Isobel Lewis is a culture and lifestyle journalist based in London, with a special interest in stand-up comedy, TV and theatre. Her bylines include 

The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic,

People are redefining status for themselves using a broad range of factors beyond solely economic ones. This new iteration of status is often based around increasingly niche and local signifiers, and status is becoming a mode of belonging and connection with like-minded people.

Insider Status

In the turbulent economic environment, money is losing its value. People are reevaluating their spending across sectors. With a looming crisis of trust in financial institutions, how are people managing their budgets? And how can brands navigate the complex relationship between value and cost?

Critical Spenders

Searches for “sandwiches” are up 110% YOY on Waitrose.com, yet for a long time, the words ‘high-end’ and ‘sandwich’ would have seemed like strange bedfellows. 

John Lewis

 “There is a real demand and appetite for gourmet, high-end sandwiches”, says Freddie Sheen, co-founder of wood-fired sandwich shop Rogue Sarnies. 

Interview with Freddie Sheen conducted by the author

 The sandwich is moving away from its origins as a working man’s lunch that can be eaten on the job to a trendy status symbol that people will spend upwards of £10 on. In London, popular spots include The Dusty Knuckle, Mondo Sando and Chatsworth Bakehouse but you’ll also find Maurie’s in Southampton, Fat Pat’s in Manchester, Alby’s in Edinburgh and Sandwich Sandwich in Bristol. “What's really happened in the last couple of years is people taking a much more chef-restaurant approach to sandwiches”,

 Here, the quality-to-price-point ratio is a major draw – particularly as the cost-of-living crisis has impacted the UK hospitality industry, with an average of 20 restaurants, pubs or hotels closing per week in the first quarter of 2025 alone. 

The Caterer

A £10–12 sandwich – often referred to as a sarnie or sando – can feel like a ‘budget-friendly’ alternative to a big meal out, says Sheen. “(It) still scratches that human itch of wanting to treat yourself at the end of a long week.” 

 Gen Y, with their interest in fast-casual dining, are particularly attracted to these restaurants. 

Restroworks

 According to Greg Boyce, co-founder of fellow East London sandwich shop Dom’s Subs, their average customer is “White men in their late 20s, early 30s.” 

Interview with Greg Boyce conducted by the author

 Sheen lists a similar demographic making up a significant proportion of Rogue Sarnies’ clientele: “Late 20s, early 30s, young professionals who live in the area (and) will come at least once a week, every week, for a real nice lunch.” 

Social media has been integral in turning the sandwich into the ‘cult food item’ it is now, with people willing to wait up to 

 for the best sarnie around. “We underestimated the demand for it before we opened the shop, to be honest”, says Sheen. 

 Dom’s Subs saw something similar before the company even launched its first product. “We announced on our Instagram, and overnight it got 5,000 followers – before we had a sandwich!” 

 Beyond food, sandwich shops are also leaning into fashion, with merch being a major draw among customers. Max’s Sandwich Shop sells its 

 sells an array of slogan tees for $40. With the big sandwich being a core part of food culture today, why are British diners gravitating towards it? And how can brands tap into this audience?

In recent years, sandwiches have gone from bread and filling to desirable items to be shown off on social media, with restaurants being deemed ‘hype sandwich places’. The latest trending spots will often see long lines out of the door; openings in the last year with well-documented queues have included Focaccia Mia in Bethnal Green, Crunch in Soho and Sandwich Sandwich’s first London site. When discussing these ‘hype’ restaurants, social media often plays a key role in their popularity – and brands lean into it with their visual content. Places such as 

 often feature videos and photos that include a close-up of the sandwich wrapped in paper and cut through the middle to display defined layers of filling. And on visual-first platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, the picture or video is a major part of the sell.

With 67% of Gen Yers purchasing food directly through social media, it’s clear that marketing and virality remain key players for food and beverage brands today – and sandwich spots are tapping into this. 

Greenpark

 “(It’s hard) if you're not constantly banging the drum and reminding people that A. you're there, and B. just to find new people to come down”, Sheen says. What is becoming increasingly clear is that many restaurants are thinking about internet impact at all levels. “There's been quite a few brands that have come off the back of just having a very grabbing visual product that looks insane on social media and goes viral,” Sheen adds. 

