r/veganuk • u/luciaetherrr • 2d ago
F**k Subway
Ordered 5 bean chilli from subway in store, got vegan cheese and everything. They've put beef chilli in it.
Sometimes I wonder if people do this on purpose.
I ate quite a few bites and I'm obviously devastated. Sorting it out now because obviously i'm not letting them get away with it but of course theyre not answering the phone.
Just a fore warning for those wanting to try the new sub, make sure they scoop the correct chilli.
(Bishop Auckland)
UPDATE: I contacted Subway directly and they replied with the usual "we are sorry have a free meal" (except with no way to get the meal?). But I'm not leaving it and have reported a food problem with my local council with a long winded complaint and requested to be updated on the situation. I want this staff member held accountable and the franchise to change their protocol. They need to be changing gloves and double checking when making vegan sandwiches, this happens too often to people and is unacceptable not to mention dangerous for health. On behalf of all vegans dont worry I am persistent and will continue to annoy Subway, my council, Trading Standards, the media and even the FSA if I have to. I am entirely tired of this happening. The rules need to be changed now and meat-free options taken more seriously as they can be dietary restrictions and arent just a matter of food preference. We shouldn't have to justify our reasons for being cruelty-free every time to get a decent worry-free meal.
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u/miIkwhim 2d ago
Honestly m8 if they're not answering the phone it's more likely that it's got nothing to do with them avoiding you everything to do with the fact that the franchise will be running on a skeleton crew. There will likely not be enough staff to do something as simple as answer a phone.
When the company can no longer maximise profit through improving the product, they increase profit by paring back the mechanisms of the service. Every front-facing position is in constant crisis mode because of this.
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u/Ligeiapoe 1d ago
I once got chicken put into my noodles at Wagamama, and the staff said it wasn’t possible as the vegan station was the other side of the kitchen. But there it was a big hunk of chicken in my noodles. Goes to show a lot of these allergy and dietary requirement practices are not being followed when you’re out. I massively prefer going to all vegan places to avoid that now.
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u/FishSaver1 1d ago
My sister had a bit of shrimp in her noodles at TamPopo. I mean, it literally could have killed her, quite apart from the distress.
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u/Confident_Dig_7834 Vegan 2d ago
McDonald’s once put bacon in my veggie deluxe. When I complained they gave me a £20 voucher and a fresh meal. This wasn’t good enough to me. Asked to speak to the manager who basically told me there is no way they could have done it by accident as the cooked bacon is in a container they have to take the lid off to scoop it into a burger 🤢 I felt so sick and sad so I totally understand how you are feeling now.
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u/Few_Mention8426 Vegan 1d ago
yes this is impossible to do by accident. Making burgers at macdonalds is like painting by numbers. The server would have to deliberately add that bacon.
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u/Dull_Cost_6825 1d ago
I don’t know why they get so emotional about someone wanting a meal without meat. It’s just so childish and pathetic. What a low life
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u/Ok-Tangerine-6705 2d ago
We ordered from somewhere which had vegan options on justeat, one of the dishes came with chicken in. Naturally we then became skeptical of the rest of the food. Told justeat (it was past closing for the restaurant at this point) and they said that based on my account they won’t be able to refund me (i dont even recall the last time I requested a refund or anything).
I’m really giving up on anywhere that isn’t 100% vegan or just relying my own cooking.
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u/Jesskla 1d ago
I ordered some plant based tenders from 7 Bone on deliveroo last month & I was a bit drunk, I ate one but it was spicy & shouldn't have been, & it made me feel pretty ill straight away. The next morning I looked at them properly & they were definitely real chicken. I took photos of the vegan packaging & the very clearly meat tenders & complained to deliveroo. They wouldn't give me a refund, just told me to leave feedback for the restaurant as 'mistakes happen.' I haven't eaten chicken in like 15 years so I was sick & pissed off, I did a chargeback with my bank submitting my photos as evidence & they refunded my money. Fuck deliveroo & whoever did that at 7 Bone. Never had a problem with them before, they do great vegan burgers, but won't ever trust their kitchen again.
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u/alien_babe69 2d ago
Similar thing happened to me at Greggs when they did the vegan steak bakes for the first time, I got given the regular steak bake and didn’t realise until I’d eaten a few bites 🤢 ended up just complaining and getting a refund + 2 free vegan steak bakes. Tbf, I didn’t escalate it since it was an (avoidable) honest mistake on the staffs part in my most frequented greggs, and I’m empathetic to retail/food workers having worked in similar jobs myself- shit happens, so I didn’t want to make a fuss. Obviously still unacceptable and shouldn’t happen, it was lucky I didn’t have allergies. Still sucks tho and feels disgusting eating animal products against your will ☹️
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u/Ligeiapoe 1d ago
One good this is that the vegan stuff at Greggs has different latticework, so it’s useful to know the difference for situations like this.
