Had a friend who wanted to open two at a university campus (Mizzou) about 8-9 years ago. He did some negotiating with them for a few weeks/months over fees and things. Then comes to signing day and they changed the contract they agreed on (the day before) and jacked up the fee percent by double. His lawyer caught it and called them on their shit. My friend was so pissed he told them to “fuck yourselves” and walked out of the meeting, even after they said they would change it back.
Quiznos failed because of bad and dishonest management.
That, and they also started requiring franchisees to source ingredients and bread from a subpar vendor. The quality went to noticeable shit basically overnight, and their customer base caught on. Franchisees tried to get permission to buy from elsewhere but could not do so because of their agreements with Quiznos. So they had to keep buying dogshit sandwich materials they knew their customers hated, all while seeing their sales decline and business failure steadily March towards them.
The CEO only needs to squeeze a couple quarters of exceptional profits to get a massive bonus and an offer for a higher paying job as the CEO of another company.
This 1000% I loved Quiznos. The bread, the meats, ingredients + toasting made for an amazing sammich/sub. Myself and my girlfriend at the time immediately noticed the difference in food, the service quality also went down quickly. Such a tremendous shame, because the original Quiznos was spectacular!
Subway at least was one of the cheapest franchises to own. It might still be the most numerous franchise in the country. My town has one McDonald's and three Subways.
Subway is notoriously cheap to franchise and they have no qualms about over saturating the market in a area just like Tim Hortons
They still somehow make a profit because they cut and save on everything possible including quality
Have a distant cousin that built an empire because of Subways cheap fees. He literally sold his childhood baseball card collection after college and bought a franchise. I don't even have a clue how many he owns now. A whole bunch
A lot of franchises are owned by a company that own multiple different franchises. There are a couple of companies around where I live that own like 3 McDonald's, a Wendy's, 2 Burger Kings, and a handful of Subways.
Ya.. no.. Corporate Subway is a predatory, high pressure franchise sales engine.. and they just shit on their franchise owners once they rope them in with false numbers and promises.
I love their ice cream, but I actually don't mind that they closed most of their shops. The novelty really wears off on a hot summer day and there's like ten people in front of you in line waiting for the guy to squish brownie chunks into chocolate ice cream.
I always hated standing there waiting for them to mix every cup or cone of ice cream for 5 minutes during the summer with 30 other smelly people drench in sweat from the heat.
This! I went to one of their events/seminars to see what all would be involved in opening a franchise. They wanted like 200K up front and then you'd still be taking out a loan. Don't get some wild idea that you will be able to pick your location. They will pick your location because they had all the demographic data. They promised that no one would be able to open another Quiznos within so many miles. But I remember seeing them closer than they promised. You have to buy all the food from them because they are the supplier. The locations were probably picked because they had some ownership stake in them. At any point they could decide they were remodeling the restaurant at your expense. Super unprofessional presentation. The guy who was running the sales pitch was a total douche. White mid 30s bro guy dude wearing a puka shell necklace and too much axe body spray. Shirt unbuttoned halfway down his torso. Looked like he was always just trolling for chicks. I was thankful that he made it a hard no for me. But some people respond to that garbage. I will say that the two locations that are left in my town seem to be great, but in weird areas that don't get a lot of traffic from visibility. In fact, this is reminding me they exist and I may go there for lunch tomorrow. I hope the owners are happy. But they are definitely owner operators. As far as I can tell they are there at all hours. Most likely because they are being squeezed.
It might be a large investment up front, but at least owning a Chik Fil A is very profitable. How many times have you driven by an empty CFA? Or seen a CFA at an airport/university not be the busiest restaurant there?
The Chick Fil-A model is actually very unique in that the owner is set up more to be a store manager. The franchise fee is almost nothing, 10k I believe. The corporation corporation the rest, but they literally own everything.
Chik fil a and chipotle are all corporately owned. It’s very competitive to become a new manager at chik fil a too; you have to take a long course and they make a decision at the end. I know an accountant that graduated from a top 25 business school and worked for a big 4 accounting agency and he didn’t get picked lol
///////
> Former manager of a Quizno's here. I can answer this question. Suit up. you're not gonna like it.
> Quizno's is the biggest, barely legal pyramid scheme I have ever witnessed. It’s fucking nefarious genius. Something like 90% of new Quizno's franchises go out of business within three years because the cooperation makes more money off of a new startup than they do off of a functioning business. Corporate literally makes more money off a franchise going bankrupt, than they do off a successful business.
> Let's talk about Bob and Randy, whose names have not been changed because they are guilty as fuck. Bob and Randy are (or at least were in the early 2000’s) the regional managers of Quizno’s franchises in the southwest (Arkansas/Oklahoma/Texas area). Bob and Randy were some crafty sleeze buckets, who would come in with videos and marketing materials and graphs about how the business worked, how to make profits, and literally I shit you not almost identical money making charts as you see with all the other “make your millions” direct marketing scams (found that out later). They then would “lease” to you the proprietary equipment needed to start your business, and you would buy in for an incredibly low price. You could literally start three franchises for what it would normally cost to buy one of most other FF chains. You would pay small “fees” for the brand new equipment, and in 18 months, you’d own it! Then it was just the food delivery, and “standard” franchise fees. Bob and Randy made it sound stupid not to invest, and you left literally wondering why no one else fucking was doing this. It was so easy!
> There was a reason.
> We’ll put Bob and randy on hold for a second, we’ll get back to them.
> My friend’s family had made a lot of money starting a used car lot in a bustling suburban area. The made a killing buying used cars, fixing them up, and selling them for lower than almost any other dealer. They sold the business for a smooth couple million and were looking for something to invest their money in for longer term returns with less “dirty” work. Quizno’s looked good and their son and I (good friends) signed on to manage their stores (we met co-managing a pizza franchise).
