When it comes to speedy sandwiches, Jimmy John’s has the market cornered with their “Freaky Fast” motto and freshly baked bread.
If you’re like me, though, you know that everything tastes better if you can save a little money along the way, so we worked to uncover Jimmy John’s deals that provide some tasty savings.
Want to learn how to make the most of Jimmy John’s menu? Read on for some tips, tricks, and tweaks to grab Jimmy John’s freebies and other valuable savings.
1. Join Jimmy John’s rewards and get a free sandwich right away.
When you open a free Freaky Fast Rewards membership at Jimmy John’s, you instantly get an offer for a free regular-size sandwich once you make your first qualifying online order of at least $3.00.
When I first signed up for Jimmy John’s rewards, I decided to test the limits of the program and ordered six sides of ranch dressing ($0.50 each) for exactly $3 before tax. That’s it.
Once I picked up that bizarre order (which had the staff laughing), I got a promo code in my online Jimmy John’s account for a free regular sandwich or Unwich, which has a value up to $7.89. And now we had plenty of kickin’ ranch sauce to slather it in.
2. You earn Jimmy John’s rewards every 2 to 4 visits.
While Subway rewards you based on how much money you spend, Jimmy John’s is different — they give you freebies and discounts based on how many visits you make. (A visit counts as a transaction made at least 2 hours after your last transaction.)
After receiving our first free sandwich following the ranch dressing experience, we were back at zero visits. After three more visits, we got a Jimmy John’s promo code for any regular sandwich on the menu for $3.99 — nearly 50% off. And after a few more visits, we got a free pickle or bag of chips (no purchase necessary).
The rewards don’t always come after three visits; we’ve seen them awarded between every 2 and 4 visits. You can bank multiple rewards, but they do expire — usually after 60 days. Use the app to keep track of your visits and rewards.
You can’t earn rewards on group orders, gift card purchases, third-party delivery orders, and catering orders.
3. Get a free Jimmy John’s sandwich on your birthday.
When you sign up for Freaky Fast Rewards, make sure you enter your birth date. You’ll end up getting a Jimmy John’s promo code for a free regular sandwich on your special day! You can find the code in the app or your online account under the Rewards tab.
4. Make sure everyone in the household has a Jimmy John’s Rewards account to stack up the deals.
Since visits must be two hours apart, it makes sense for everyone in your family to have their own Freaky Fast Rewards account, and for each person to order separately. This works for all orders: in store, online, and via the app.
That way, each person is earning Jimmy John’s freebies and rewards — rather than just one person getting one visit for the whole family’s order. Split ’em up and rack up the savings.
5. If you forget to log your visit with your account, you’re out of luck.
Make sure you give the cashier the phone number associated with your Freaky Fast Rewards account, or make sure if you’re ordering online that you’re logged in to your account. If you forget, there’s no submitting your receipt later for credit, and you lose the chance to claim the visit.
6. Skip combo meals and go with Jimmy John’s Boxed Lunches for maximum value.
Hidden in plain sight on the catering portion of their menu, Jimmy John’s boxed lunches include any regular sandwich, chips, pickle spear, and a cookie (no drink though). These boxes range in price from $9.49 for a Jimmy John’s “Slim” sandwich to $13.69 for the massive, fully loaded J.J. Gargantuan.
For example, if you were to order a Gargantuan ($10.29), chips ($1.69), pickle spear ($1.69), and a cookie ($1.99) individually, it would cost a total of $15.66. The Gargantuan combo meal, meanwhile, costs $12.89. This boxed lunch saves you nearly $2.
Combo meals include a 22 oz drink plus chips or a pickle spear (you can substitute a cookie as your side for an additional $0.49). You’re getting two fewer food items with the combo meals, which makes the boxed lunches more valuable.
7. Get a loaf of day-old Jimmy John’s bread for $0.50.
Jimmy John’s prides themselves on their fresh French bread that’s baked throughout the day in every store location. In fact, the restaurant never serves French bread that’s more than four hours old.
If you want to take some home, 16-inch loaves typically cost $3.50 each. That’s pretty high, especially since you can get a similarly sized loaf of French bread from Walmart for just $1.00. But if you go in store, ask if they have any day-old bread; they sell it for $0.50 per loaf.
8. Find Jimmy John’s promo codes occasionally on social media.
Jimmy John’s social feeds primarily feature funny videos and information about upcoming new sandwiches, but from time to time, they send out Jimmy John’s promo codes.
In Spring 2021 they gave customers $5 off a $20 purchase (5OFF20). They also offered a Jimmy John’s promo code (FREESIDE) good for one free side with the purchase of any sandwich back in January 2021. Two promo codes in the span of one year isn’t much, but it’s better than nothing.
There’s no limit to the amount of times you can use a Jimmy John’s promo code during a particular promotion. You can’t stack Jimmy John’s rewards freebies and promo codes in the same order, though.
9. If you’re ordering Jimmy John’s delivery, you’ll pay up to $3.99 in delivery fees.
Jimmy John’s is well known for their army of 45,000 people making rapid deliveries — they only deliver within five minutes of each restaurant, in fact — but they add a delivery fee to each item (all the way up to $3.99 total).
The sandwich chain has vowed to never use third-party services like GrubHub or UberEats to deliver their sandwiches, but they have partnered with DoorDash — but they use their own drivers.
Still, there’s no upside to ordering via DoorDash, as it won’t count toward your Jimmy John’s rewards. You’re better off going through the Jimmy John’s website or app instead.
