Convenience store fools us with its 40%-more sandwich, but in a good way

On August 1, Japanese convenience store chain FamilyMart began a new campaign called the “Roughly 40-Percent Increase Strategy.” This campaign, which gives customers roughly 40-percent more for their money, is limited to certain items and is being released in three installments, with the first installment running from Aug 1-7, the second from Aug 8-14 and the third from August 15-21.

▼ The first installment is the largest of the three, with a total of 10 products being upsized during the seven-day period.

The product that caught our eye here was the Juicy Ham Sandwich, which sounded absolutely delicious, so we went out and purchased one, along with a regular sized one so we could compare the two sizes.

▼ Both the large and the regular Juicy Ham Sandwich (“ジューシーハムサンド”), which goes by the rather dull-sounding “Ham & Cucumber” in English, were priced at 300 yen.

In an era of rising prices, where companies everywhere are doing their best to cut costs, we had a sneaking concern that this “roughly” 40-percent increase campaign might land more on the sub-40-percent side of things. The only way to find out, though, would be to get out the scales and weigh the sandwich fillings, seeing as this appeared to be the only difference between the two, as the bread slices were identical in both.

So how would they weigh up? Well, let’s start with the regular fillings, which weighed in at…

▼ …57 grams 

Judging from this result, the fillings in the new campaign sandwich would need to weigh at least 79.8 grams to be a 40-percent increase. So…how much would the fillings weigh?

The “roughly” 40-percent more sandwich weighed in at….

▼…94 grams

That means that instead of giving us 40-percent more fillings, Family Mart had given us…

▼…65 percent more

By underselling the “roughly 40-percent increase” and giving us more than we bargained for, FamilyMart just earned a forever-place in our convenience-store loving hearts.

Having been fooled by “paper tiger” sandwiches at Japanese convenience stores before, this reverse fraud, which delivered more than advertised, was a very pleasant surprise. Now we can’t wait to see how next week’s products fare on the “roughly” side of things. With FamilyMart’s iconic Famichiki fried chicken being upsized in the next installment, we’re already loosening a notch on our belts in preparation.

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- 7-Eleven Japan’s “Paper Tiger” sandwich sparks online controversy over deceptive packaging

-- Family Mart’s Famichiki upsize astounds customers in Japan

-- The Ultimate Battle for Ham Sandwich Supremacy – we rank Japan’s convenience store sandwiches

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