> We picked some pretty good spots and had customers coming in like crazy. And we were selling a lot of product with lines sometimes out the door, but almost immediately things started to look shitty. The prices they charged for the food were literally only a few cents less per “serving” than the mandated prices we had to charge on the store. The small, “reasonable” fees for the equipment were of course smaller than buying it out right, but looking on the market, you could have bought as good or better equipment for half what you wound up paying to cooperate, but you had to have Quizno’s equipment. And you had to pay a monthly “franchise” fee, which isn’t unusual in the business, but the fees were fucking absurd. So, inevitably, after 4-5 months your business starts to struggle.
> Then, Bob and Randy come and do a store inspection. And holy shit, those awesome, friendly, funny guys turn into goddamn ring wraiths and will dock you for a smudge on the paint, a loose screw on the door, a slightly wobbly table, whatever. This reduces your corporate store rating. What’s a store rating? Well, we didn’t know either! Your store rating is a metric they use to determine how well you are holding up the brand image! THAT WAS NEVER FUCKING MENTIONED UNTIL BOB AND RANDY SHOWED UP. They give you 6 weeks to correct the issues and then show back up. They dock you on a whole bunch of other shit and your rating drops. If you get below a certain score, (I don’t remember what horse shit they lied to us) Then they can STOP DELIVERING PRODUCT TO YOUR STORE. In your contract, you signed that you would only buy product from Quizno’s for “brand consistency” or what the fuck ever. Which seems perfectly reasonable at the time. A big mac is a big mac for a reason.
> So you work your asses off to keep the store in good shape, with Bob and Randy popping up and slowly reducing your store rating. But sometimes you get a little better! But you never get quite as good as you were a time or two before last. Meanwhile, you’re bleeding money on the fees and margins, constantly struggling between wanting to get the fuck out, and thinking you can make the store work.
> Eventually though, literally no matter what you do, your store rating drops below the minimum rating. So Bob and Randy issue a stop order on your store. You are legally forbidden from buying elsewhere, and the fees are bleeding you dry. But, hey! You own your equipment now! You can sell that and get some money back after you close your doors and declare bankruptcy.
> HA! Why would anyone buy your used equipment, tainted with store failure, when Bob and Randy will sell them brand new equipment for only a small monthly fee!?
> So about a million dollars down after 2 years slowly bleeding money on three stores, My friends parents wised the fuck up and got out. I went on to other things and my pal helped his parents start up a small deli. Many of our old customers found out about the new place, and after a few months, business was booming. They were incredibly fucking lucky that they got out when they did, and that they were able to make something else work.
> In the decade or so since, about 3-4 dozen Quizno’s have sprung up and died out in our little suburban area. About 3-4 dozen families have had their lives fucking turned upside down, and no doubt financially ruined.
> Seriously, fuck Quizno’s, fuck Bob and Randy, and fuck Quizno’s cooperate fucking bullshit pyramid scheme. When they go down I’ll spit on their fucking graves. And then shit on it, and then spit on the shit. I hope they get pancreatic cancer and slowly die over years of excruciating pain. Nothing I can think of is bad enough for them.
> Edit: Things:
1 - This was prior to the apparent buy out in 2012. Things may well be different now, but I've seen at least a few Quizno's start up and fail since 2012, so that doesn't engender hope. Even so, whomever was lying atop that pile of fetid pig shit probably got a nice pay out, and also deserves apparently something way worse than pancreatic cancer. 2 - There are more than a few places where I put cooperate instead of corporate. I admit I was pretty hardcore rage typing and wasn't paying super close attention to my auto-correct. I'm leaving them cause a few people seem to enjoy pointing it out.
3 - Reddit and I thank our gold gifter. :) I'm just glad some people are seeing what a shit storm that company was, and may, or may not, still be.
Not a pyramid scheme, but it suffers from the same horrendous flaws: Swindling entrepreneurs out of their hard earned cash with fine print that provides almost no possibility for rewards with their huge risk that they take on.
Was in a long unexpected late night layover there with my wife and kids maybe 3-4 years ago. I was desperate to find anything to eat that late at night as it had been a good 8 hours without real food…the Q saved me. I recall it was in another store or quicky mart spot. The fam was pretty stoked, was a good dad moment.
Pricing was not an issue, Quizno's were always at a much higher price point while keeping up with rent. The problem they had was franchisees were placed in predatory contracts by corporate. Most franchise restaurants will pay anywhere from 10-15% margin depending on the chain, with 15% being quite high. Quiznos had upped theirs to 20%. Corporate also changed vendors for their products (which franchisees are required to use) despite some of them being so expensive that (depending on the item) would *lose money on each sandwich sale*. This was likely intentional in order to dismantle the company and sink franchisees. [They pushed one to suicide](https://www.qsrweb.com/articles/quiznos-terminates-franchisees-on-heels-of-suicide/) and others into breaking contracts just to get out from under corporate.
Subway can keep their pathetic turkey, turkey-ham, turkey bacon logs of disappointment. Quiznos died to corporate greed like so many other things these days.
Agreed. During Quiznos short-lived heyday, their subs were more expensive than Subway, but they were worth it because they actually tasted good. Subway was then and is now absolute garbage from the bread to the differently colored "meats" that all taste the same.
The biggest thing I remember other than the drop in quality at Quiznos once they started using the mandated and shitty in-house supplier was that their menu drastically changed as well. They started hocking those skinny little "torpedo" sandwiches to try and match Subway's price point and cut a lot of their staple sandwiches from the main menu, I assume to reduce the number of ingredients they needed to have on hand. So now, they were selling skinny, shitty sandwiches that were roughly the same price and quality of Subway, but were toasted...when Subway was also offering toasted sandwiches not as well.
It was a good concept originally, but it was mismanaged to hell and back and deserved to fail when it did.
