15 Discontinued Subway Products We May Never Get Back

Subway began in 1965 under the name Pete's Super Submarines (for financier Peter Buck). It took Subway until 1972 before it became the sandwich shop we know and love — and until 1974 before it began working as a franchise operation. Much of the chain's identity maintained that this was a healthy fast-food business, with fresh ingredients and an overall lighter menu. Customers could choose from an array of meats, veggies, cheeses, sauces, and breads to create their own sandwich, in addition to the ones already designed by the restaurant.

Fast-forward to today, where Subway operates just under 37,000 locations worldwide, making it the fourth-largest fast-food restaurant chain globally. (The top three are Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, McDonald's, and Starbucks, respectively.) To reach such behemoth status, Subway has had to keep their menu, well, fresh, after more than five decades in business. This means there has been a fairly significant amount of menu items that come and go from restaurant locations, even if those items have proven to be popular.

Subway is skillful at creating FOMO (fear of missing out) by releasing numerous limited-time deals and products. Occasionally, those products make repeat appearances but others are a one-time deal: If you miss out, it's goodbye from Subway. For a delicious retrospective, Foodie has compiled 15 Subway products that have since disappeared from stores ... and, yes, we may never see them again.

If you ever found yourself strolling into a Subway and thinking, "Man, I wish I could order a pizza and a sandwich in one place at the same time," Subway had the answer to your prayers. The Flatizza was born in 2014 to appeal to customers who wanted a classic pizzeria taste at the sandwich shop. It was available in four varieties: Cheese, Pepperoni, Spicy Italian (which was the Pepperoni with the addition of Genoa salami), and Veggie (which was topped with onions, tomatoes, green peppers, and olives). Served on a square-shaped crispy flatbread, these creations were cut into four slices and seemed poised to be a hit.

But it wasn't meant to be. Even though customers enjoyed the economical $5 price tag per Flatizza, it wasn't enough to keep the item in Subway stores. After less than a year on the menu, Subway discontinued the Flatizza in 2015, and it hasn't been seen since.

Speaking of economical offerings from Subway, the $5 footlong is one that resonates with anyone who remembers the catchy jingle. The deal was introduced in 2008 and led to a huge increase in profits for the company –– to the tune of $3.8 billion in 2008-2009. However, it wasn't such a delicious deal for individual franchise owners.

While plenty of customers loaded up on $5 footlong sandwiches, Subway franchisees didn't see quite as much bread. The increased costs of food as well as labor began to eat away at their profit margins, and so the $5 footlong deal began to disappear from restaurants in 2012. By November 2014, the deal was gone everywhere and replaced with the Simple $6 promotion that saw customers receive a 6-inch sub, drink, and chips or cookies. The $5 footlong deal did return briefly for select subs in 2018, and once again in 2020 to boost flagging sales before being put to bed for good.

Subway tried its hand at creating another pizza item, this time with a sandwich: the Chicken Pizziola. Introduced in 2003, the Chicken Pizziola sandwich had chicken breast, pepperoni, tomatoes, cheese, and marinara sauce. It was a hot sandwich that saw the cheese melt for the characteristic cheese pull that's vital in so many pizzas. A mashup of pizza and chicken parmesan, it looked ready to fill an Italy-sized hole in Subway customers' stomachs.

One would think the sandwich would be a hit and staple on menus 20-plus years later, and yet it has disappeared from restaurants everywhere. (With the exception of Subway locations in Lebanon, which still offer the Chicken Pizziola.) Instead, the sandwich vanished and was last advertised in 2013 as part of the company's "Italian Collection."  

Subway really likes to stretch its culinary muscles and move beyond what it does best (or at least adequately), which is why it wanted to take a bite out of fast food's breakfast and begin offering their own. Starting in 2010, Subway restaurants began offering their customers something delicious to start their days as well as satisfy their lunchtime needs. The breakfast menu included wraps, sandwiches, and flatbreads with the morning classics of bacon, eggs, sausage, and ham.

The thing is, Subway didn't really push their marketing department to inform their customers that breakfast was now available at their local sandwich joint. Roughly 40% of customers admitted they didn't stop at Subway in the morning and 19% didn't even know breakfast was an option. And locations axed breakfast in 2018 across the country. (Although if you're still craving a Subway brekkie, take a trip north of the border to Canada, which saw four new breakfast items added to menus in 2024.)

