I was close friends with a woman that owned a Pretzel Maker in a local mall. Exact same thing happened to her. She'd ran the place profitably for close to a decade. The downturn in mall traffic hurt but she was still doing good even when everything else in the food court was closing. (turns out bread, imitation butter, and salt has a really nice profit margin). Then the company got bought out by a conglomerate and made her buy all her supplies from their distributor. She said her overhead more then doubled and she was barely breaking even most months despite her income staying steady. To her credit she simply 'went out of business', waited a year, then opened up her own pretzel place without a franchise name attached and has been doing that for a couple years now. The best part is the non-competition clause of her franchise contract only lasted a year and because of how the franchise worked she owned all the equipment herself. The only thing she had to replace was her sign and menu because of the logo.
That's how a ton of small businesses start, getting shafted by a company bad enough you just do what they did on your own. Doin that myself currently LOL.
Comgrats to her! I know a gamestop in my local mall that did something similiar, closed and rebranded as their own shop as corporate became greedy and they had better turnaround as a small business
hope she was able to get some joy from that year, all things considered! franchises can work and can be great or bad... i liek steak n shake, and thats a franchise, although they've pretty consistently made some horrible business choices, but a few good ones imo
My local guy was part of a group that sued Quiznos saying they could not make a profit at the prices they were being forced to sell at while also being forced to buy supplies from Quiznos' sister company. Quiznos revoked their franchise licenses. He changed his signs, revamped his menu, lowered prices, added things like fries which Quiznos would not allow, and I'm happy to say, is doing well. The best revenge is to live well.
There's an independent sub shop that was formerly a Quizno's near my work that serves hot dogs and chili dogs, of all things. They're pretty decent, too. There's another one near my home that is dinosaur-themed, and while pricey compared to Subway, has way better subs than Subway.
So, sounds like the move is to buy an up-and-coming franchise business chain, and invest enough money to expand like crazy. Next you pull the rug out from under the franchise holders by suddenly forcing them to shovel a bunch of money toward some hitherto unknown company, to buy all their supplies. You run the various locations into the ground and make a huge profit from your supplier company. All the while the franchisees, still hanging in there, are still forced to pay your franchise fees. They probably got huge savings tied up in the business and couldn't afford to litigate. At just the right time you sell out to a hedge fund or private equity to get another big payout. How do HF/PE make money from buying wrecked failed companies? I got NOooooo clue. I wish I did. These firms hire the best and brightest from Wharton and HBS and focus their financial engineering prowess with laser like accuracy toward one thing and ONE THING ONLY! You're basically getting rich by tricking people. Man, I wish I'd gotten to go to better schools.
@@somechupacabrawithinternet8866because infinite growth is unsustainable and against the laws of physics. Anybody who has a large amount of money wants more, billionaires are just junkies for hoarding wealth.
@@GODCONVOYPRIMEbecause there is no cosmic justice in the world. Greed needs to be met with force. If allowed to thrive, exploitation will occur every time.
This is why franchises have always been a risky road. The parent company has all of the control, while the franchisee bears all of the risk. The opportunity to defraud the franchisee is just to great.
Wifey was thinking of going into some franchise that I never heard of. When she explained the business model and the work that we would have to put in, I said no way. We do all the work and take all the risks.
That’s just a very narrow and uneducated assumption. I’ve been a Quiznos franchisee and now a Dunkin Franchisee for many many years, and there is a vast difference in the business models. But your greatest chance of success is through a franchise. Would you rather be part of something that has an 80% chance of success or an 80% chance of failure?
@@whynot8082buddy franchises are bleeding the western world dry because of exact situations like this video. As soon as the owner realized they make more by trampling those beneath them they never hesitate. Look at corporate price gouging and their clever excuse of OH THE ECONOMY. It's the economy they ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR!
I remember reading a newspaper article about a Quiznos manager who took money from the cash register to go to COSTCO to buy bread, cheese, sliced meat so that the location could stay open. The manager said the franchise owner couldn't pay Quiznos for the food so she (the manager) took it upon herself to buy the food from COSTCO. Everyone lauded her for her imitative. Because of the bad publicity, Quiznos flew her to their Denver HQ to heap praise on her before her location got closed and she was fired.
I remember going to lunch at the Quizno's near my office and being told the manager had to "run to the grocery store" to get more food. Luckily, they were in the parking lot of the grocery store. It's a shame, because their food was really good.
The only way to restore the chain’s image is to have a single Billionaire owner wipe the slate clean and put reputation before profit. This requires the premise of making the Franchise operators independently successful. If you cannot reset Quiznos - the company will implode.
Subway wasn't much better, if any. Where I worked, one of my co-workers, his wife ran a Subway. Her parents owned it but had nothing to do with it other than ownership on paper. Since they also owned a trucking company that hauled produce from a large market terminal to a few grocery chain distributors, they would have drivers purchase cases of peppers, tomatoes, cukes, etc. and they would slip non-authorized (that is to say, not bought through Subway's distributor) veggies in. They had to be very, very careful doing it, as it stated specifically and explicitly in the contract that they could lose their franchise outright if the company caught franchisees doing that. They had a very large cooler at their home where they stored the "contraband" goods, and the daughter/wife and her husband would bring it in slowly at 5am when nobody else would witness it happening, process and cut up all the veggies and dispose of the cardboard cartons and other evidence. They had to buy a certain amount from the distributor so that nobody up above in corporate would really suspect anything. Apparently, their plan made the difference between the business carrying on, or folding, as Subway charged hellish prices too on the food and supplies, and royalties, and other bee-ess expenses.
There was a Quiznos near my office that I used to eat at often. That is, until one day I pulled up only to find a sign on the door saying the location had closed. But the more interesting (sad) thing was that a couple of the employees were standing there looking at the sign as well. The locks had been changed without notice and they found out they were now unemployed the same way I found out the store was closed... by reading a sign on the door. How shitty.
