May I Please Speak to the Manager?

With all of this talk about changes Subway needs to make, it occurred to me that I needed to do more than jabber on into the blogosphere and hope that someone would hear me. So I took the liberty of calling the three stores I noted as the three I visit most frequently, in the hopes that I could talk to the managers and get some insight into their own food sanitation procedures.

So I called the Irvine store, explained that I was a student doing a school project on Subway, and asked if I could chat with the manager for a few minutes about what kinds of food safety precautions Subway takes to avoid allergy attacks. The manager informed me that she was much, much too busy to talk to me--even for a few minutes-- until Saturday, which is conveniently after my project is due.

I called the Orange store and used the same explanation. The manager asked me to hold on for a moment and promptly disconnected the phone call.

So I called the Mission Viejo store, and explained that I was calling because my friend Mike has severe food allergies and I was concerned about bringing him there because of cross-contamination. Our conversation was brief-- this was during the lunch rush and she was eager to get off of the phone-- but here's an excerpt of what was said:

Me: "He's just really concerned because he says you guys don't clean your knives, it makes him afraid to eat there."
Manager: "No, we clean them."
Me: "In between each order?"
Manager: "No, we clean every two-- I don't know. We clean them."
Me: "If we came in, would you be able to wash the knife or get a new one for him?"
Manager: "Yeah, we could. If he asked then we would."
Me: "What about the gloves?"
Manager: "Yeah, everything. We could clean the knives and counters and get clean gloves for him. When are you coming in? Tomorrow? We'll do it for him."

The bottom line, bloggers? It's up to us to keep Subway accountable for their food handling practices. When I asked the manager if she could clean the knives between each order, she reiterated that she would if the customer asked. The managers don't seem to think cleanliness is a problem, but they're willing to accomodate those who do. Hopefully this blog-- which I intend to mail the link to to all three managers-- will convince them to step up their food safety procedures. But in the meantime, speak up; it seems to be the only way to help prevent a reaction.

Want a clean one of these? Looks like you'll have to speak up.