Local Drunks Prefer Jack in the Box Over Subway Sandwiches

less fat, less crime

Back in January, when Jack in the Box was getting the third degree over its drunken patrons, the fast-food chain insisted that its fatty burgers weren't to blame for the brutality taking place at the Richmond District location.

Maybe that's true -- it's nothing in the ingredients. However, it might just be the grease. Here's what we can tell you after perusing the local police blotter: Given the option, San Francisco drunks would take a Sourdough Jack over a footlong cold cut combo any boozy night of the year.

As the RichmondSFblog points out, Subway sandwiches on Geary Boulevard is trying to get its permit to operate all night after its hours were curtailed during the Jack in the Box fiasco last November. Tonight, Subway will go before the city's Entertainment Commission to request a 24-hour permit again -- and, surprisingly, it seems the sandwich chain has the support of local police.

According to the Richmond Police station, Subway was rather tame when it was serving up sandwiches 24 hours a day before its hours were cut, and cops "did not have any problems at that location after hours," Officer Tobius Moore said in an e-mail.

That's because all the problem patrons were probably too busy downing burgers and beating up on each other over at Jack in the Box down the street.
 
As Moore confirmed about Subway: "this area is not as heavily traveled by bar patrons as the Jack in the Box."

But it looks like those hungry drunks won't have many eating options long after the bar closes. If approved, Subway sandwiches will be the only restaurant open 24 hours in the neighborhood. Jack in the Box was granted a permit to operate after 2 a.m., but it must close up shop between the hours of 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. It's worth noting that that's when most drunks are passed out anyway.

Still, some fast-food crusaders are worried that Subway could become the new hot spot for local drunks if the permit is granted. As one RichmondSFblog reader wrote:

"If Subway, which never seems to have more than 1 or 2 people inside at the counter, gets a permit to stay open 24/7, we will have the same problem in the area of 21st and Geary that the beseige [sic] residents near that jack in the box have further down on Geary. watch for it!"

That might just give Subway's cold cut combo a whole new meaning.

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