Olive Garden used to have numerous location in the province of Ontario (and Quebec), Canada. That's until Darden Restaurants pulled the plug overnight, and all of their employees and location managers found out. They showed up, placed was locked and chained up. Not even the decency of a note or a phone call. Hundreds upon hundreds of folks out of a job, poof. God, that's gotta be close to 25 years ago now.
I went through this with another company. It truly is shitty. Not one person cared or respected enough to call most of us. Then they had the BALLS to call us in to empty out the store for them.
The only people to suffer were the franchise owners. The board of Quiznos made a ton of money destroying the company and livelihood of thousands of people, and got out of it with more money and zero obligations when they sold off its assets.
How do you know that the owners of Quiznos made a lot of money. I would bet they lost a lot of money. When you declare bankruptcy, then your debt obligations are cancelled, and the proceeds of the asset sales go to those who loaned the company money. I doubt that owners made anything when things started to go bad.
@@Dim.g0v Usually the Board of Directors of a corporation make about $200-$300K per year for a company of that size back then. I don’t think he knows what he is talking about. The main reason why Quiznos has only a few hundred stores now (after multiple owners who have tried to run it) is that whole concept is flawed. The way they make sandwiches is too labor intensive and takes too long to do enough business during the busy lunch hours.
@@thanhavictus 90% of restaurants fail within 5 years. The market decides which ones survive and which one fail in a free market economy. In a socialist economy, the government decides and your choices of restaurants would be very small and the food would be terrible,
Driving down the interstate, decades ago, a Quizno's corporate car drove past. Several thousand dollars of fancy paint job, in an eighty thousand dollar BMW. I was astonished at the extravagance of this.
Funny, I just commented a few minutes ago on another video how I saw a Crumbl branded truck last week. It looked optioned out and I thought it was a very inefficient method for delivering baked goods but a heck of a tax write-off.
Re: comment: 👆Unbelievable! Why don’t they ever learn that selfishness & greed just doesn’t work! Common sense does! But… “stupid is as stupid does!” Or “foolish is as foolish does!” Take your pick.
@@trajancanadaFaded teal paint, the roof's just about rusted off, there's 1 original hubcap left and 2 more found on the street, the exhaust is single handedly widening the ozone hole, and it's lucky if it can still do 55 on the interstate.
@@jacksonrelaxin3425 it's the same with everything. Middle of the road products appeal to the masses. That's why you get these mind-blowing phenomenon like Bud light, sitcoms, Beyonce, Jeep, Chili's, Nike and Marvel movies being so popular despite bordering on intolerable because the average person just goes with what's popular, not whats good.
@@sue7734It’s not really greed if the CEO figures out he can make three times as much money by running the company into the ground instead of managing it properly. That’s called perverse incentive.
The Schadens weren't in the business of making food, they were in the business of extorting their franchisees. That is why they were only focused on increasing the number of franchises, not the number of sales each franchise made. They had a Mob Mentality.
Every 8 months or so i find myself asking "man, whatever happened to Quiznos?" Now i know. It sucks because there was a Quiznos down the street from my house in my old neighborhood and I loved it as a kid. Now it feels like every Quiznos has been consolidated to airports and rest stops.
At 0:49 you see wet chicken going on to bread. That is what killed Quiznos. They ruined their most popular sandwich by speeding up the oven. They could not fully heat the chicken and used hot water to bring the chicken to temp. The result was a soggy sandwich. They quickly went from round the block lines to almost no one in them for lunch.
The sad part of this story is always how the people that caused the problem face no punishments for it. They got all their money, declared bankruptcy and moved on.
Don't follow the worldly trends follow Jesus Christ today There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus
I had a summer job at Quiznos when I was a teenager. This was at the same time when they pulled that dumb marketing stunt where they started serving food with actual silverware. It sure was fun suddenly having a bunch of extra crap to wash after a lunch rush. That idea ended up flopping hard and the manager just let me and another employee take the silverware home. I still have a bunch of Quiznos forks in my silverware drawer.
Love how the video sheds light on Private Equity. Many, if not most private equity, are not very bright and don't know basic finances. They just have money to invest - like a drunk in Vegas at 2am.
Greed and lack of conscience can make anyone wealthy. If you have ANY intelligence, you can easily mislead and scam ur way to wealth. Sadly, we few who believe in honor are left with a joke "living wage" while these greedy liar fools raise to the top. Society is BROKEN, and we just keep running on that hamster wheel. Even a worldwide virus couldn't wake us up to our hubris and greed
I used to work at the Domino’s across the street from the original Quiznos. Seeing their original location shut down was a shock, and it’s so wild to hear how hard they’re actually fell.
Plus the franchisees can get subsidized small business loans from the gov for the franchise fees so we subsidize. with our taxes, companies like McDonald's this way
@@LastAvailableAlias I'm starting to think taxes are just to subsidize the already wealthy 😂 everybody else, the govt is Tony Soprano "you can live in a dumpster for all we care!"
I think you missed a very important point in the Quiznos fall from Grace. You nailed it on a high level but there were also problems with the sandwiches themselves. I was a Quiznos loyalist. They had 3 sandwiches that were perfect for me. The Prime Rib, The Beef Dip, and the Chicken Bacon Ranch. I ate the Beef Dip almost every day for an entire year in college. Sometime around 2008ish, they changed things up and forced employees to weigh the meat going into each sandwich. The proper amount of meat was nowhere near what they had been putting on the sandwich. This seemingly minor change that was surely prompted by bean counters altered the meat, bread, cheese, etc ratios. The sandwich that was once perfection had become mediocre. The mediocre sandwich wasn't worth the premium price that Quiznos charged. I tried Quiznos a few more times in the early 2010s and each time I was disappointed. I haven't had Quiznos in a decade at this point. Quiznos had become Subway quality with Firehouse prices.