A hearty option for those following a vegetarian diet or anyone just looking to reduce their meat intake, Subway partnered with Beyond Meat to introduce the Beyond Meat Meatball Marinara, a sub that was made with plant-based meatballs. The sandwich was a delicious one beloved by vegetarians and omnivores alike, thanks to crowd-pleasing ingredients like marinara sauce and melty cheese, and the robust, seasoned meatballs that are almost the real deal. The toasty sandwich was on the menu in more than 600 locations in the United States and Canada, but appeared to be a limited-time thing.

To the dismay of many customers, the Beyond Meat Meatball Marinara was discontinued in North America by 2020. Two years later, Subway customers in the United Kingdom faced the same fate, as the sandwich was removed from restaurant menus. Of course, you can always make your own version of a vegan meatball sub.

A fairly new addition to the Subway menu (and, unfortunately, to the list of discontinued menu items), the Caramel Brownie Cookie made its first appearance in 2020 on National Cookie Day –– December 4. Made with a chocolate brownie-type dough, chocolate chunks, caramel chunks, and finished with a caramel drizzle, it's easy to see why this cookie was so beloved by fans and chocoholics alike. 

From the beginning, the cookies were advertised as being only available for a limited time, but that didn't stop rabid Subway fans from demanding they come back on a permanent basis. In 2021, the company trotted these cookies out again, but only for a limited time. Since then, they haven't been seen in stores. If you really need to satisfy your cookie craving, try whipping up a batch yourself –– and don't forget a must-try secret ingredient, such as milk powder. 

If you have a hankering for seafood at your next Subway stop, you'll have to settle for tuna, because the Seafood Sensation has disappeared from stores. Despite petitions to bring back this imitation crab-and-mayonnaise sandwich, Subway hasn't listened to fans –– at least, not in the United States.

The Seafood Sensation originally had two incarnations: The Seafood & Crab, which was born in the 1980s, and the Seafood & Lobster, which arrived in 1990, owing to the popularity of the first seafood-style sammie. The Seafood & Crab was renamed in 2004 the Seafood Sensation after the lobster version was phased out. By 2018, the sandwich was removed from menus altogether. Those who are craving some Subway-style seafood (the sandwich was a blend of snow crab, Alaskan pollock, and Pacific whiting) can take a trip Down Under: Australia brought the Seafood Sensation back in 2020 after fans demanded its return for two years.

Looking to muscle in on the space reserved for authentic BBQ and BBQ-style sandwiches, Subway ventured into brisket territory with a limited-time release of the Naturally Pit-Smoked Brisket Sandwich. The fast-food chain tried to impress upon discerning customers that this was the real deal, with the brisket smoked for 13 hours to achieve its complex flavor. (For the record, briskets can take anywhere from 15-24 hours to smoke properly.) They even claimed that real pit-masters had been tasked with helping them achieve an authentic taste, although the names of these pit-masters were never revealed to the public. Finishing the sandwich were barbecue sauce and cheese.

Unfortunately, not all customers appreciated the effort, with NYC BBQ founder Sean Ludwig calling the sandwich "a disgrace to BBQ." Ouch. The sandwich was only a limited release when it appeared in 2019 and has never made a return to restaurant menus.

The Jalapeño Cheddar Bread went through a few iterations before Subway felt it had earned its spot in the bread lineup and added it to stores on a semi-permanent basis in 2014. (It had previously appeared in 2003 and 2007.) It was initially intended as a limited release, lasting only six weeks before Subway pulled it yet again. Then, finally, in 2019, it reappeared, this time as the suggested vehicle for the Southwest Chipotle Chicken Club sandwich.

Unfortunately, the return of the Jalapeño Cheddar Bread was not meant to be: Stores began quietly removing the loaves from their locations. Despite petitions to bring the bread back, perhaps its rollercoaster history is one of the reasons it hasn't made a permanent return: In a Mashed poll, 37% of respondents said the Jalapeño Cheddar Bread was the one loaf they would never order at the sandwich chain. Spicy bread does still have some fans, though: In October 2024, Subway introduced its new Ghost Pepper Bread alongside two fiery sandwich flavors.

Sure, you could have chips on the side of your sandwich, but adding this crunchy snack food directly into your sandwich is a great way to bring texture and flavor. Subway saw the genius behind this move when they created their Fritos Chicken Enchilada Melt. The sandwich featured pulled chicken, enchilada sauce, and Fritos corn chips, plus whatever other toppings the customer might want to add. Introduced to menus in 2014, it faced stiff competition from other fast-food heavyweights. That same year, Taco Bell revealed its own Frito-Lay creation: The Doritos Locos Taco, which became the restaurant chain's most popular product ever.