 One brand appearing to cater to photography is 

, which displays its fillings in an ice-cream-style cabinet – catering to people’s desires for strong visual aesthetics and good products.

However, some have argued that some of these popular sandwich spots are style over substance. In a feature for 

, writer Jonathan Nunn said of Sandwich Sandwich: “A triumph of appearance over taste and structure. Pure social media fodder”. 

Vittles

 As a result, there’s been a rise in anti-recommendation videos 

criticising ‘overhyped’ or ‘overrated’ restaurants

 on TikTok. Virally hyped restaurants often lead to long queues – meaning customers have both heightened expectations and a vague sense of annoyance before their food even arrives. “The only bad customer experiences we've had are when you queue for 40 minutes and then wait for 40 minutes, which is awful”, says Boyce. “There's no reason that it needs to take that long for a sandwich.”

 This highlights the difficult line that brands have to navigate in playing the social media game while steering away from clichés and leaning into quality customer experience

Amid inflation and a stagnant economy, the UK hospitality industry has suffered, with more than one in ten restaurants reported to be at imminent risk of closure. 

Catering Insight

 “Restaurants and those big expenses are the first thing to go”, Sheen says of people spending less on eating out. This has led to an increase in ‘high-end fast food’ establishments. “It's a real sign of the times, economically”, Sheen adds. 

 To many, small-plate fine dining feels like poor value for money, while even a sit-down brunch dish might cost customers between £15–20 in a major UK city. Large, elaborate sandwiches, however, tend to hover around a lower price point. “Our sandwiches are big, and for the amount of food you're getting, they're not expensive”, Boyce says of Dom’s Subs hoagies. “It's like 10 to 15 quid. They're not cheap, but they're big.” 

Sandwich size is often mentioned in discussions of this trend. In a piece questioning whether “supersized sarnies with a girth of at least four inches” were getting too big, Nunn argued that the trend had gone towards “oversized, overstuffed creations that disrespect the diameter of the human mouth.” 

The Guardian

 The thicker the bread and filling, the more people feel that they’re getting a lot of bang for their buck. This, arguably, is why many of these brands favour a spongy focaccia bread for their sandwiches, like Knead & Favør in Newcastle. Reiterating value is particularly important for sandwich shops, as many customers will automatically balk at the suggestion of a £10 sandwich. “They'll compare it to an M&S or Tesco meal deal and they're like, 'Oh, £12 for a sandwich is a joke… It's so expensive”, Sheen says, pointing out that a hot sandwich automatically has 20% VAT added. “That's the comms challenge of what we do – trying to compete with that narrative that sandwiches are really cheap.” 

For some, a sandwich could never be worth £10 on principle, so they will always leave disappointed. Yet when experimental flavour combinations or premium ingredients are used, others can be convinced. “It is gourmet. They are really well made with all these fresh ingredients and top-quality stuff”, Sheen says. 

 Sandwich Sandwich offers a truffle mushroom and brie sandwich along with lobster rolls, while Rogue Sarnies sells wood-fired sandwiches with fillings such as wagyu beef and caramelized onion to duck confit and fig chutney. With 71% of UK shoppers believing they are adventurous in trying new flavours, big sandwiches provide an opportunity to go big on new tastes, textures and quality. 

Retail Times

Gen Y are increasingly being priced out of more traditional markers of adulthood and they’ve leaned into luxuries such as restaurant dining. In fact, 60% of Gen Yers based in London have increased the number of times they’ve dined out in the past 12 months. 

Restaurant Online

 If the big sandwich is a Gen Y status symbol, the status it symbolises within their communities is that of an ultra-cool taste-maker. Just look at popular meme pages including 

, where a love of sandwiches is often at the centre, alongside other popular Gen Y signifiers such as natty (natural wine) and Torres crisps. The love of sandwiches serves as a display of cultural cool – particularly as more and more sandwich shops pop up and feed into our obsession with seeking out new recommendations. As food writer 

 says, “Recommendations-based content has a real chokehold on social media”. Search the words 

 on TikTok and you will find 243 million videos.