Talking about bean counters... believe it or not, there are strict rules sandwich "artists" are supposed to follow when making a sandwich at Subway. One of the worst examples is olives. If a customer asks for olives on their sandwich, there are only supposed to be 3 on a 6" and 6 on a 12". That's it. You're also supposed to count out how many slices of tomato, how many banana peppers, etc. And meat like steak, or rotisserie chicken, etc. is supposed to be pre-portioned by weight or weighed on the spot before put on the sandwich. The bean counters absolutely ruin everything. Especially when they dig their claws into every ounce of minutia to be found.
I used to go to Quiznos in college too. And, I just remember they had this Turkey rosemary toasted sandwich and it was delicious. Firehouse has a similar problem.
@@HickoryDickory86 I agree. I worked at Subway for about 6 months. We had to follow the proportions on most things. But the Owner of our store let us eat anything we wanted as long as it didn't leave the store and it was considered "waste" You wouldn't believe how good even a Subway sandwich can be with the right amount of ingredients and treated with care. Same goes for those cookies. Same goes for the Bread. Too many stores try to cook everything in the morning and by afternoon the bread and cookies are hard.
I owned and operated three stores from 2005 to my final closing in June 2008. Our product, to this day, is far superior to anything out there today. I was a small voice in the San Diego Market. However, I saw the ship sinking well before my final store closure. Losing half a million dollars in my late twenties was undoubtedly a tough climb. However, I did not let Quiznos' or my creditors slow me down. I Bounced back. Unfortunately, not every franchisee saw the same outcome. We had a fellow franchisee take their life over the monetary loss they had in Irvine. It was a sorrowful time, and I will never get over what the Schadens did to us... Thank you for sharing this video.
"Losing half a million dollars in my late twenties was undoubtedly a tough climb." - Yeah, I really feel for you... Business people doing each other like trash and we're supposed to think you've broken through? Haha. Don't worry, your money makes you "better" than me any day.
In 2006, I willingly walked an additional block and paid a little extra to eat at Quizno's instead of the Subway on campus. The product was that good. It's so sad the franchisor decided to milk every penny out of their franchisees instead of helping them grow.
It's insane. All they had to do was support them and the long term money would have far exceeded the quick cash they got fucking over their own franchisees. I
We are talking about this now at work and we all agree, we ALL liked Quiznos a lot and they simply disappeared. We were like "No wonder they disappeared!" Greedy corporate scumbags do it again! They ruined another great business. This is a real sad story. Their CEO/CFO for Quiznos is an idiot for sure.
I was a shift manager for some time in the mid 2000s at a Quiznos. I took pride in our food and loved working there. You’re spot on for the reason they went down: the owner was getting gouged by the supplier company he had to use. Even worse they constantly made him buy stuff he didn’t need to maintain the franchise, things not delivered and overpriced so he couldn’t turn a profit. Then other competitors like which wich came in and he couldn’t keep up. Was so sad to have seen it close after I’d left.
Subway does that very same thing to their owners. Yet, somehow they’re still in the game with every town having a subway on every corner What’s also crazy about subway is you can have 2 stores within s couple of blocks from each other, and one is going to do better than the other and by a long shot
@@dukeofthedance8062 definitely. It’s as if subway wasn’t meant to be toasted. As for Quiznos… toast that shit all day. Their commercials didn’t say “TOASTY” for no reason
@@rondavid7413 I don’t remember subway toasting all their sandwiches. However, I DO remember when subway would cut that flap of bread out of the middle of the bun, then place it on top Why subway thought doing away with that was a good idea blows my mind. But that was what caused subway to go going downhill. And it was around this same time when Jared started to become a thing. And we all know what that led to…
I worked at a New Quizonos between 2002-2003 I felt so horrible for the owner Glenda. The store was her retirement plan and she put a lot of money into running that store. She showed me the cost of buying all the supplies needed like “Cups, paper napkins and it was ridiculous. she eventually sold the franchise in 2005 the owner of that store also struggled as well and it closed in 2008.
I live in a small town (30,000) on the Oregon coast. We had a Quiznos open here and I don't think it lasted 2 years. The first and only time I ate there, I saw they had a jar clearly labeled for tips. I get a few dollars out and the cashier quietly whispers "please don't tip me." Thinking I was hallucinating or having a stroke, I said "what?" She repeated "please don't tip me." As I exit the store and walk to my car, the worker comes outside to explain herself. "The owner keeps all the tips and doesn't pay them out or distribute them on our checks. He claims they are tips for the restaurant itself and not intended for us. Everything I say and do is closely monitored on camera. He says he is barely making any money with the store and every little bit helps." That was incredibly sad to hear and I can only imagine the morale in that place. This video helps shed a lot of light on that memory.
Thats insane. We had a quizinos here and once I ate there I never wanted to eat in a subway again. Quizinos was so good. To think that such a place failed only because of poor management shows that higher ups often have no idea what they are doing. Its the same in many industries. Great video btw!
It's good because it's terrible for you, unfortunately. Not too many folks are looking for a 1,500-2,000 calorie lunch these days... IMO, Firehouse filled their niche well enough.
The higher ups knew what they were doing. They geared their business around making money off of franchisees instead of selling sandwiches because it made them more money. You could argue that they could have been better at it if they took a little bit less so the franchisees made enough money that they didn't want to sue the company. But they also took into account franchisees failing, which is why they opened so many.
Quiznos is definitely better than subway, thing is, they are rare in my city only 2 outlets, while subway is rapidly expanding. They are too focus on dine in, while subway more on the go. Their restaurant is sad looking, stuck in the 90s.
