Penn Station Rolls Out New Cold Sandwich and Wrap Offerings for Customers

Penn Station has dominated the grilled sub category for the last 35 years. In fact, the company has built 310 restaurants on the quality it provides in its grilled sub offerings and is showing no signs of slowing down. As the years have gone by, new trends continue to arise.

For example, 20 years ago, carryout was a much smaller part of Penn Station’s overall menu mix. Today, food consumed off-site is now over 60 percent of sales, and showing no signs of letting up. The brand felt some diversity and modifications were needed to address this and other consumer trends.

As a result, the brand recently made the decision to expand its offering through a category it has never truly focused - cold sandwiches and wraps.

As both larger and smaller competitors in the space have offered cold sandwich and wrap offerings over the last several years, Penn Station wanted to find a way to provide the same quality to customers with these new products while staying true to the brand.

Craig Dunaway, President of Penn Station indicated, “we know consumers love our grilled sandwiches, and our menu has always featured to some extent a few cold subs, but it was never highlighted and never a focus of the brand. It was almost presented as an afterthought to consumers.”

“Customers like sandwiches with different and unique flavor profiles,” said Lance Vaught, Penn Station’s Vice President of Operations. “Knowing that the company has had such great success in the grilled category throughout the last 35 years, we felt we could take the same aggressive approach with wraps and cold subs. We believe we can compete with our cold sandwich line up, but think it would be more difficult for those in the cold sub category to compete against our hot grilled subs and fresh cut fries.”

The cold sandwich menu, is currently being rolled out and features a combination of wraps and cold subs, with items such as the Turkey Bacon Ranch, the Turkey Avocado, Club, Cold Italian, Ham and Swiss and Turkey and Provolone.

“Each of our subs, including our cold sandwich line, are made with high-quality name brand ingredients,” said Vaught. “The Italian has always been offered as a grilled sandwich. We have tested it in a cold version for limited runs in the past and based on all of the positive feedback received, we just couldn’t ignore that passion anymore.”

Other sandwiches, like the Cold Club, feature ingredients such as thick-cut smoked bacon, something that Vaught and the Penn Station brand are proud to offer customers.

“Our thick-cut bacon is proprietary to Penn Station,” said Vaught. “Having that sort of offering for our customers is a testament to the relationships we have created with our suppliers over the years and the passion we have in delivering a quality product.”

This marks only the third time the company has changed any part of its menu. In 1999, the company went from four sandwiches to 14 and, after two more transitions, now have a total of 18 sandwiches and 8 wraps and salads.

“Over time we have kept our menu basic and simple while packing it with a lot of flavor,” said Vaught. “We would describe our taste profile as bold. When deciding on the newest items we did not conduct focus groups; rather, we went out into the space ourselves to try what other brands were doing while also gathering feedback from our franchisees and customers alike. Profitability for franchisees is extremely important to us and we want each of them to have a voice as we trust their opinions based off the last 35 years of business.”

Ultimately, Penn Station worked to perfect the newest concepts in its test kitchen before bringing them to the public, where they are now being served in select locations, with the goal of having them available at all locations no later than the first quarter of 2020.

“Our CEO, Jeff Osterfeld, reminds our franchisees we spend a lot or time assessing and studying, as a company, what the consumer wants,” said Vaught. “Realizing that flavor and freshness is key, we aren’t going to try to be all things to people because that’s how you lose your identity. Taking the time to craft key new products that we feel our customers will love was our mission and early indicators are that we have succeeded.”

“Penn Station has been relevant in the consumer’s mind for 35 years now,” said Dunaway. As taste buds, dining patterns and consumer’s habits have all changed and adapted, we wanted to ensure we were ahead of the trends and continue to stay relevant in the consumer’s mind for many years to come.”

Those goals the company had set for initial sales have already been met across four of the initial locations where the products were introduced. In fact, two of the four stores currently offering the new products saw a higher percentage in cold sub versus grilled sub sales, which was an unexpected surprise for the company. The new menu also includes more than just cold sandwiches and wraps.

“We have also rolled out a new bread option recently,” said Vaught. “While having two breads might not sound like a big deal to most, when you have been in business for 35 years and are known primarily for your bread, then it really is. Our traditional fresh white bread has always been a hit and we now offer a seven-grain bread, which has quickly become my favorite as well as a favorite for many of our franchisees.”

Franchisees from across the system have taken very well to the new items on the menu as they have slowly been introduced to customers. The menu innovations have allowed for fresh messaging and renewed marketing efforts and also allow franchise owners the ability to attract more customers whose go-to sub is served cold versus hot or grilled. With the products initially rolled out gradually, franchisees also feel as if it was an easy transition and not something that felt too forced for them or the consumer.

“By the first quarter of 2020, we plan to have all Penn Station restaurants offering the updated menu,” said Vaught. “We are working to make the transition as seamless as possible for all parties involved and are excited to see the continued success that these items bring to locations nationwide.”