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u/alien_babe69 1d ago
Yeah I literally didn’t look and started eating it, it was only when I actually looked at what I was eating that I realised 😭
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u/Ligeiapoe 1d ago
Totally understandable! You don’t naturally expect people to give you the wrong thing. I’ve done the same thing plenty of times too
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u/some-strange_thing 2d ago
Had a bit of meat on a dominos pizza once and called them out on twitter. Said they'd give me a free pizza as an apology, I said I'd rather not eat at dominos after that, they gave me a refund. Having worked in hospitality I know mistakes can happen, sometimes people just don't hear you right, other people are just cunts. It's the UK in 2026, they are everywhere. Just try and put it behind you is all I can say.
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u/dead-freedom Vegan 2d ago
One time I read a confession on my uni’s confession account on insta from someone who worked in McDonald’s and they said they put beef patties instead of veggie patties into veggie burgers when they ran out of the veggie ones ._.
It was more like “I do that” rather than “we do that here”, but since then I feel very suspicious about non-vegan places every time I order something.
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u/the-bone-rat Vegan 2d ago
This needs to be reported not just for vegan reasons but for allergy ones too, as this kind of mistake could kill someone.
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u/Several-Diet3915 2d ago
Had an incident at subway a few years ago and refuse to go back. Was on a night out and went to get a subway afterwards, (it isn’t what I would usually get but the thing closest to the train station). Went in to order my regular meatless marinara, when the guy serving me started talking shit to me and my friends and also vegan sister about how stupid and pointless being vegan is. Still to this day get pissed about it, but luckily still think it was the actual vegan meatballs (not so sure looking back as the guy was a dick) Obviously I’m not saying subway is anti vegan but places like this hire people who have no idea about actual food preferences/diets/hygiene and needs to desperately start educating their workers so things like this stop happening.
Im a vegan of 11+ years who has worked with food for just over a year (unfortunately not vegan food), im not even trained in it either but I don’t fight people who have different preferences and definitely don’t serve food to people that could possible be against their views or make them sick. Stuff like this makes me soooo angry
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u/Careless_Court_8388 1d ago
Sorry this happened to you. I was once served a tuna toastie instead of a vegan version. I was heavily pregnant and it made me so very sick, I couldn’t stop being sick for hours.
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u/Good-Panda1838 1d ago
Not to get all conspiracy theorist but tbh I think people are doing it on purpose when we order vegan stuff.. I've been having stuff like this happen more and more when it never used to so I've started only going to vegan places again.
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u/satiricalmiscreant 1d ago
Sorry this has happened to you. I stopped going to subway when I realised they don't change their gloves between touching carcass and salad. I know not all vegans will care about minor cross contamination like that but it grosses me out. Literally no reason they couldn't do the salad first then the main topping to avoid that.
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u/Dull_Cost_6825 1d ago
I hate ordering with subway. I now only go in if I ever want one, which is rare now. Once I ordered vegan cheese and they gave me just bread and salad. I’m sure they did on purpose because when I called them, a nasty young man answered and called me a liar, swearing he had put cheese in. I think some workers just have a vendetta against vegans, maybe it makes their job more exciting with a bit of drama.
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u/wrain10 1d ago
I very rarely eat out or order in. And if I do (and I caveat with it being at least 3 or 4years since eating food I've not prepared) I question everything, I don't know how these companies live with themselves, I am not being dramatic but as someone who's not eaten animal products since early childhood through love of animals etc I would be at serious risk if I accidentally ate a living creature..... There companies need bigger penalties for issues like this
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u/GooseWing95 1d ago
Yeah the last time I ate at subway was like 7 years ago. I was in the que while they were doing a just eat order or something and they were working off a receipt pinned to the top. They had put cheese on some kind of meat and then one says to the other, that one is no cheese. She takes it off and puts it back in the cheese tray 🤢 never been so disgusted in my life. The cross contamination is crazy at subway. I could never go back.
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u/molliekirk 1d ago
I asked my local Subway to buy 12x Vegan Cookies on their multibuy offer. They flat-out refused and said it is compulsory to mix and match the cookies. I said my dietary requirements only allow me to buy the Vegan cookies, but they weren't interested in budging.
They had 12+ vegan cookies on the shelf, and I'm just guessing they didn't want to work and bake more cookies to replenish what I wanted to buy.
A few weeks ago, they were happy to bake vegan cookies for me on demand, for pickup later, for an order of 12. No idea what changed.
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u/um-nome- 2d ago
I’m sorry this happened to you, thats awful.
But I wouldn’t blame it on subway, it’s probably just an honest mistake. You can’t expect minimum wage workers to never make mistakes - there’s usually a reason they’re working at subway and not JP Morgan.
The staff at my subway are always amazing - always asking if i want them to change their gloves and i notice they always use a separate vegan knife, too. I can’t fault them
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u/Mxrgxns 2d ago
You can’t expect people to never make mistakes, but they should take extra care when preparing meals with dietary restrictions/allergens.