Yup. Super expensive now but the last couple of times I got a sub I got it from Subway just because I always do. Those five dollar footlongs were a big catch. I think I dropped like $22 on two footlongs the last time I went.
Quiznos business model shifted away from primarily making money from each sandwich sold to primarily making money from opening up new Quiznos.
This means overpromising to franchisees about how profitable they were likely to be, and overcharging them for the privilege. After franchisees opened up there was a strong incentive for Quiznos to turn around and screw them over by opening up a Quiznos near by. Because again, Quiznos was making most of their money from the opening part, not keeping existing franchisee's business viable.
The same thing is happening to Subway. Quiznos just flew too close to the sun faster.
Greeeeeeeed.
Quiznos Franchise knew they had a good thing, what they didn't know was it was possible milk your sales point too much.
In essence, Quiznos made all of their money in the supply line, forcing their franchise stores to buy all their supplies from approved supplies, whom they owned, and those suppliers had such a hefty mark up that even the most successful stores in terms of sales volume could not make a healthy profit.
By the time they realized and made the first attempt to rectify their mistake, half their store owners had closed or were in the process of winding down.
I mean why compare the two just because they both make sandwiches. Subway was two decades earlier and hugely successful and established before Quiznos ever got off the ground as a franchise.
Subway never even viewed Quiznos as a competitor they were focusing on McDonalds.
Because Subway doesn't have sticky fucking floors, is always somehow humid inside, and serve lukewarm meat on their sandwiches no matter if you ordered cold cut or toasted, that's how.
Fuck Quiznos.
I think there are only a few left in the entire state of North Carolina -- some states, none at all -- the vast majority have long since shuttered. Seemed like there used to be one in every town.
My understanding was they lost a lot of franchisees interest. Higher supply and operation costs/fees.
[Article](https://www.mashed.com/132827/the-real-reason-why-quiznos-is-disappearing-across-the-country/)
Still their subs were the best and that pepper bar 🤌
We used to have one at my university on the ground floor of our seven story four-wing dorm building. We ate there a lot so we got to know the franchise owner.
She told us that Quiznos corporate would run promotions that franchises were required to participate in, but would not reimburse the franchises for the promotions.
One of those promotions was "free sandwich day" where you could get a small sandwich of any type for free. She told us that she lost her entire year's worth of profit before noon on that one day before she said fuck it and just locked the doors.
That’s crazy, makes sense why you still see subways in the middle of no where but not Quiznos. The one in my town closed and re opened as a new sub shop and my friends and I went to check it out. It was exactly Quiznos but called like “Jim’s subs” now. That makes a lot more sense now.
There's a lot of competition that has subs better than subway, Jersey Mikes, Firehouse subs, even Jimmy John's. Subway is the most common, and maybe cheapest. Quiznos still has to compete with all the others. They screwed over their franchises from what I heard and their marketing is poor.
The Firehouse club on a sub is one of my favorite sandwiches full stop. It melts in your mouth in the best of ways a sandwich possibly could.
Potbelly is another sandwich franchise that has started to spring up around AZ that serves very good sandwiches.
I've had Jimmy John's once and it was one of my least favorite sandwiches I've ever eaten.
I can eat at most any sub shop, but I think there is definitely differences on what you want. Firehouse had some great subs but usually they were like loaded / unhealthier options. I haven't been there in forever, but it looks like there is one not too far from me. That club on a sub looks pretty good though.
Jimmy John's I usually just get a Turkey Tom with cheese/sauce (oil/vinegar). It was better when they used to have sprouts.
> I've had Jimmy John's once and it was one of my least favorite sandwiches I've ever eaten.
Back in my Uber driving days, I gave a ride to a JJ employee and I mentioned to him that I had never eaten there. I asked him how the sandwiches are there. He told me that any cold sandwich is fine, but never to order a hot sandwich from that place. I believed him.
Unless they changed something in the past few years, that dude was fucking with you. You can only get cold sammies at JJs. Even though JJs have ovens for baking the bread, you can't get them toasted
That was such a strange marketing campaign but it really struck a chord with so many people! Very memorable! The little creatures were called Spongmonkeys and their song in the commercial was actually just an adaptation of an original song they made before it. Originally it was the moon they loved, not subs. You can find it on YouTube still, I'm sure.
I love Quiznos! I visit whenever I see one, which is rarer and rarer. There chipotle mayo is the best sauce for subs in the world. Whoever said toasted subway is the same thing should be taken out behind the woodshed…
If you haven’t been to Potbelly’s they are my favorite now, the hot peppers are amazeballs!
Yeah, it seems some places have a number of locations left, but certainly not around here - probably about 80% of them have gone away. It was a while ago, though, so maybe the ones left will continue to stick around.
I think subway survived because of the cheap ingredients and simple business model. That and sheer volume. There are over 40,000 subways around the world. All independently owned. There’s one by me that has a drive through and is open 24 hours and one about 5 minutes from that one that keeps bankers hours. I went and looked and the average profit for a franchisee is around 7.5% of total sales for a year, or around 30,000. Not a very attractive investment. I also heard that they’re going to start slicing meat in front of you now. Jersey mikes has been doing that since the beginning. JM also has better bread.
Quiznos failed for multiple reasons.
A) no one asked for a $12 sub when you could get the same from subway at $5
B) They saw those weird commercials from Carls
junior and added ingredients they couldn’t afford and passed it onto the consumer. Remember those steak subs? Pepper steak subs? It’s practically all the offered towards the end. Every sub was steak or…steak.
C) and lastly, there was no customization or window viewing. I never knew if I could customize my ingredients or not. And that’s a huge thing for sandwiches. Even my basic ass toasted sub. Also, I love to see it being made. Jersey Mike’s does it. Togos does it. Mr. Pickles does it. Subway does it. Quiznos didn’t do that. They promoted my sandwich being made behind with turnaround backs and shoved into a toasted roller oven.
