Went to Subway today for lunch. (Don't judge, I had a really good coupon). The kid making my sammich liked my shirt (It's my Nicky Hayden Ducati 09 test bike. The one with the American flag fairings.) I asked if he rides. He says no but I want to. He asked if I had any advice. I told him regardless if he's financially ready to buy a bike, take the MSF course or whatever the fuck it's called these days. Get your license so when you're ready to buy, you've already that out of the way. On top of lower insurance and skipping the riding test at the DMV.
He asks how long I've been riding. I had to do the math really quick. I started at 21, I'm 38 now, so 17 years. He says daannng, you look really young. Well aren't you the nicest person.
At first he forgot to apply the coupon and the price was 12.99 for a footlong. Then he applied it down to 7.99 which is not bad considering the '5 dollar footlong' used to the standard for a long time. Holy fuck, there's no sandwich at Subway worth 13 dollars. My local sandwich spot that makes high quality sandwiches ranges 13-15 bucks and these are sandwiches I'd put up against any hoity toity pinky up sandwich restaurant. I understand inflation but Subway is just slightly better than a sandwich I make at midnight after 5 beers.
But then I thought In n Out's prices haven't skyrocketed in the past 20ish years. If they can keep their prices down while also paying their employees considerably better than other fast food places, why can't they do the same? What does In n Out know that they don't? This is why I hate these In n Out/Five Guys comparisons. Even if you say Five Guys is better, how much does a burger there cost? If you think it's better, it fuckin better be. It costs like twice the price.
On that tangent, I've noticed The Habit has backed their prices down. Or rather, some of the extra ingredients aren't additional charges anymore. They're an above average fast food burger but the standard burger is just bun and patty. It used to be like, you want chesse? Dollar. You want lettuce? 50 cents. You want pickle? 50 cents. All of the sudden your 8 dollar burger is now 12 dollars because you added stuff onto it you just get for free at most places. Could be location specific, I just noticed that change at my local Habit.