Most places that failed to so exactly because of management, and little else. Something that one of my mentors in the Army used to tell me rings true here: All problems are leadership problems.
I owned and operated two Quiznos franchises from 2000 to 2003. I bought into the concept because the sandwiches were so tasty! It started out well, but did not turn out well in the end. It was a great experience, but also a huge life lesson. And, no, I did not get any of the lawsuit money.
I'm sure they blamed you for being a "bad franchisee". I went down the same road with Rita's Italian Ice franchise in an expansion market they didn't support. Of course I was a "bad franchisee".
@@whobilly1 I was the week-to-week top selling store in my region when I opened my first store. It was inevitable that they would open some more in the area. I was ok with that. But then they tried to opened a store just down the street, south of the town limits. I pointed out that the obvious demographics of that area showed that the other location would greatly cut into my business. The local guy initially AGREED with me. That delayed my troubles for a while. A year later they went ahead anyway and allowed that store too close to me to open. My second location was opened in an area completely outside the area of my first store. The second store kept the first store afloat for a while. But the lower sales at my first store eventually proved to be too much of a burden. I sold my second store. No one would buy my first store, so I walked away from it. The one thing that hurt the fellow franchise owners in my region is that it was corporate's philosophy to count only regional sales, not individual store sales. I came to understand that in their mind, if a successful store with say $14,000 in weekly sales was bringing in dollars to corporate, having two stores near each other, each with $10,000 in weekly sales was bringing in more dollars to corporate from the total of $20,000 in weekly sales. Never mind that now they had two weak stores with owner-operators struggling to be successful. Just do a better job of marketing they told me.
@@oskarfunes2505 I was the week-to-week top selling store in my region when I opened my first store. It was inevitable that they would open some more in the area. I was ok with that. But then they tried to opened a store just down the street, south of the town limits. I pointed out that the obvious demographics of that area showed that the other location would greatly cut into my business. The local guy initially AGREED with me. That delayed my troubles for a while. A year later they went ahead anyway and allowed that store too close to me to open. My second location was opened in an area completely outside the area of my first store. The second store kept the first store afloat for a while. But the lower sales at my first store eventually proved to be too much of a burden. I sold my second store. No one would buy my first store, so I walked away from it. The one thing that hurt the fellow franchise owners in my region is that it was corporate's philosophy to count only regional sales, not individual store sales. I came to understand that in their mind, if a successful store with say $14,000 in weekly sales was bringing in dollars to corporate, having two stores near each other, each with $10,000 in weekly sales was bringing in more dollars to corporate from the total of $20,000 in weekly sales. Never mind that now they had two weak stores with owner-operators struggling to be successful. Just do a better job of marketing they told me.
I worked at 2 different quiznos between 2004 and 2007. Every lunch and dinner was a line of people out the door. And those subs were AMAZING! It's such a shame. I would kill for a black angus peppercorn or a chicken carbonara😊
Those subs are still awesome if you can find them. In 2019 I went to a Quiznos in Las Vegas, and the peppercorn steak sub was still as good I I remembered. That Quiznos has since closed down (although I think there may still be 1 or 2 surviving restaurants left in Vegas). It's a shame that corporate's business model was so terrible and predatory that no amount of quality could overcome it.
@@weswes3142this was my favorite from their menu. Luckily for me there is still an open location about 20mins from me, but I never think to eat there because the name has all but disappeared in any sort of advertising.
I remember the manager at the Quizno's near me complaining about how much he had to pay for napkins, ramekins, etc. A few weeks later they no longer had the condiment/pickle bar and a couple months after that they were closed. I'd say this was around 2008-ish. This video explains it all.
The location near me attempted to keep going without all the branded items. They changed out the menu boards to chalk boards, had red trays instead of the Qtrays, plain napkins, etc. That lasted maybe 2 weeks before they were no longer there. According to the maps there are still locations open "near" me, but I haven't been to that part of the metro area in years. I miss their sandwiches.
I remember that pickle bar. All the extra banana peppers you wanted ! The one by us had a pepper relish. I think they call it "Gardanaire" up North or something like that. I may not be spelling that right.
Similar story for me- I went in to a location a couple blocks from my house and wanted a the low carb wrap. The owner happened to be there and said he doesn't order that because no one buys it and he ends up throwing it away. He then went on to rant about the prices they charge him for the food, calling the corp owners crooks, etc. A few months later, I came back and there was a handwritten sign on the glass door the said: Closed due to corporate greed.
I'll never forget the first time I saw the sponge monkey commercial. The people who created and signed off on that marketing are hands down the stupidest people to ever be in the restaurant or advertising business.
@@marstondavisThey forgoed that and went with the "Be hip and trendy to appeal to da yung ppls". Unfortunately they tried that by going for Internet humor. *_In 2004. At the same time Howard Dean shot his presidential campaign just by screaming in excitement._*
Every single "why did this beloved business fail after decades of success?" story boils down to the same 3 words that are always within the story: Private Equity Firm.
More responsible for the are the words "the great recession of 2018 or the 2020 pandemic". The private equity firm didn't cause their demise. They are vultures picking through the bones for pennies on the dollar looking for a quick turn-around and profits. They have a bad stigma, however, many people keep their jobs when they assume control.
Quiz was already dead before this. Same with all the others. It's like Kitchen Nightmares. A PEQ comes in on these stories when the business is already dead to buy it super cheap, then try and turn it around to make their money. Sometimes it works, most times it doesn't. But yeah. These businesses were failing and closing long before a PE got involved.
There was a Quizno's I went to at least once a week in 2008 and 2009. The people were really great and I always tipped them well because of that. I had no idea how much they were struggling. It was a shock when the place closed overnight. It was a family that ran it and I hope they've succeeded at something else. They deserved better.