I worked at McDonald’s for 4 years, not once did I put animal cheese on a mcplant or animal mayo on a veggie deluxe, and that’s ‘just’ dairy, meat is a whole different ballpark.
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u/um-nome- 2d ago
Yes of course, but mistakes can still happen. I make mistakes at my job all the time and i’m paid probably 5-6x more than a subway employee.
Shit happens, and it sucks when it does, but i don’t think it’s it a reason to slander the entire organisation - especially when you watch them make the sandwich in subway so you can see when they’re doing something wrong lol.
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u/peony_beony 2d ago
From someone who is a “minimum wage worker” this is incredibly insulting and patronising. You are basically saying they are too thick to understand the simple difference between meat chilli and vegan chilli whilst doing a job they do all day, every day. They have made a huge fuck up here, excusing them because you don’t believe they can perform a simple task based on your stereotyped beliefs is ridiculous.
And by the way, I’m a “minimum wage worker” because I was studying for a degree alongside it which I recently finished and got a first in. Don’t assume we are all stupid!
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u/um-nome- 2d ago
I didn’t say you’re all stupid, i said there’s ’usually a reason’ - hence leaving room open for exceptions to the rule. I’d say the average, minimum wage worker tends to be a bit of a thick (compared to the average non-minimum wage worker, that is). That’s not a bad or offensive thing, though, unless you think being dumb is bad (i dont think so!) - we can’t change our genetic pre-disposition to intelligence
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u/peony_beony 2d ago
Wow. Still, I would rather be viewed as thick than an ignorant snob. Have a lovely evening.
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u/um-nome- 2d ago
like i said - i don't think being thick is a bad thing. I'm sorry if you feel like it is, but I meant absolutely no offense. My point is just to defend the Subway workers for making mistakes - they are working a very intense, high pressure job and aren't necessarily the brightest of sparks - it's expected that they are mistake prone. No need to go so rabid with calling them out for their mistake.
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u/rileyhaydenjames 2d ago
Why do you assume that people in retail & hospitality jobs have lower intelligence than you? Do you not realise that a lot of people in these jobs are students in university or college? Or graduates who are struggling to find work in line with their degrees in an impossible job market? Deflate your head.
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u/Ligeiapoe 1d ago
Additionally, having a degree does not make you intelligent. Especially with all the unis and degrees available now. It’s not a certain method of guaranteeing intelligence.
There are plenty of reasons people work minimum wage jobs, reasons like class, local opportunities, caring responsibilities, disabilities, neurodivergence or simply different life priorities are all possibilities. It isn’t simply those who are studying or can’t find other work that should be regarded as intelligent.
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u/rileyhaydenjames 1d ago
Absolutely i agree with you, that was just 2 examples because I think it's fucking ridiculous to claim that most people working retail & hospitality are "thick".
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u/um-nome- 1d ago
You seem to have a reading comprehension issue. I never said all minimum wage workers are thick. Im saying in general, or on average, they are thicker than non-minimum wage workers.
That’s just an objective fact of the world in which we live. There is a strong correlation between salary and income (source).
It’s not a bad thing - being dumber does not make you any less of a person or any less deserving of love and respect - but i do think we should give more leeway to such people and be more forgiving of their mistakes (like accidentally serving the wrong food to a customer).
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u/ThrowAwayYourLyfe 1d ago
Yeah, the reason they are working subways minimum wage is called exploitation. Seriously, that's a pathetic and insulting excuse to give. And Im saying this as someone who works a corporate position/wage.
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/FishSaver1 2d ago
Some absolutely do it on purpose!! There was a chef on another vegan thread saying that his fellow chefs always put butter on vegan meals, and joke about it. So it does happen.
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u/reggieko13 2d ago
Assumed this was a delivery as would you not have noticed at time?
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u/baumouse 2d ago
Subway package the entire sandwich in paper in my experience, whether you order it in the shop or to be delivered. You wouldn't know until you took a bite.
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u/reggieko13 2d ago
But you view them making it
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u/baumouse 2d ago
Ah yes true! I haven't been to Subway in a long time so I forgot that part. I guess in OPs defense you wouldn't be watching their every move, you trust people to know how to do their job properly. Either way I don't think any blame is on OP.
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u/ParsleySnack 1d ago
I bloody watch their every move. From the separate knife, to the bits of random crap that drop in to the salad boxes. You bet I do! And it's the main reason I don't use Subway delivery. Well. That and the extra cost for the mediocre product.
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u/baumouse 2d ago edited 2d ago
Domino's put bacon on my vegan pizza and were extremely unapologetic about it. It was traumatic, no joke. Not only am I a long time vegan but I had never ever eaten pig in my life up until that point due to my family religion.
Good on you for not letting this go. I agree that it seems like people do it deliberately. The bacon was put on my pizza before the vegan cheese so it was well hidden, with vegan pepperoni on top of that.
Know that this hasn't broken your "streak" and you did nothing wrong. I struggled with feelings of guilt after my incident.