A customer who saved up her rewards points for a free Jimmy John’s sandwich says she ended up with bread so stale it made a hollow knocking sound when tapped, as detailed by BroBible. Raquel Contreras posted an ASMR-style video online demonstrating the sound, which she captioned “the hardest bread ever.”
In the clip, she repeatedly taps her finger against the loaf and each strike produces a loud “thock” sound. A text overlay in the video reads, “When you finally use your rewards for a free sandwich, and they give you last week’s bread!” One commenter who claimed to be a former Jimmy John’s employee said the stale bread was deliberate.
“They have a whole tray of old bread that they keep in the back specifically for people who use rewards. Because ‘you get what you pay for’ per Jimmy John himself. I know because I used to work there,” they alleged. That claim could not be independently verified. Complaints about fast food chains not living up to expectations are nothing new online, with a Maryland woman previously going viral after allegedly finding a plastic shard in her Jersey Mike’s sandwich.
What actually happens to leftover bread
Jimmy John’s states on its website that bread is baked fresh in store every day. “Our French bread and wheat sandwich bread are baked right in the store where you can see it. French bread is baked all day every day, every four hours,” the site reads. The chain also writes, “And we bake bread all day, every day because stale bread isn’t bread, it’s croutons.” Sandwiches are supposed to be made with these fresh loaves only.
Bread not used for sandwiches on the same day it is baked gets moved into a “day-old” category, which customers can buy at a discount. According to Mashed, a fresh loaf from Jimmy John’s costs around $3, while day-old loaves can go for around half that price. One influencer documented walking into a location and picking up three day-old loaves for 50 cents each, totaling $1.59. He confirmed that franchises are only supposed to make sandwiches with bread baked the same day.
Not all leftover bread makes it to the discount bin. Reddit users in the r/Anticonsumption community discussed reports that Jimmy John’s locations often throw out unsold loaves entirely. One former employee wrote, “They all do this. They throw away extra when there is too much to save for day olds. They also throw away the day olds at the end of the day.” Others praised the day-old policy as a frugal option, with one person writing, “The ones by me sell day old bread for super cheap if you ask at the counter. Great for making garlic bread or other toasted bread type things.”
As for why Contreras ended up with stale bread, it is possible a staff member either accidentally or intentionally used a day-old loaf for her rewards order. Jimmy John’s had not publicly addressed the claims at the time of publication.
Published: Jul 6, 2026 01:45 pm