Lettuce Prank Subway Closes

21-year old Richard Shannon loses job after prank

A United Kingdom Subway location, where an employee posted on YouTube his toying with sandwich material, has closed down. After the fiasco, the sandwich shop was not closed by the franchisor but rather by the marketplace.

Now his former workplace has shut down after the franchisee walked out following the impact the stunt had on business.

Nearby workers said they had stopped using Subway.

Rob Downes, aged 43, of R Downes Brownhills News-agents, in High Street, said: “The people I work with certainly stopped going there. “This incident obviously would not have helped because everyone was talking about it and avoiding it afterwards.”

A spokesman for Subway said: “The store in Brownhills has unfortunately been temporarily closed. The franchisee has left the Subway chain following the incident that occurred at the store.” – Britain’s Express and Star

Note similarities to the Domino's case in the U.S.: Employee tampers with food, posts on YouTube, then claims the food was never actually served.

The perpetrator got off with 300 hours community service and a fine (approximately US $100) but the market reaction was strong and the franchisee lost everything – all because of some dumb employee prank of toying with the food.