I told my local guy to cancel his francise and go independant. He's still in business as "Subs" He would complain every week that the price of his supplies was killing him. I said call Sysco and compare. He has a great location.
I worked at one of the first Quizno's in Boulder, Co in 1982. Man, those were some good subs (we made for ourselves). The bread was fresh and excellent. The key was the slow conveyor that toasted the hot sandwiches. There was a sausage sandwich with steamed green peppers and onions, and a meatball sandwich that were both standout. The Italian sandwich was also memorable. If they stayed with the original program they would still be thriving. Greed is a sad thing to witness.
This can be said for many businesses. They start out with a great thing and then decide to ruin it by cutting corners and being greedy. It’s sad, really…………
@@tonylax619 This one I worked at was at Table Mesa Shopping Center across from King Soopers. The first one opened in Denver in 1981 and is located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood at 1275 N. Grant St. The location still has a sign out front that reads “Quiznos: The First Location est. 1981.”
I remember my first Quiznos experience as a kid. With my Mom at a hockey tournament in Vancouver. We were in a rush and had no idea they were going to put our subs on an agonizingly slow conveyor belt. But soon after I realized it was all worth it. What damn good subs!...that being said I was amazed to see a NEW Quiznos just open up a few blocks from my house a few months ago. Maybe the resurrection is underway. 🤔
@@tomproctor.archive Hahah well.....theres a very good chance you served a much younger me, a whooooole lotta sandwiches 😅 That shop was about a 3 minute bike ride away.
I miss early-mid-2000s Quiznos. SO good, miles ahead of Subway, maybe they were $7 for a footlong instead of $5 but they were easily worth the difference.
Back then my coworkers and I often go to Quiznos for our lunch breaks and work meetings because we all loved their subs. We went so often that the people working there learned our names, and would even ring us up without asking for our order - we all had a personal favorite that we ordered every time 🤣 I miss Quiznos, and I wish that they would catch on and climb out of the grave they dug, but like Boston Market, another place I enjoyed but is now all but gone, I don’t see it happening.
This is absolutely accurate, Quiznos forced prices on menu items and then sold you food and supplies at high costs. Most franchises, including the one I worked at, were "cheating" and buying what we could locally (produce mostly) just to be able to keep the lights on. We had plumbing issues and it took months to save up the money to fix it, because it cost so much to just get food to sell. Towards the end, one of the heating elements in our toaster broke and we had to operate without it, sometimes we'd have to send sandwiches through twice. We were down to two-person shifts (make table and toppings/register) and corporate sent inspectors around to see what the "discrepancy" in our orders was. I believe the owner was forced out of the 4-5 locations he operated, and I left as new owners took over...those poor people must have also not made it work, because the space that store was in has long since been absorbed into the phone store that was next door, as they knocked down the wall and expanded it. I bet you'd still find the early 90s MTV/nickelodeon game show tiled floor underneath the carpets if you pulled them up. Fucking sucks, all the food at Quiznos was awesome. I think I tried almost everything on the menu, and even learned how to make some of the discontinued items (like the classic tuna recipe) from veteran employees, and it was all amazing. Southwest Corn Chowder breadbowl. Steakhouse Beef Dip. The Triple Decker. The Chicken Milano. The Black Angus Steak & Cheese. The Chicken Bacon Guac. The Chicken Carbonara... that motherfuckin Chicken Carbonara... and they fucking squandered it for a get rich quick scheme. That lineup could STILL be dominating today. Ruined for profit.
@@Comm.DavidPorter roflmfao. Welcome to the Internet. You must be new here. Word of advice: don't be so sensitive that words like 'fuck' hurt you -- it's just a word. It also helps to not be a supercilious cunt.
Its the great American dream; short-term profit over long-term gain. These "investors" always come in and change a business' operating practises around to focus on maximum short-term gain, and when the profits have maxed out, they begin to cannibalize the business until there's nothing but a former ghost of it left, and then they dump it and move on to their next victim... ahem, I mean "investment".
The hateful employees didn’t help either. I went in one ordered a steak and cheese sub asked for peppers and onions with spicy mustard,the guy told me this isn’t subway we don’t put them on . I looked at him and said your right you eat it and left ,I’ve never been back since . That was it for me !
@@donaldpiper9763 Yeah, the employee's... They insisted that their subs are not un-toasted subs, and that their subs are made their way... which pretty much finished it for me That was 20 years ago, and I haven't missed them yet!
So many people will never know the greatness that Quiznos was. Back in 05’ there was one across the street from college and it used to be the place to go.
Their sandwiches are still magnificent. I was going to open one and after my due diligence one of the local crooked town officials found out and paid more to get one in my town. I was angry, but celebrated when he lost everything two years later.
I just now learned of your existence and watched this video. Then I subbed and liked. Nate, you're really very good at this. The information presented was entirely salient to the claim in the title, you realized some time ago that you are not Robin Williams and so you didn't try to be funny on a serious topic, and your communication skills are spot-on. I look forward to watching more of your work, sir.
I keep thinking "Man, I miss the $5 foot long" but I guess that was more of a Subway sucker punch to Quiznos than a sustainable business model. Well played, Subway. Well played.
It used to be a regular stop of mine in the mid 2000s. Then around 2007 or 2008, the one across my back just randomly disappeared. I think I found a Quiznos elsewhere and ate there one other time since then. RIP
I almost bought a franchise store about 10 years ago, while I was in manager training, I realized the company was going down like a landslide and got out of it before I lost my shirt. I had no idea why they were failing, their sandwiches and soups were great. Having a dead rat for a mascot didn't help one bit. I ran away fast and surprised they still have stores open.
