FOOD NEWS
What Actually Happened To Quiznos?
By C.A. Pinkham
If you grew up in the 1990s and 2000s, you will remember Quiznos, the sandwich restaurant chain that brought the conveyor toaster to prominence.
It took off in 1991 when it was sold to Rick and Richard Schaden, and by 2006, it trailed only Subway for dominance in sandwich sales in the United States.
However, it started falling apart because its business model was built on a house of cards, and franchisees had been sold a bad bill of goods when buying in.
The company made a profit largely by selling food and branded products (like wrappers) to its own franchisees, which was how it expanded so rapidly in the beginning.
They sold franchisees at such high prices, forcing locations to rake in high sales to stay afloat. However, the average franchise could only average $400,000 per year in revenues.
The dam finally burst in 2006 when the franchisees started suing them for fraud, treating them as "captive customers" under their distribution system.
Sensing weakness after Quiznos' highly publicized issues, Subway pounced, installing toasters and discounting prices — this is where the famous $5-foot-long deal originated.
Quiznos senior VP of marketing, Scott Lippitt, was also arrested for attempting to solicit an undercover police officer who was disguised as a 13-year-old girl.
By 2013, Quiznos was a sinking ship, and in 2014, it filed for bankruptcy. As of October 2023, less than 150 U.S. Quiznos locations remain.