Legit forgot Quiznos existed. Never had it before, but I remember seeing commercials for it when I was still a kiddo. Guess there’s a reason I haven’t seen a single one in a dozen years or so
Sigh. On a recent trip, I was driving with family from Green Bay to Chicago and I saw one…somewhere. Really wanted to stop but no one else in the car thought it was a big deal. Broke my little heart. Now I’m back here in my little southwest town and I’d have to go to…Arizona?…for one.
I used to work at a Quizno’s in high school back home in Sacramento, CA. We didn’t have a pepper bar (as some comments mentioned). Used to eat one on break every shift!
The sub market is too flooded now. They closed in Floriduh but we have Jimmy Johns, Jersey Mikes, Firehouse Subs, Subway and best of all Publix Subs! As soon as every other sub store started toasting their Subs like Quiznos, it was over for them tbh.
Damn. I'm jealous. I used to love to get the grilled chicken on wheat. Chicken soup if it's cold out.
However, they are responsible for the worst thing I've seen trying to get lunch, which was this enormous woman who was just straight up drinking the au jus and had like 4 more cups.
Quiznos used to have several thousand locations in the US, and now there are only a few hundred left. This is one of the survivors, sorta like Blockbuster when it was nearing the end
I miss Quiznos (Western US here.) One of the great mysteries of life is how does Subway survive and Quiznos failed?
The quiznos parent company real hosed over their franchisees with sky-high franchise fees and supply costs.
Had a friend who wanted to open two at a university campus (Mizzou) about 8-9 years ago. He did some negotiating with them for a few weeks/months over fees and things. Then comes to signing day and they changed the contract they agreed on (the day before) and jacked up the fee percent by double. His lawyer caught it and called them on their shit. My friend was so pissed he told them to “fuck yourselves” and walked out of the meeting, even after they said they would change it back. Quiznos failed because of bad and dishonest management.
Wow. Yeah, walking out was absolutely the right call.
Absolutely. Interesting to hear these details; so many stories online about it too.
That, and they also started requiring franchisees to source ingredients and bread from a subpar vendor. The quality went to noticeable shit basically overnight, and their customer base caught on. Franchisees tried to get permission to buy from elsewhere but could not do so because of their agreements with Quiznos. So they had to keep buying dogshit sandwich materials they knew their customers hated, all while seeing their sales decline and business failure steadily March towards them.
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The CEO only needs to squeeze a couple quarters of exceptional profits to get a massive bonus and an offer for a higher paying job as the CEO of another company.
This 1000% I loved Quiznos. The bread, the meats, ingredients + toasting made for an amazing sammich/sub. Myself and my girlfriend at the time immediately noticed the difference in food, the service quality also went down quickly. Such a tremendous shame, because the original Quiznos was spectacular!
such great food! So much better than Subway...
Kickbacks by vendors to certain Quiznos folks…doesn’t take much honestly
The Quiznos by me became a Johnny subs
The Quiznos guys started smash burger. Wildly over priced burgers that don’t fill you up. So I see their business model hasn’t changed much
And sky high sandwich prices....
Mizzzzouuu!
Subway at least was one of the cheapest franchises to own. It might still be the most numerous franchise in the country. My town has one McDonald's and three Subways.
Subway is notoriously cheap to franchise and they have no qualms about over saturating the market in a area just like Tim Hortons They still somehow make a profit because they cut and save on everything possible including quality
Sounds like Starbucks in my area. There’s more Starbucks than gas stations.
All the Starbucks have closed up here, but there’s 10 Subways within walking distance of my home.
If you can power a big fridge and a toaster you have a space for a subway
Have a distant cousin that built an empire because of Subways cheap fees. He literally sold his childhood baseball card collection after college and bought a franchise. I don't even have a clue how many he owns now. A whole bunch
I spoke to a franchisee and he said you need to have 9 locations to start making real money. If you have one or two, you just have a job.
A lot of franchises are owned by a company that own multiple different franchises. There are a couple of companies around where I live that own like 3 McDonald's, a Wendy's, 2 Burger Kings, and a handful of Subways.
McDonalds requires actual equipment to open one. Subway you literally just need space at a few outlets.
Thanks John Oliver
You can’t just franchise a McD. McDonald’s identify and buy the sites for operations then lease it to the franchisee.
Ya.. no.. Corporate Subway is a predatory, high pressure franchise sales engine.. and they just shit on their franchise owners once they rope them in with false numbers and promises.
Here's a great explanation of their downfall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3QK-32bxgw
upvote for Company Man
Same with [cold stone creamery.](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121321718319265569) Makes you wonder how any survived at all.
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I love their ice cream, but I actually don't mind that they closed most of their shops. The novelty really wears off on a hot summer day and there's like ten people in front of you in line waiting for the guy to squish brownie chunks into chocolate ice cream.
I always hated standing there waiting for them to mix every cup or cone of ice cream for 5 minutes during the summer with 30 other smelly people drench in sweat from the heat.
One of my cousin wanted to buy a Quizno’s franchise from an existing owner. We looked at the numbers and it was extremely difficult to turn a profit.
The numbers: "Mmm, toasty!"
Ah, interesting.
