TARBORO — Not many people know that Subway sandwich shops are now offering a breakfast menu.

"The TV ads just started (Tuesday), so more people will begin to learn about  it," said Mike Dodway who owns the two Subway stores in Tarboro and eight more in Eastern North Carolina with his brother Bard Dodway, both of Roanoke Rapids.

Subway has joining the increasingly crowded breakfast scramble in a move that the sandwich chain hopes will help add customers and sales.

After years of testing, almost all of Subway’s 23,000 U.S. restaurants began selling the meal this month. The nation’s largest restaurant chain by number of outlets will be a big player in the breakfast game, which can be handsomely profitable if done right.

"It's not doing so well yet," said Tammy Williams, manager of the Subway in Edgecombe Square Shopping Center off Western Boulevard.

"Breakfast has gotten way better," reported Karen Gupton, manager of the Subway inside Walmart at River Oak Shopping Center off U.S. 258.

"We've gone from maybe $15 to $20 to $80 and almost $100 each morning," Gupton said.

Both stores open at 7 a.m.

"People may not realize we are selling breakfast all day," Dodway said.

"I'm excited about it. After people try it, it will do fine. It's be gonna be slow starting off."

The new menu sticks with Subway’s sandwich specialty. Featuring customizable “omelet sandwiches,” the options include a combination of eggs or egg whites, cheese, ham, bacon, steak, sausage, peppers and onions in addition Subway’s other toppings.

Sandwiches will be served on an English muffins, flatbread or the restaurant company’s traditional sub rolls.

While franchise owners – who operate all of the company’s 25,000 North American locations – determine the prices of the breakfast items, suggested prices will range from $1.75 to $6. A combo meal featuring an English muffin sandwich and coffee would be $2.50.

Breakfast has become a popular addition to fast-food chains in recent years as companies clamor for diners. Since coffee, eggs and other breakfast ingredients often come cheap, the meals typically can rake in big profits for restaurants. While heavyweight McDonald’s promotes its new dollar breakfast menu, other competitors are getting into the mix. Among them: Taco Bell and Wendy’s, which are both testing out breakfast menus.

It’s not a sure thing. As the economy soured, so did breakfast sales as customers cut back on spending and unemployed workers stopped visiting restaurants on their way to work.

According to research firm NPD Group, the number of customers buying breakfast at fast-food restaurants slipped 2 percent in 2009. Even so, that’s better than the 5 percent decline recorded at dinner.

But that’s not keeping restaurant chains from trying. Restaurants added more than 460 new breakfast items to menus in 2009.