I predict that in 2006 Quiznos will become much more popular and profitable than Subway. Why, you ask? Because Quiznos is similar to Web 2.0 and Subway is similar to Web 1.0.
Web 2.0 is a term whose meaning has been debated over and over again. I will not rehash that debate here. Rather, I will point to one commonly agreed-upon descriptor of Web 2.0, “simple to use.” Applications, sites and programs that are Web 2.0 are all simple to use. No one wants extra or complicated steps thrown into their web experience. They want clean, simple and to the point. Web 1.0 was about features, the more features the better. Web 2.0 is about simplicity.
Likewise, I don’t want my fast food experience to be more complicated, I don’t want more steps; I want fewer steps. I want to be in control but I want that control to be easy to wield; after all I’m hungry, I want good tasting food fast. This is where Subway has dropped the ball. Ordering a sandwich at Subway is too complicated and takes too long.
When you go into Subway you’re first faced with deciding what kind of sandwich you want, a difficult choice in and of itself. Then you have to decide on the kind of bread, the size (6 inch or 12,) whether you want cheese or not and if you want it toasted (a blatant rip-off from Quiznos.) Finally you’re faced with a labyrinth of choices for toppings. You have to tell them exactly what toppings you want one by one. What’s more, there are no “standard” toppings for any given sandwich. Recently I ordered a Chicken and Bacon Ranch sub. I had never ordered one of these before so I asked the “sandwich engineer” what toppings were normally put on this sandwich, they responded with “Whatever you want.” Clearly they didn’t understand that I was dreadfully hungry and wanted a tasty sandwich quickly with a minimum of choices. Would this sandwich taste good with black olives or would they ruin the sandwich? Should I get mayo as well as the Ranch dressing? These were all questions I had to ask myself and all went unanswered. There were no toppings that were automatically put on the sandwich. The only standard topping was the chicken. In fact, if I hadn’t told them to, they wouldn’t have put Ranch dressing on my Chicken Bacon and Ranch sandwich.
Juxtaposed to Subway’s shotgun approach to ordering a sandwich is Quiznos common-sense approach. I recently went to Quiznos and ordered a sandwich; they asked what size I wanted (small, regular or large) and if there was anything I didn’t want on the sandwich. By asking me what I didn’t want instead of what I did want made the process 200% easier. After that, they knew exactly what to do and started making my sandwich. There were standard toppings, I didn’t have to choose them one at a time, and as a result I knew that my lunch was going to taste great. After all, Quiznos should know better than me what tastes good on that particular sandwich, shouldn’t they?
Quiznos has taken the Subway model of fast-food sandwiches and streamlined the process. As a result Quiznos has created a company that is similar to the Web 2.0 experience. A user interface that is easy to use and results in a more pleasing fast-food sandwich experience.