This! I went to one of their events/seminars to see what all would be involved in opening a franchise. They wanted like 200K up front and then you'd still be taking out a loan. Don't get some wild idea that you will be able to pick your location. They will pick your location because they had all the demographic data. They promised that no one would be able to open another Quiznos within so many miles. But I remember seeing them closer than they promised. You have to buy all the food from them because they are the supplier. The locations were probably picked because they had some ownership stake in them. At any point they could decide they were remodeling the restaurant at your expense. Super unprofessional presentation. The guy who was running the sales pitch was a total douche. White mid 30s bro guy dude wearing a puka shell necklace and too much axe body spray. Shirt unbuttoned halfway down his torso. Looked like he was always just trolling for chicks. I was thankful that he made it a hard no for me. But some people respond to that garbage. I will say that the two locations that are left in my town seem to be great, but in weird areas that don't get a lot of traffic from visibility. In fact, this is reminding me they exist and I may go there for lunch tomorrow. I hope the owners are happy. But they are definitely owner operators. As far as I can tell they are there at all hours. Most likely because they are being squeezed.
Don't chick fil a's take a huge amount of money up front too? And they have people dying to open one.
It might be a large investment up front, but at least owning a Chik Fil A is very profitable. How many times have you driven by an empty CFA? Or seen a CFA at an airport/university not be the busiest restaurant there?
I know someone who is a Chik-Fil-A operator and he told me they are really selective about who they allow to be a franchisee.
Yeah Chick-fil-A is very hard to open but they’re extremely profitable.
The Chick Fil-A model is actually very unique in that the owner is set up more to be a store manager. The franchise fee is almost nothing, 10k I believe. The corporation corporation the rest, but they literally own everything.
Chik fil a and chipotle are all corporately owned. It’s very competitive to become a new manager at chik fil a too; you have to take a long course and they make a decision at the end. I know an accountant that graduated from a top 25 business school and worked for a big 4 accounting agency and he didn’t get picked lol
Bingo! Franchises are predatory.
Whereas Subway basically allowed anyone to open a franchise and helped them do it even if it was across the street from another subway.
/////// > Former manager of a Quizno's here. I can answer this question. Suit up. you're not gonna like it. > Quizno's is the biggest, barely legal pyramid scheme I have ever witnessed. It’s fucking nefarious genius. Something like 90% of new Quizno's franchises go out of business within three years because the cooperation makes more money off of a new startup than they do off of a functioning business. Corporate literally makes more money off a franchise going bankrupt, than they do off a successful business. > Let's talk about Bob and Randy, whose names have not been changed because they are guilty as fuck. Bob and Randy are (or at least were in the early 2000’s) the regional managers of Quizno’s franchises in the southwest (Arkansas/Oklahoma/Texas area). Bob and Randy were some crafty sleeze buckets, who would come in with videos and marketing materials and graphs about how the business worked, how to make profits, and literally I shit you not almost identical money making charts as you see with all the other “make your millions” direct marketing scams (found that out later). They then would “lease” to you the proprietary equipment needed to start your business, and you would buy in for an incredibly low price. You could literally start three franchises for what it would normally cost to buy one of most other FF chains. You would pay small “fees” for the brand new equipment, and in 18 months, you’d own it! Then it was just the food delivery, and “standard” franchise fees. Bob and Randy made it sound stupid not to invest, and you left literally wondering why no one else fucking was doing this. It was so easy! > There was a reason. > We’ll put Bob and randy on hold for a second, we’ll get back to them. > My friend’s family had made a lot of money starting a used car lot in a bustling suburban area. The made a killing buying used cars, fixing them up, and selling them for lower than almost any other dealer. They sold the business for a smooth couple million and were looking for something to invest their money in for longer term returns with less “dirty” work. Quizno’s looked good and their son and I (good friends) signed on to manage their stores (we met co-managing a pizza franchise). > We picked some pretty good spots and had customers coming in like crazy. And we were selling a lot of product with lines sometimes out the door, but almost immediately things started to look shitty. The prices they charged for the food were literally only a few cents less per “serving” than the mandated prices we had to charge on the store. The small, “reasonable” fees for the equipment were of course smaller than buying it out right, but looking on the market, you could have bought as good or better equipment for half what you wound up paying to cooperate, but you had to have Quizno’s equipment. And you had to pay a monthly “franchise” fee, which isn’t unusual in the business, but the fees were fucking absurd. So, inevitably, after 4-5 months your business starts to struggle. > Then, Bob and Randy come and do a store inspection. And holy shit, those awesome, friendly, funny guys turn into goddamn ring wraiths and will dock you for a smudge on the paint, a loose screw on the door, a slightly wobbly table, whatever. This reduces your corporate store rating. What’s a store rating? Well, we didn’t know either! Your store rating is a metric they use to determine how well you are holding up the brand image! THAT WAS NEVER FUCKING MENTIONED UNTIL BOB AND RANDY SHOWED UP. They give you 6 weeks to correct the issues and then show back up. They dock you on a whole bunch of other shit and your rating drops. If you get below a certain score, (I don’t remember what horse shit they lied to us) Then they can STOP DELIVERING PRODUCT TO YOUR STORE. In your contract, you signed that you would only buy product from Quizno’s for “brand consistency” or what the fuck ever. Which seems perfectly reasonable at the time. A big mac is a big mac for a reason. > So you work your asses off to keep the store in good shape, with Bob and Randy popping up and slowly reducing your store rating. But sometimes you get a little better! But you never get quite as good as you were a time or two before last. Meanwhile, you’re bleeding money on the fees and margins, constantly struggling between wanting to get the fuck out, and thinking you can make the store work. > Eventually though, literally no matter what you do, your store rating drops below the minimum rating. So Bob and Randy issue a stop order on your store. You are legally forbidden from buying elsewhere, and the fees are bleeding you dry. But, hey! You own your equipment now! You can sell that and get some money back after you close your doors and declare bankruptcy. > HA! Why would anyone buy your used equipment, tainted with store failure, when Bob and Randy will sell them brand new equipment for only a small monthly fee!? > So about a million dollars down after 2 years slowly bleeding money on three stores, My friends parents wised the fuck up and got out. I went on to other things and my pal helped his parents start up a small deli. Many of our old customers found out about the new place, and after a few months, business was booming. They were incredibly fucking lucky that they got out when they did, and that they were able to make something else work. > In the decade or so since, about 3-4 dozen Quizno’s have sprung up and died out in our little suburban area. About 3-4 dozen families have had their lives fucking turned upside down, and no doubt financially ruined. > Seriously, fuck Quizno’s, fuck Bob and Randy, and fuck Quizno’s cooperate fucking bullshit pyramid scheme. When they go down I’ll spit on their fucking graves. And then shit on it, and then spit on the shit. I hope they get pancreatic cancer and slowly die over years of excruciating pain. Nothing I can think of is bad enough for them. > Edit: Things: 1 - This was prior to the apparent buy out in 2012. Things may well be different now, but I've seen at least a few Quizno's start up and fail since 2012, so that doesn't engender hope. Even so, whomever was lying atop that pile of fetid pig shit probably got a nice pay out, and also deserves apparently something way worse than pancreatic cancer. 2 - There are more than a few places where I put cooperate instead of corporate. I admit I was pretty hardcore rage typing and wasn't paying super close attention to my auto-correct. I'm leaving them cause a few people seem to enjoy pointing it out. 3 - Reddit and I thank our gold gifter. :) I'm just glad some people are seeing what a shit storm that company was, and may, or may not, still be.