Good thing you saw what was happening before you lost money as a franchise owner!! Fumy thing is, I pay such little attention to them I guess that all this was news to me just now! I don't remember thinking their subs were better or worse than Subway (Jersey Mike's, Penn Station and MOST of Firehouse's subs are TERRIBLE!!!), and their dead rat mascots, while a pretty dumb idea for a FOOD CHAIN mascot, were memorable and as funny as they were annoying to listen to!!
Their food is so low quality and has been for years so no their food isn’t good. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s they were phenomenal. The chicken might as well be made out of rubber.
@@heavymetal_cutting_fabrication My dad was complaining about the low quality a few years ago. He ordered some "premium roast beef" or something and he found that most of what he got was gristle. When he talked to the owner they guy said that is what he got from corporate.
my city of 100k ppl used to have 2 or 3 stores in the 2000s. my grandpa and I would always eat there. I remember management/owners switched around 2009 and the prices increased dramatically. stores closed, now theres actually still one being ran in a small section of a gas station next to the dmv lmao. i still go there and the sandwiches are still way better than subway!
This explains why our Quiznos closed. I couldn't figure it out, they shared a parking lot area with a Home Depot and a Walmart, were always busy, and the food was good . We still miss them.
Hi Kathy. Your right. But you gotta remember the allegation against lil boys when it qums to Quiznos. You know Quiznos was a front form that banned internet stuff. The fbi even got involved and arrested the mascot. Apparently they found sticky substances on his hands and glasses during the raid. And one of the fbi agents caught herpes on his face mouth and fingers after rubbing the substance on his face during a hot day.
The owner of the shopping mall rising rent, Quizno corporate raising franchising fees and/or Quizno food supplier raising prices can lead to these closures (usually 2 out of 3). Not a sustainable business model once u start getting squeezed from inside.
@@i_i8924 I am from NYC which was never as expensive as people acted like it was....but now it is. And this is happening to everything everywhere! It feels pointless to be in NYC but eating at home all of the time since so many places closed or charging ridiculous prices
I know someone who lost his life savings in three quizno's franchises in 2010. And he worked harder than anyone I have known. They literally took all his profits by forcing him to buy everything through the "company".
how? to buy into it was only like 125k, was one of the cheaper ones to buy into.... i mean, i guess 300k could have been his life savings, but you normally do LOANS for a business investments. you never risk your personal savings....
Early Quiznos had absolutely the best subs from any major chain in history. The were fantastic, and it's a shame that the company was run into the ground.
Bleh, maybe I just had really terrible luck or what, but every sub I've had from every Quiznos had been really bad... And their soup was worse than the discount canned soup you bought from the store...
Plastic meats! If you like stiff, hard plastic meats then Quiznos is for you!! Bought one sub from them and took one bite and threw that shit away! Hard, stiff plastic meat! Never went back!
@@TalkingHands308haters definitely coming out with unpopular opinions. Quiznos blew up so much because it was much better than it's only competition in Subway.
I wouldn't automatically accept what this video claims. All companies like that make a lot of money selling the food and supplies to their franchise owners. There is nothing unusual about that. The problem was that their method of toasting all their sandwiches is too slow and labor intensive for busy lunch time hours. Places like Jimmy John's don't toast their sandwiches, and the meats and cheeses are pre-sliced, so Jimmy John's can produce a lot of sandwiches during busy lunch hours when all the profits are made. It is true that a lot of Quiznos franchisees lost money, but I think that is because the basic food model of Quiznos is flawed and not cost effective compared to the competition.
There was a Quizno's across near my work office. Before the pandemic, I would go there fairly regularly for lunch. They were a bit expensive, but if you took advantage of their rewards program, it wasn't too bad, because I think every 5th sub was free or something like that. I didn't realize so many locations had closed by that time. I guess this one had the advantage of being one of the few lunch places near a high-tech office park and some luxury apartments. One day, I was eating lunch there when a company rep showed up and started arguing about with the owner. Supposedly, he had started buying his own ingredients and supplies from unapproved sources. The owner argued that he had no choice because he couldn't even get the things he needed in a timely manner. Watching this video, it makes total sense now. Then the pandemic happened, and they closed right away. Google Maps currently shows 3 nearby locations as closed permanently, and the closest one still open is 25 minutes away.
There was a location in Homewood Alabama that was owned by an Indian family. They took it upon themselves to make the interior like a coffee shop with a large round table and booth seating, a couple of TVs and seating outside. The owner took pride in every sandwich he made until their corporate office penalized them for their eating area and how the owner was putting extra effort in his sandwich making. They closed a month or so later.
This is why I would not franchise unless I wanted a safe (but small return) investment like McDonalds. If I wanted to make Quiznos subs, I would just copy their most popular sandwiches and make my own store. Yes bigger investment and more risk but u control everything so no outside curveballs except maybe from the landlord.
I can remember getting into Quizno's around 2005 and it was really good. Within five years the quality had gone over a cliff at just about every location. Not just the food but the customer service as well. I was astonished by how quickly it all fell apart.
100% agreement. I encountered especially with customer service, they didn't care anymore and did not want to be there. Just unfriendly staff near the end and never went back to the certain locations with a bad attitude. Suffice it to say, they closed down not long after. I think within five months.
Don't follow the worldly trends follow Jesus Christ today There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell Come to Jesus Christ today Jesus Christ is only way to heaven Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today John 3:16-21 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Mark 1.15 15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hebrews 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Jesus
That's kind of just America in general though. Quality and service has massively declined while prices have massively risen since the early 2000's. There are some exceptions but it's rare.