10. Want thicker bread? Ask the restaurant to “leave the bread in.”
When building a sandwich on 8-inch French bread, as a rule, Jimmy John’s scoops out the doughy middle of the top piece of bread. It eliminates 120 calories while making room for more ingredients inside. But you can always ask them to “leave the bread in.”
11. Want no bread? Go with a lettuce-wrapped Unwich instead.
For the calorie conscious or gluten intolerant, Jimmy John’s gives you the option to substitute bread for a lettuce wrap on any sandwich. These huge leaves of lettuce create a breadless sandwich that contains significantly fewer calories — up to 83% less than its French-bread counterparts, in fact.
The turkey Slim sandwich on French bread has 420 calories but just 70 as an Unwich. No matter which Unwich you pick, expect to eat 230 fewer calories. The only bad news is that there’s no cost savings by nixing the bread; Unwiches cost the same as regular sandwiches.
12. Split Jimmy John’s “giant” sandwiches with a friend to save $1.
Jimmy John’s sells giant, 16-inch versions of their subs — but you’re not going to save much money buying in bulk.
These sandwiches are twice the size of regular sandwiches, have twice the calories, and cost about twice the price. An 8-inch regular Spicy East Coast Italian costs $7.89, while the giant version costs $14.69 — or about $7.35 per half. Two regulars before tax equal $15.78.
(If you still want to split a giant sandwich with someone else for that shock value, remember to ask the restaurant to cut it in half. It’ll come uncut unless you do.)
13. There are discounted Jimmy John’s gift cards online that can save you up to 20.2%.
You can buy Jimmy John’s gift cards in store or through the Jimmy John’s website, but you’ll enjoy more value by finding discounted gift cards on various sites like Raise or CardCash, where we found a couple dozen $100 Jimmy John’s gift cards available for $79.80 — a 20.2% discount.
Discounted Jimmy John’s gift cards are hard to find, however, so jump on them when you see them. Otherwise, you can buy JJ gift cards in denominations through the restaurant for any value between $5 and $250.
14. You can buy buckets of pickles and other bulk items, but they won’t save you any money.
There aren’t any real savings when you buy in bulk at Jimmy John’s. Here’s why:
- A pickle bucket sounds like a good idea — it’s a normal-sized pickle jar filled with 16 pickle spears for $6.25. By comparison, an individual pickle costs $1.69 at Jimmy John’s. . . but those are whole pickles. The spears that come in the bucket are 1/4 of a full pickle — which means you’re really just getting four whole pickles sliced into spears for $6.25. That’s only $0.51 cheaper than ordering four whole pickles individually.
- You can buy a 32 oz bottle of Jimmy John’s spicy, savory Kickin’ Ranch sauce for $10.50 — which is the same price as getting 21 sides of ranch at $0.50 each. (It’s obviously way more expensive than generic ranch dressing at Walmart, which costs less than $2 for a quart.)
- Similarly, the Jimmy John’s catering menu offers a 12-pack of 4-inch “mini Jimmys” starting at $38, but it doesn’t provide much savings. You get to mix and match any six regular sandwiches (some of which cost slightly more than others), which purchased individually would cost $6.59 each for options like the Turkey Tom or the Vito.
- Six Vito sandwiches would cost $39.54 if bought off the regular menu, which is only $1.54 more than the 12-pack.
15. Bigger bags of Jimmy Chips are sold exclusively at Walmart and offer nearly $4 in savings.
You can get a 2 oz bag of Jimmy Chips as a side at Jimmy John’s for $1.69 ($0.85/oz), but you can go bigger with an 8 oz bag at Walmart — barbecue or regular — for just $2.98 ($0.37/oz). That’s 56% cheaper per ounce.
16. Jimmy John’s sorta-not-really kids’ menu isn’t cheaper than buying items a la carte.
Jimmy John’s does not have a dedicated kids’ menu, but the closest thing they have are their Lil’ Lunches — boxed meals that come with your choice of a Little John (a smaller, 6.5-inch sandwich) and a bag of chips for $5.25. They’re not a bargain, though; purchased a la carte, this would cost $5.38 — only $0.13 more.
17. Jimmy John’s Slim sandwiches are about $2 cheaper than original sandwiches.
Another budget-friendly option is the Plain Slim sandwich, which costs $4.89 and has just a few ingredients. These 8-inch subs run about $2.00 less than their “original” counterparts.
The key difference between the two is the ability to customize your original sandwich with copious free toppings like tomato and cucumber.
The Slim sandwiches aren’t customizable outside of adding mustard, mayonnaise or protein (for an additional cost; $1.59 for a regular portion of meat and $3.18 for an extra portion) — perfect for the picky eaters in the family.
18. The healthiest option on Jimmy John’s menu is the Turkey Slim Unwich, at just 70 calories.
The Jimmy John’s menu is pretty easy to navigate, because there aren’t tons of different sizes or food options aside from sandwiches. No soups. No salads. No pizzas. No paninis. Few bells. Fewer whistles.
Your bread choices are wheat or French, but for the healthiest option on the menu, go with the lettuce-wrapped Jimmy John’s Unwiches. The Turkey Slim sandwich has the fewest calories (70) and the fewest calories from fat (only 5).
The least healthy sandwich on Jimmy John’s menu? The Spicy East Coast Italian, which has 970 calories when served on 8-inch French bread. The Unwich version has 710 calories — which is more calories than nearly half of the regular 8-inch sandwiches on French bread.