It seemed that Subway — which had started the sandwich with a bang — ended it with a whimper. After its limited-edition release, it has never returned to Subway menus, despite major pushes from passionate fans. There's even an account on X dedicated to calling for the return of the Fritos Chicken Enchilada Melt to Subway stores.

Once upon a time, Subway customers could visit one of the restaurant's locations and order a sandwich with oven-roasted chicken breast. It was a perfectly shaped fillet with grill marks that let customers know what they were eating was wholesome, natural, and real. Or so they thought.

In a 2017 study conducted by CBC Marketplace, DNA researchers allegedly discovered that the oven-roasted chicken breast actually only contained about 53.6% chicken DNA. The rest of the "chicken" was said to be soy protein. Naturally, Subway cried "fowl" at this so-called discovery and sued for defamation, to the tune of $210 million. The suit was thrown out (though in 2021 the Ontario Court of Appeal gave the lawsuit a green light), but Subway wasn't satisfied. Instead, they sent their chicken to two independent labs to verify its contents, which revealed that the chicken was almost entirely chicken, with less than 1% accounting for soy protein, spices, etc. Nonetheless, the damage was done and Subway quietly removed the oven-roasted chicken breast from store menus in 2022.

A former seasonal menu item, the Orchard Chicken Salad Sandwich from Subway featured apples, dried cranberries, and raisins mixed in with your standard creamy chicken salad for a bite that was sweet, tangy, crunchy, and juicy. It seemed to tick all the boxes on customers' taste buds, but that wasn't enough for it to stick around.

It was a limited time offering and the last time it was announced appears to be somewhere around 2011, according to a Facebook post from the sandwich chain. However, even the comments on that post were mixed, with some calling the Orchard Chicken Salad Sandwich  "gross" while others claimed it was one of their favorites. Perhaps it was those strong differences of opinion that have left this sandwich in the past. For those who are still craving the sweet, tangy, creamy, and crunchy delight, though, there are plenty of copycat recipes available.

It's always surprising when a store, restaurant, or brand decides to discontinue an item that was beloved by customers, but it's even more of a head-scratcher when they decide to do away with the classics. Enter: Subway's Peanut Butter Cookie. A mainstay on any cookie roster, peanut butter cookies should be a given when it comes to any restaurant that's selling cookies for sugar-craving cookie fiends. Instead, fans were left devastated when the cookie was removed from stores sometime around 2019. "Bring back peanut butter cookies at Subway!" one petition reads.

The brand that supplies Subway locations with its cookies –– Otis Spunkmeyer –– does still have the peanut butter cookies available, according to their website, but Subway locations no longer offer them for sale. Customers seeking nutty cookies will simply have to content themselves with the White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie instead.

Ciabatta, a rustic Italian-style bread loaf that has a crispy outside and chewy interior, arrived on Subway menus in 2019 to add some international flair to the standard sandwiches. Available in three sandwich varieties, hungry customers could try the new baked-in-house bread on the Italian, the Chicken Pesto, and the Garlic Steak & Provolone. Subway really leaned into the new Italian idea by offering fresh mozzarella on the Italian and Chicken Pesto sandwiches as well.

Like many delicious items offered by Subway, the Ciabatta Collection was a limited-time release, and didn't make it into 2020. However, before you say "arrivederci" to ciabatta entirely, you can take a trip up north to Canada: In 2024, Subway locations announced the release of a new series of breakfast sandwiches to be served up on none other than delicious ciabatta bread. 

While the $5 footlong has become a thing of the past, that hasn't stopped Subway from rolling out numerous iterations of other foot-long treats. Cookies, churros, and pretzels have all gotten the footlong treatment from the sandwich chain, as well as one item that was only available for a single day at a single location.

In honor of National Potato Chip Day in 2023, one Subway location in Frisco, Texas offered customers a fragile, footlong Baked Lays Potato Chip. According to the company's press release, customers who purchased a Subway Series footlong meal could snag the massive tater for free –– at least while supplies lasted. Likely owing to the delicate nature of the spud side (which came in its own cardboard box for safe transport), Subway has declined to bring back the footlong chip, instead opting for sturdier fare that can handle the size increase.