Man, I really miss Quiznos. They had good food, convenient locations, and friendly people working for them. A friend of mine worked at the closest one for a couple years, so I got to know the owner a little. I remember hearing about how the main company kept making it harder for him to do business, constantly raising prices, and even having some shortages locally. Their oven for toasting the sandwiches even broke down at one point, and it took a while for them to send someone out to fix it. What a way to destroy a business.
"They began to see their franchisees as customers" -exaclty what I was thinking throughout this video, they saw an opportunity to have a captive customer base through the distributor company. Truly scum behavior and the epitome of greed, to have hardworking people take financial risk and do all your labor and still find ways to rip them off and pocket their earnings for yourself.
Unfortunately, they were a chain. I've never had anything good at Quiznos, and I occasionally went there since the 80s, and even eaten at places normal people couldn't get to(like the one on Yokosuka base). They always sucked, because it was a franchise with leadership that negatively affected every store. This video is aptly titled, as I've seen the other side(Japan) where franchises can be saved by local operators(KFC, McDonalds, Disneyland, Starbucks) and damn moneygrubbers keeping their mitts off operations.
The bit about being a food distributor to their franchises is absolutely true. I was friends with a franchisee and then when he sold, I was friends with the new owner. I recall one time they were out of lettuce, and the store was directly across the street from a Publix grocery store. I asked him the obvious question, why don’t you just go across the street and buy enough to get you through the day. He explained he couldn’t, he’d get in trouble if he did. So instead of buying $20 worth of produce to make customers happy, he went without for fear of reprisals. The second owner was very open with his finances about the store with me. He was working 6 or 7 days a week, 10 hour days, and he was making about 45k a year.
I never cared for them. I couldn't find a sandwich there I liked. I liked Subway better, and they wrecked quizno's just by putting ovens in their stores.
My cousin was a Quiznos franchise owner several years ago but sold it before things got really bad revenue-wise. It's a good thing he got out when the going was good.
@@chriswalford4161 What a goofy brain dead response. When you leave a business you have to sell it, Galaxy brain. Did you expect it to just vanish into the ether? You think the guy had a crystal ball to know what would happen to the next person?
Absolutely. On the food side they were BRILLIANT, on the management side, horrible. I had to write two national advertising campaigns for them. One was notable in that once the project was in the can, the VP above that manager changed everything. A lot of Quiznos owners had to take second jobs to keep their franchise. When I was finally laid off from my company in the 2008 slump I said one advantage was I never had to write another Quizno's campaign. The inspirations for their food came from 5-star restaurants. Their chefs would eat at top restaurants and when they had a particularly good dish, they would recreate that flavor in a sandwich format. On the business side they restricted owners too much and controlled the supply side for things like cups et cetera. If every restaurant within a mile was serving wine outside you could not do that. The U.S. government reminds me of Quizno, death from the top down.
@@onsidelegal1002If you don't get a reply from them, I was just a restaurant worker/unofficial manager at a Quiznos from 06-09, and I'm guessing they are referring to the upper end meats and sauces. A lot of people think of basic subs like Clubs and Italians with Red Wine Vinegar or Mayo or something like that. But while I was working there Quiznos had 27 different sauces such as their Peppercorn, Carbonara, Honey French, etc as well as higher end meats like the Black Angus, Brisket, and Prime Rib. The different flavor combinations were amazing if you were willing to explore, and that was one of the main reasons I had wanted to work there! To this day, I have NEVER had a sandwich Half as good as what I could whip up at a Quiznos.
except that the us government has been operating that way for more than 100 years. and THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the difference between micro- and macro-!
@@onsidelegal1002 They would eat in fine resturants and when they had an entree they really liked (even if soup) the goal was to replicate that flavor in a grilled sandwich format. (at least that is how Quiznos explained it to me.)
McDonald's makes their franchisees buy from suppliers that are McDonald's approved. Some suppliers are, of course, on the board. I remember when they switched from powdered sanitizer that you mixed with water to sanitize your dishes, to a liquid sanitizer. This required all McDonald's locations that used the liquid sanitizer to get a retrofit kit on one of their hand sinks to double as an eyewash station. The company that supplied the retrofit kit just happened to have a member on the board of Mc D's. So approximately 10K locations need a retrofit kit and a McDonald's approved contractor to install them. Funny how that works. Check out any videos about why their ice cream machine is always "broken".
It wasn't intended to be. For most venture capital firms it's actually better to run the business into the ground while extracting every last penny from them on the way down.
_I cannot fathom how they thought that blatantly screwing over their franchisees was a sustainable business model._ It wasn't meant to be a _sustainable business model._ It was meant to make the most money possible for the people at the top without any regard or concern for the franchisees, the employees, or the customers. Making money was the goal and nothing else was allowed to get in the way or it got crushed. Something like the energy company Enron when the people at the top took everything and to hill with everyone else. I got MY piece of the pie and my stomach is full, I don't care about anyone else.
I worked at Quiznos for about 10 years - they're all gone in my area now, but I can recreate some of the subs pretty accurately with the right ingredients at home. I do miss the atmosphere from that place though. We definitely had some good times working there!
They are an example of reaping karma. Went into many small towns and put the local pharmacies out of business. Pharmacists had no choice but to go work for Rite Aid. This was a story from a town in PA. The local government caved to Rite Aid because they thought sales taxes would benefit the community. The community didn't want it. They gave Rite Aid too many tax breaks. It was around the time of Walmart bashing. Walmart taking advantage of tax breaks and closing up and moving to the next town over when the contract to start paying came due.
The local Rite Aid near me is still open but every time I go in there, seems to always curiously be running low on stuff. I kind of suspected they were going out of business. The one near me used to be "Thrifty," so I assume this one will probably get bought out by CVS or some other chain.
When ownership gets greedy and starts selling supplies to its franchisees, it's the kiss of death. I've seen this phenomenon in other systems. It's almost always ends in disaster.
