food chain is that their overheads are much lower than for the others. They can squeeze into quite small properties, which reduces that cost substantially, along with the fact they don't have grills and deep friers going all the time. The ingredients are relatively simple, and the staffing levels minimal. And you can see what is going into each creation.