The challenge
Subway needed to reduce single-use plastic bags in its stores. Municipalities across the U.S. and dozens of countries were taxing or banning single-use bags, and Subway had an initiative underway to reduce and eliminate them where possible. The plan was to replace the bag with a label on the sandwich wrap. But sandwich artists wear loose plastic gloves, and every standard label adhesive stuck directly to those gloves, which made the labels hard to apply. Again and again, sandwich artists pulled a label from the roll, tried to seal the sandwich, and ended up with the label stuck to their gloves instead of sealing the wrap.
Subway had been working on the problem for years. Other suppliers could not get the adhesive construction right. Without a label that would release cleanly from a gloved hand, the bag elimination program could not move forward. It was a sticky situation.
What we did
Our team engineered a custom label construction from scratch. The work had two parts:
- A patterned adhesive that bonds to the sandwich wrapper and releases from a gloved hand, so sandwich artists can dispense and apply labels without anything sticking to their gloves.
- A custom label dispenser, designed and supplied by our team, that holds the roll at the counter and presents each label by a non-adhesive tab for one-handed dispensing.
We also produced the branded SubWrap label itself, developed the in-store corporate operation guidelines, and created staff setup instructions that went to every location.
Long before Subway corporate scaled the program nationwide, Label Systems Inc. self-funded grassroots training with Subway franchisees at regional and international conventions. Our team trained sandwich artists directly, ran hands-on demonstrations at Subway’s full-scale convention store booths, and worked through the challenges franchise owners and sandwich artists were facing at the store level. Those years of groundwork gave Subway corporate the confidence to take the program nationwide.
When Subway decided to scale, we coordinated production across four facilities in four states at the same time. Our production director stayed on-site through the Christmas holiday break to keep the rollout on schedule.
Project details
- Label type: Custom sandwich wrap seal label (SubWrap) with patterned adhesive construction
- Application: Applied by gloved sandwich artists to seal wrapped sandwiches at point of service
- Dispenser: Custom label dispenser designed, sourced, and supplied by Label Systems Inc.
- Initial rollout: 30,000+ U.S. store locations (2018 launch)
- Volume: 480 million labels produced for the initial U.S. rollout
- Fulfillment timeline: Approximately 2.5 months
- Production coordination: Four facilities across four states
- Franchisee cost savings: 3-5% annually using SubWrap labels versus the cost of plastic bags
- Plastic bag reduction: Millions of plastic bags eliminated
- International expansion: Rolled out to Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia, and South America, reaching roughly 48,000 stores worldwide
- Program duration: Ongoing: Label Systems Inc. continues to supply Subway’s dispensers and certain labels
- Additional deliverables: Corporate operation guidelines, staff dispenser instructions, and branded point-of-sale materials
The result
The program launched across Subway’s U.S. store base in 2018 and ran on schedule. Franchisees saved 3-5% annually using SubWrap labels versus the cost of plastic bags, and the program has eliminated millions of plastic bags. Subway came into compliance with plastic bag restrictions across more than 30 U.S. states and dozens of countries with active or pending bans. Label Systems Inc. continues to supply Subway’s dispensers and certain labels today.
The label went through three to four design revisions over time, keeping the same core construction and adhesive pattern across different shapes and sizes. It also became a promotional vehicle, including a special World Sandwich Day version carrying a QR-code coupon. Subway adopted the program internationally, with Label Systems Inc. supplying the label construction and materials for the global rollout.
From the team
“People ask us all the time how a smaller DFW label company landed a program of that scale. The answer is that nobody else solved the glove problem. We went back to the drawing board on the adhesive construction, built the dispenser ourselves, and delivered 480 million labels in about two and a half months. The bigger companies had every advantage except the persistence and determination to solve the issue at hand.”
Amy Van Brunt, CEO, Label Systems Inc.