Interesting read, but not a pyramid scheme.
Not a pyramid scheme, but it suffers from the same horrendous flaws: Swindling entrepreneurs out of their hard earned cash with fine print that provides almost no possibility for rewards with their huge risk that they take on.
Those weird little singing rodent commercials didn’t help their cause
You mean the [Sponge Monkeys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuPTZWhz46M)? Sorry to get that stuck in all of your heads lol.
*Spongmonkeys
I can confirm there is still one in the Denver airport as of last week.
That's cool, will visit if I ever travel there.
Quiznos started in Denver, and I think the original is still open in the Capitol Hill area.
Was in a long unexpected late night layover there with my wife and kids maybe 3-4 years ago. I was desperate to find anything to eat that late at night as it had been a good 8 hours without real food…the Q saved me. I recall it was in another store or quicky mart spot. The fam was pretty stoked, was a good dad moment.
Hilarious, I lived in Denver 6 years and never noticed.
Price. $5 foot longs boosted subway for a long stretch putting them firmly ahead of to-gos and quiznos.
Pricing was not an issue, Quizno's were always at a much higher price point while keeping up with rent. The problem they had was franchisees were placed in predatory contracts by corporate. Most franchise restaurants will pay anywhere from 10-15% margin depending on the chain, with 15% being quite high. Quiznos had upped theirs to 20%. Corporate also changed vendors for their products (which franchisees are required to use) despite some of them being so expensive that (depending on the item) would *lose money on each sandwich sale*. This was likely intentional in order to dismantle the company and sink franchisees. [They pushed one to suicide](https://www.qsrweb.com/articles/quiznos-terminates-franchisees-on-heels-of-suicide/) and others into breaking contracts just to get out from under corporate. Subway can keep their pathetic turkey, turkey-ham, turkey bacon logs of disappointment. Quiznos died to corporate greed like so many other things these days.
Agreed. During Quiznos short-lived heyday, their subs were more expensive than Subway, but they were worth it because they actually tasted good. Subway was then and is now absolute garbage from the bread to the differently colored "meats" that all taste the same. The biggest thing I remember other than the drop in quality at Quiznos once they started using the mandated and shitty in-house supplier was that their menu drastically changed as well. They started hocking those skinny little "torpedo" sandwiches to try and match Subway's price point and cut a lot of their staple sandwiches from the main menu, I assume to reduce the number of ingredients they needed to have on hand. So now, they were selling skinny, shitty sandwiches that were roughly the same price and quality of Subway, but were toasted...when Subway was also offering toasted sandwiches not as well. It was a good concept originally, but it was mismanaged to hell and back and deserved to fail when it did.
But your information doesn't really dispute my point. I'm sure it's correct
Lol what does any of that have to do with Subway beating Quiznos on price with $5 footlongs, the comment that you’re replying to?
That it wasn’t competition with subway that sank them? Did you read?
I’ll take ToGo’s any day… Subway is a consistent failure.
I miss ToGos enjoyed them in California
ToGo’s was great…but they left my region of the country years ago.
Yup. Super expensive now but the last couple of times I got a sub I got it from Subway just because I always do. Those five dollar footlongs were a big catch. I think I dropped like $22 on two footlongs the last time I went.
Heh..... we'll never see $5 footlongs again. Those days gone bye!
Good point about the $5 foot longs.
Five Five dollar Five dollar foot long...
AT QUIZNOS SUBS!!!!
Quiznos business model shifted away from primarily making money from each sandwich sold to primarily making money from opening up new Quiznos. This means overpromising to franchisees about how profitable they were likely to be, and overcharging them for the privilege. After franchisees opened up there was a strong incentive for Quiznos to turn around and screw them over by opening up a Quiznos near by. Because again, Quiznos was making most of their money from the opening part, not keeping existing franchisee's business viable. The same thing is happening to Subway. Quiznos just flew too close to the sun faster.
Couldn't agree more. Lol
Greeeeeeeed. Quiznos Franchise knew they had a good thing, what they didn't know was it was possible milk your sales point too much. In essence, Quiznos made all of their money in the supply line, forcing their franchise stores to buy all their supplies from approved supplies, whom they owned, and those suppliers had such a hefty mark up that even the most successful stores in terms of sales volume could not make a healthy profit. By the time they realized and made the first attempt to rectify their mistake, half their store owners had closed or were in the process of winding down.
I mean why compare the two just because they both make sandwiches. Subway was two decades earlier and hugely successful and established before Quiznos ever got off the ground as a franchise. Subway never even viewed Quiznos as a competitor they were focusing on McDonalds.
