Subway, McDonald’s beverages and Chipotle

This should surprise no one but Subway has launched its first-ever value menu. The sandwich giant is now offering 15 items under $5 at participating stores. The inaugural menu features Deli Faves, including four classic and customizable six-inch subs, including two new ones: a Spicy Pepperoni and a Ham & Salami sandwich. The value menu also includes the relatively new Protein Pockets at $3.99 and a Sub of the Day, from Meatball Monday to Spicy Italian Sunday. The value wars have intensified this year with both McDonald’s and Taco Bell launching value menus focusing on the $3 price point.

McDonald’s is expanding its beverage lineup. The fast-food chain unveiled, officially, a list of a half-dozen new drinks to hit its menu starting May 6, including a strawberry watermelon refresher, mango pineapple refresher and a blackberry passionfruit refresher. There’s also a trio of crafted sodas, including a Sprite Berry Blast, an Orange Dream and Dirty Dr. Pepper. With this launch, McDonald’s is keeping pace with the fast-growing beverage category driven by specialists like 7 Brew and Dutch Bros.

Papa Johns has a new pizza assistant. The pizza chain introduced Lou AI, an artificial intelligence-powered pizza assistant designed to streamline the group ordering experience. Lou AI is the first AI-powered platform deployed through Google Cloud’s Food Ordering agent and was created to deliver a personalized and intuitive group ordering process, according to the company.

The system acts as a digital concierge that anticipates varying preferences within a group, adapts in real time, and then guides users to decisions. The company said it eliminates the need for scrolling while coming up with the right volume and mix of items. It was named after Papa Johns first hometown of Louisville, Ky.