Have you ever been to Jimmy Johns or Jersey Mike's or whatever and been like "why can't I do this at home they're not even heating up the sandwich but somehow it's $12" but whenever you do it at home it's never as good?? And you're just like what the fuck are they doing??? Well here's what they're doing:
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Wrap the sandwich in something like parchment paper. They don't just do this at the store to make the sandwich portable. Wrapping it up helps mush all the ingredients together. Whenever I get something at Jersey Mike's they wrap it up like they're trying to smother an infant. You gotta do that. Suffocate that sandwich. It's the sandwich equivalent of sauteing the onions and garlic in a pan before you add the other ingredients.
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You need liquefied fat. This is where everyone goes wrong. There's a reason why Jimmy John's covers everything in Mayonnaise and Jersey Mike's has "the juice" that's just tons of olive oil. Fat carries flavors and brings them together. Add mayo, vinaigrette, melted cheese, pesto, "moist" meats like poached/roasted chicken, or just fancy olive oil. You need fat.
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Don't be afraid to add salt. Depending on what meats or other random shit you're putting on there, you might not actually have enough salt. Salt brings out flavor. Or just sprinkle some MSG on there. MSG stands for Makes Shit Good, don't be afraid of it.
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Pay attention to moisture. Onions, tomato, lettuce, mustard, pickles etc, all add moisture. All can easily be prepped ahead of time. Huge chunks of deli meat without moisture are gross.
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Keep moist ingredients away from the bread, if possible. Lotta sandwich places put tomato or pickles between the meat. They also have toppings sitting in a prep station tray all day, which helps dry them out a bit. Tomato-soaked bread is gross.
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Don't be afraid to dab some spices on there. There's a reason why Subway, Jersey Mikes and others have tons of "seasoned" breads, with rosemary or basil or whatever. Deli meats are pretty one-dimensional, sprinkle some oregano, basil, or Cajun seasoning on there.
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Use sandwich rolls. This is probably a bit of personal preference, but the average sandwich roll is a little bit thicker than sliced bread, helps keep the carb-meat ratio where you want it.