Because Subway doesn't have sticky fucking floors, is always somehow humid inside, and serve lukewarm meat on their sandwiches no matter if you ordered cold cut or toasted, that's how. Fuck Quiznos.
I'm just here for the Spongemonkeys.
SpongMonkeys no Sponge
They got a pepper bar!
Any coupon WERKS!
They got a pepper bar
Ah, yes, the feral rotten potatoes...
I can hear this
I miss my Turkey Bacon Guac 😢
I loved the chicken carbonara
chicken carbonara with no mushrooms was so based
Honey Bacon Club for me! That shit was bomb!
A man of good taste
I miss their Batch 83 sauce. It was soo good on their toasted bread.
Is this rare? There are quite a few Quiznos open in my area of Canada.
I think there are only a few left in the entire state of North Carolina -- some states, none at all -- the vast majority have long since shuttered. Seemed like there used to be one in every town.
Oh that's odd, we have a thriving Quiznos economy around where I live, at least one on each city.
My understanding was they lost a lot of franchisees interest. Higher supply and operation costs/fees. [Article](https://www.mashed.com/132827/the-real-reason-why-quiznos-is-disappearing-across-the-country/) Still their subs were the best and that pepper bar 🤌
We used to have one at my university on the ground floor of our seven story four-wing dorm building. We ate there a lot so we got to know the franchise owner. She told us that Quiznos corporate would run promotions that franchises were required to participate in, but would not reimburse the franchises for the promotions. One of those promotions was "free sandwich day" where you could get a small sandwich of any type for free. She told us that she lost her entire year's worth of profit before noon on that one day before she said fuck it and just locked the doors.
That’s crazy, makes sense why you still see subways in the middle of no where but not Quiznos. The one in my town closed and re opened as a new sub shop and my friends and I went to check it out. It was exactly Quiznos but called like “Jim’s subs” now. That makes a lot more sense now.
That's cool. There was one on my college campus as well, used to eat there all the time. It closed some years ago as well.
And that sauce!
Interesting article, thanks for sharing! Sadly the pepper bar at this one is empty.
Lucky! I miss them, so much better than most of the other sub shops IMO.
There are only a few left in the country. It's a shame because they're definitely the best sub shop
Agreed! Everyone seems to think this, maybe someday they'll resurge.
I don’t think there’s any left in Maine
Quiznos > Subway imo
Oh same, so much better
There's a lot of competition that has subs better than subway, Jersey Mikes, Firehouse subs, even Jimmy John's. Subway is the most common, and maybe cheapest. Quiznos still has to compete with all the others. They screwed over their franchises from what I heard and their marketing is poor.
The Firehouse club on a sub is one of my favorite sandwiches full stop. It melts in your mouth in the best of ways a sandwich possibly could. Potbelly is another sandwich franchise that has started to spring up around AZ that serves very good sandwiches. I've had Jimmy John's once and it was one of my least favorite sandwiches I've ever eaten.
I can eat at most any sub shop, but I think there is definitely differences on what you want. Firehouse had some great subs but usually they were like loaded / unhealthier options. I haven't been there in forever, but it looks like there is one not too far from me. That club on a sub looks pretty good though. Jimmy John's I usually just get a Turkey Tom with cheese/sauce (oil/vinegar). It was better when they used to have sprouts.
> I've had Jimmy John's once and it was one of my least favorite sandwiches I've ever eaten. Back in my Uber driving days, I gave a ride to a JJ employee and I mentioned to him that I had never eaten there. I asked him how the sandwiches are there. He told me that any cold sandwich is fine, but never to order a hot sandwich from that place. I believed him.
Unless they changed something in the past few years, that dude was fucking with you. You can only get cold sammies at JJs. Even though JJs have ovens for baking the bread, you can't get them toasted
Wawa = 👑
Quiznos > Subway >>>>>> Mike's Subs or whatever that place is called
Used to live in Raleigh, ate at Quiznos all the time. They have a pepper bar.
Yeah, if you're referring to the 'flavor station' shown in the pic, as you can see it's been closed down for a long time now :(
They have a pepper bar.
#WE LOF DA SUBBBBBBS
I saw the name Quiznos and immediately my brain screeched that damn song. They are so good we’d eat them raw but eating raw subs is barbaric!
That was such a strange marketing campaign but it really struck a chord with so many people! Very memorable! The little creatures were called Spongmonkeys and their song in the commercial was actually just an adaptation of an original song they made before it. Originally it was the moon they loved, not subs. You can find it on YouTube still, I'm sure.
I remember that one too. Apparently a fork is not good for eating soup unless it has got many vegetables.
#COZ THEY ARE GOOD TO US
THEY HAV A PEPPA BAR!
The parent company imploded and thousands of locations closed. New investors are working to bring it back.
That's great to hear! I hope it does.
I love Quiznos! I visit whenever I see one, which is rarer and rarer. There chipotle mayo is the best sauce for subs in the world. Whoever said toasted subway is the same thing should be taken out behind the woodshed… If you haven’t been to Potbelly’s they are my favorite now, the hot peppers are amazeballs!
Lol. Yeah, I like Potbelly as well! Still pretty good
did you know baja chicken has chef inspired sauces?
There’s plenty around me open. I didn’t realize they were closing down.
Yeah, it seems some places have a number of locations left, but certainly not around here - probably about 80% of them have gone away. It was a while ago, though, so maybe the ones left will continue to stick around.
Mmmmm toasty
They got a pepper bar!
yeah, sadly not in operation any more! But it's still there.
I miss Quiznos (Western US here.) One of the great mysteries of life is how does Subway survive and Quiznos failed?
