Subway's Footlong Cookies Are Finally Returning After Massive Demand
If you missed out on the very brief debut of Subway Sidekicks, Subway's footlong menu, back in January, you're in luck: The national sandwich retailer is reintroducing the Footlong Chocolate Chip Cookie to its menus. The news was shared with Daily Meal via email, proudly reminding fans that Subway sold 3.5 million Sidekicks in the first week after receiving major traffic from hungry cookie lovers. However, Subway went through a big menu change shortly after the Footlong Cookie was offered to fans, as restaurants could not keep up with the rush of demand. A mere two weeks after its arrival, the extra-long doughy dessert was unavailable online, in the app, and in most stores. Thankfully, the popular item is available yet again as of May 29, 2024, taking its place amongst other Subway Sidekicks such as Auntie Anne's footlong pretzel and footlong Cinnabon churro. The Footlong Cookie is priced at $5, hinting at a possible callback to the iconic $5 footlong sandwich deal that Subway ditched back in 2018.
According to a nationwide survey conducted by Subway, 70% of participants claimed that the return of the Footlong Chocolate Chip Cookie would "brighten their day." This was especially true amongst Millennials (75%) and Gen Z (77%) customers, who may have been too young to remember the iconic $5 footlong of Subway's past but are eager to take advantage of the twelve-inch dessert deal.
The $5 Footlong Cookie was met with 'unprecedented demand'
The Subway Sidekicks menu lasted just two weeks before its massive popularity caused a Footlong Cookie scarcity. In Subway's press release discussing the cookie's return, Subway's Senior Vice President of Culinary and Innovation Paul Fabre shared that "Subway worked diligently to rush additional Footlong Cookie supply, [after the] unprecedented demand" from Subway customers. The excitement for an extra large version of Subway's already-beloved cookies was massively underestimated during the initial rollout; a mistake that Subway is not likely to make again.
The nationwide shortage has been stressing out Subway customers and employees alike. According to a Reddit thread, one user and apparent Subway employee wrote in March, "We were lucky to get a box last week after a month of ordering." Another user was surprised to hear that cookies were sent at all during the time of the shortage, stating, "At my subway barely anyone gets the sidekicks and if they do almost every time it's the churro or pretzel." After months of confusion regarding supply and demand, the Footlong Cookies are back at Subway restaurants nationwide beginning today, and hopefully this time they stay a while.