“Being into food – following and making it, queueing for it and discussing it – is no longer a subculture. It’s become mass culture”, Ruby Tandoh writes in her book 

. She posits that an active interest in cuisine has gone from a relatively niche interest to a popular and desirable character trait – and this trait is often played out online, leaning into humour and meme culture. Earlier this summer, a tongue-in-cheek article for 

 described an archetypal British man nicknamed ‘the Norman’, defined by their mullets, moustaches and a ‘big sandwich fetish’. In fact, Rogue Sarnies was explicitly singled out as a ‘Norman spawning spot’. 

Vice

 article while describing Dom’s Subs’ stereotypical client. “You know, the graphic tee and the cap, and it's all restaurant merch? Yeah, that guy”, he says, with a laugh. 

As a result, the big sandwich is a part of a wider world where other brands operate in its orbit. Love a big sandwich? You’ll probably purchase Vibram FiveFingers shoes, drink La Vieille Ferme (aka ‘chicken wine’) and buy your sourdough at Dusty Knuckle. The sandwich then becomes more than the product but the world it’s a part of – and this allows for greater cross-brand collaborations, too. For example, Dom’s Subs collaborated with popular workwear brand Carhartt on a limited edition drop. “They were, for a time, selling for a couple of hundred quid on Depop”, Boyce says. 

 Since then, Carhartt has cashed in on sandwich imagery 

In times of both social unrest and economic uncertainty, shoppers want to be able to feel like they can boost morale by treating themselves. Value, however, is key. When it comes to gourmet sandwiches, customers are willing to pay a lot more for them than your standard supermarket meal deal price – which, incidentally, is also on the rise, with Tesco increasing them by 25p. 

 But they also want to feel that they’re getting a good bang for their buck in terms of the sandwich size, quality and flavour. “We really try and make the sandwiches as best-value as possible by sourcing ingredients really carefully”, Sheen says. “Everyone wants it to feel generous. If you're not going to give them the real value of being three quid, you want it to feel like a really generous portion.” 

While Gen Y’s love of the big sandwich might be mocked by generation-specific meme pages, there is an opportunity for brands to lean into this sense of humour. 72% of Gen Y and Gen Zers enjoy funny ads more than any other type of content, with the same demographics saying they were more likely to share humorous ads. 

Fast Company

 On social media, a post that lightly mocks a generational stereotype – such as an obsession with sandwiches – can easily be shared by users who recognise those teasing traits in themselves and are happy to poke fun at themselves. In recent months, the Real Housewives of Clapton Instagram page has collaborated with brands including Lime, 

 by integrating these products into their self-deprecating memes. 

British Baker

Social media hype is undeniably important when it comes to marketing, with the sandwich shop du jour often having long lines outside and flooding social media. However, there will always be a new hyped-up product on the horizon so brands should have a crash plan in place for the moment this viral attention dies down. Boyce describes Dom’s Subs as being “a bit post-social media” and says that reliability and consistency are now their priority over trendy drops. “Maybe some people would hear that as us going off the boil a bit…(but) we've decided not to (and) we're as busy as ever”, he says. 

 More brands are engaging online while also building on their existing audience and strong standing. M&S is an example of this – the British retailer launched their own ‘Dubai chocolate’ and many of their products frequently go viral. Part of their success is their ability to lean into social media – but also the innovation behind their offerings that keeps shoppers engaged and in their aisles.

 of Gen Yers based in London have increased the number of times they’ve dined out in the past 12 months

 restaurants, pubs or hotels closed per week in the first quarter of 2025 alone.

Sandwich restaurants and takeaway spots are popping up all over the UK, with people waiting up to 90 minutes for a sandwich

Customers are willing to spend far more on a sandwich than the average meal deal but they must feel like good value

To all genders, the big sandwich represents a specific brand of unbothered, in-the-know cool

Cofounder of Rogue Sarnies, a London-based brand specialising in wood-fired, pizza-style sandwiches since 2023.

Cofounder of Dom’s Subs, a London-based sandwich brand known for American-style subs, with three locations and a pub kitchen.

Gen Y (born 1982-1996)

United Kingdom

Eating and Drinking

Sandwiches are the food du jour for Gen Y. From comically large baps to Instagram-worthy baguettes, they’re capturing the attention – and appetites – of young diners. But what’s driving the rise of the oversized sandwich? And how can brands tap into these Gen Yers’ foodie desires?

Analysis

Isobel Lewis

Freddie Sheen

Greg Boyce

Related Macro Behaviours

Insider Status

Critical Spenders