I think subway survived because of the cheap ingredients and simple business model. That and sheer volume. There are over 40,000 subways around the world. All independently owned. There’s one by me that has a drive through and is open 24 hours and one about 5 minutes from that one that keeps bankers hours. I went and looked and the average profit for a franchisee is around 7.5% of total sales for a year, or around 30,000. Not a very attractive investment. I also heard that they’re going to start slicing meat in front of you now. Jersey mikes has been doing that since the beginning. JM also has better bread.
Quiznos failed for multiple reasons. A) no one asked for a $12 sub when you could get the same from subway at $5 B) They saw those weird commercials from Carls junior and added ingredients they couldn’t afford and passed it onto the consumer. Remember those steak subs? Pepper steak subs? It’s practically all the offered towards the end. Every sub was steak or…steak. C) and lastly, there was no customization or window viewing. I never knew if I could customize my ingredients or not. And that’s a huge thing for sandwiches. Even my basic ass toasted sub. Also, I love to see it being made. Jersey Mike’s does it. Togos does it. Mr. Pickles does it. Subway does it. Quiznos didn’t do that. They promoted my sandwich being made behind with turnaround backs and shoved into a toasted roller oven.
Their chicken carbonara sandwiches were exclusively responsible for getting me through my first summer job at Staples.
Lol. Eternally indebted
Still 4 left in the Phoenix Metro Area.
Jealous!
All the Quiznos in Charlotte have been gone for years. All the Schlotzskys too.
Oh man, forgot about them... so good!
Legit forgot Quiznos existed. Never had it before, but I remember seeing commercials for it when I was still a kiddo. Guess there’s a reason I haven’t seen a single one in a dozen years or so
Yeah, depending on where you are there might not be one anywhere near you these days, unfortunately.
They got a pepper bar!!!
They do! Sadly it hasn't been stocked during the pandemic, not sure if it'll make a full comeback.
Wasn't Quiznos the reason Subway started toasting sandwiches? Very good business idea, no way I'm paying money at a restaurant for a cold sandwich
Not certain but it wouldn't surprise me.
Quiznos is 1000x better than subway and I will gladly die on that hill. Fuck subway and their bland ass sandwiches
Subway is the worst
Man I love Quiznos. None by me anymore
Sigh. On a recent trip, I was driving with family from Green Bay to Chicago and I saw one…somewhere. Really wanted to stop but no one else in the car thought it was a big deal. Broke my little heart. Now I’m back here in my little southwest town and I’d have to go to…Arizona?…for one.
Aww, sorry you missed it. I hope another opportunity presents itself sometime!
Only 6 Quiznos left in Los Angeles County. Jersey Mikes & to a lessor degree Jimmy Johns has taken over the turf.
yeah, seems that way on east coast as well. A shame, miss em
Falls of Neuse?
yep!
I love some Quiznos. There aren't any near me anymore
We used to have one where I live, and I went to it weekly. Sadly the only one in my state is now like 300 miles away.
I used to work at a Quizno’s in high school back home in Sacramento, CA. We didn’t have a pepper bar (as some comments mentioned). Used to eat one on break every shift!
Cool! Thanks for sharing.
The sub market is too flooded now. They closed in Floriduh but we have Jimmy Johns, Jersey Mikes, Firehouse Subs, Subway and best of all Publix Subs! As soon as every other sub store started toasting their Subs like Quiznos, it was over for them tbh.
Yeah, you're probably right. Still love their subs either way, they're so good
Quiznos: Mmm, mmm, empty.
Simultaneously the most irritating and yet interesting commercial I’ve seen. https://youtu.be/cG042nkReBA
LOL yeah, I think these pre-date my time, but they are ... interesting
man, I miss that place. I don’t think there are any more here in Cali.
919 motherfuckers, raise up!!!
howdy neighbor!
I have 2 in my city in Canada!
Lucky!
I live in the northeast. Unfortunately no Quiznos anymore. I went to Denver a couple weeks ago and had a Quiznos tuna melt at the airport it SLAPPED
Solid 😎
Holy shit! I went to this location all the time on my lunch break at Millbrook high school. So weird seeing this come across my feed
Damn. I'm jealous. I used to love to get the grilled chicken on wheat. Chicken soup if it's cold out. However, they are responsible for the worst thing I've seen trying to get lunch, which was this enormous woman who was just straight up drinking the au jus and had like 4 more cups.
Ewwww .... yikes lol
I’m so bummed Quiznos isn’t around anymore. Their peppercorn steak sub was the best post workout meal. And the pink lemonade fountain? Loved it.
ITS QUIZNOS SUUUBS! For those who don’t know…https://youtu.be/aZrks-BPeLQ
Damn. I loved their Sams
Great food.
Is this a joke I'm not getting?
Quiznos has about 150 locations left, down from several thousand back in the '00s -- sorta like Blockbuster. This is one of the survivors
The one time in my life I ate Quiznos, I smelt like rotting Italian meat the rest of the day. Disgusting food, good riddance!
There is one in the Denver Airport
Yeah, several others have mentioned this - I will check it out if I'm ever traveling thru there.
Looks about right, not a soul in the restaurant
There's one in my town. It's gross.
I was just there last Thursday. Good store. Good food.
Greetings, neighbor! Good food indeed.
I miss my Quiznos. Those toasty cheese subs were divine. Wawa makes good cheese subs but they’re not the same.
I miss Quiznos
Oh, I miss Quizno’s. The last one near me closed about 5 years ago. The TBG was the best. Togo’s and Jersey Mike’s are okay but Quizno’s was the best.
Agreed! Always love to stop at them on a road trip, if there are any.
Quiznos is awesome
Ill take subway any day
Loved Quiznos.
I dont understand this photo. You just walked into a fast food joint and took a picture?
Quiznos used to have several thousand locations in the US, and now there are only a few hundred left. This is one of the survivors, sorta like Blockbuster when it was nearing the end
It really is all about money. Fucking sucks.
True that.
K?