The crazy part is if they acted as there own distributor of supplies the logical thing is build minimal profit there but pass bulk purchase discounts on making a lean machine
Quiznos was one of those restaurants that I never planned on going to, but I ended up at them often just because they were everywhere and they were good. While watching this video I realized that I haven't been to one now in probably about 5 years. Didn't even notice they were gone.
Watching the video made me hungry! Too bad the Subway is closer than a Quizno’s. Sounds like the owners never intended for the business to be permanent, they came in, got as much money as they could and let the company fall flat, while they make off with a few hundred million. It’s not a pyramid scheme, but it’s a scheme none the less.
I almost purchased a Quiznos Franchise in Miami back in 2010. I met their sales rep who from the very beginning, did not like at all, visited a few stores, spoke with some of the franchisees, who were neither very enthusiastic, nor said anything to motivate and inspire me. Nonetheless, I decided to move forward anyway. We drew up the contract and prepared the funds to do the closing scheduled to take place within a few days. However, I had this gut feeling. I suddenly picked up a negative vibe about the whole thing and backed out on the deal. The Sales Reps freaked out and came close to insulting me for cancelling on him. It was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made in my whole life, and I am glad that I did, and for obvious reasons have no regrets.
@@jimmyjon9970-You must be either that A-hole Quiznos sales rep I cancelled on back in 2010, who is probably still pissed off at me because his deal fell through, or you must be a former franchisee who is butt hurt and still licking your wounds after losing your shirt from the Quiznos you once owned.
I loved Quiznos backin the day. I got to know my local franchise owner a little bit. He'd complain how he made less money than one of his employees, how he had to work every day of the year, even holidays, he couldn't ever go to his kid's school functions, and when figured per hour - he made less than minimum wage. He was so happy when he was able to sell the place to someone else. Now I know why he was so screwed over financially: the ownership treated franchises terribly.
@@secretsauce4530There is no one to sell it back to, you don't buy a restaurant from Quiznos, you buy a license to use Quiznos branding and permission to source the required equipment from Quiznos. You have to either shut down (and lose the money you invested into it) or sell it to some other sucker. He eventually found someone to sell it to. You heard in the video, Quiznos' own lawyers concluded that almost half of their franchises didn't even break even. If a business isn't breaking even it's losing money and will eventually go out of business. That's why the franchise owner had to save every penny he could by not hiring enough staff to cover for himself.
@@secretsauce4530 As far as I know, they can't just sell it back, they either close doors and cut their loses or they find someone else to be the new owner, which probably isn't so easy
Man, I always wondered what happened to Quiznos. I'd see their commercials and my family occasionally got food there, and then one day it just seemed like they weren't there anymore. I thought they had went completely under, but apparently there are still a few chains open, none of them around me so I won't be eating there anytime soon, but I'm amazed that they failed so suddenly and spectacularly.
I ran a restaurant for several years, and one of the hardest hurdles to overcome was how expensive the overhead was, and by that I mean the paper products!!
I worked at a Quizno's in the early 2000's. We had a pretty loyal customer base and though dead a fair bit, the location was turning a small monthly profit. When the owner's wife got breast cancer, the small profit just wasn't enough. I watched him argue almost daily with corporate, trying to keep his business afloat during this terrible time. A few months later he had to close the doors. Haven't heard from him since, but I hope his wife is better now.
I loved Quiznos. I was so bummed when they closed the one here around 2010. What happened to that company is a shame cause they had some dang good sandwiches.
@@Georgiavr-1 Still got two locations in my town, the sandwiches suck now. Between that and being more expensive, I just don't go to Quizno's anymore, and that's a shame. Back in their heyday, their food was great.
Their roadkill animals singing Quiznos commercial came out when I was like 7. I got it in my head that the meat they used were the road kill animals. I never ate there once. Despite knowing damn well as an adult that’s not the case. It lives rent free in the back of my mind to not eat there.
One of the worst marketing ideas. This was the reason my brother didn't want to eat there. I loved their food, but they were dumb. I thought that was the reason they closed all the stores.
@@unicron76 they’ll never admit it but it was definitely the real reason for their decline. Who did they think watched commercials back then? It was the kids like me and the adults changed the channel. But it was always the kids to be like I’m not eating here. And then we never did 🤣
I stumbled across my first Quiznos as a ravenous teenager in the mid 90s, fresh off the hiking trail in Colorado. I thought it was nirvana, and when I saw a franchise in my city years later I was amazed to discover that it wasn't my post-deep-country backpacking appetite that made it so amazing, it was just plain delicious. It's a real shame what happened to this franchise.
Me too. I liked adding red wine vinaigrette to their turkey, ranch, & swiss. Throw on some pickles and banana peppers, and you are in toasted sammy heaven. Yum!😍
Plastic meats! If you like stiff, hard plastic meats then Quiznos is for you!! Bought one sub from them and took one bite and threw that shit away! Hard, stiff plastic meat! Never went back!
It's a shame as they had a REALLY good product. Right around the time they really started expanding in the early 2000's I got my first job and a Quiznos was just 2 blocks away. I ate there at least twice a week. I was a big fan of their black angus steakhouse sub, as well as their salads. I always wondered how they made enough to survive in a busy and expensive downtown area where other fast food restaurants refused to enter. Now I know.
I used to love going there for their prime rib sub. I realized they were in financial trouble after they replaced the prime rib with "prime rib steak" which tasted lower quality than anything Subway had to offer.
I loved Quiznos. And then they just started going away. Many rumors as to why, but none of the ones I heard were true. Thanks for explaining what really happened.
But they're still around. You gotta look for em harder. There's one about 10 miles from me on the north side of San Antonio. I am addicted to them. Every sauce they have is good.nthe creamy bacon Alfredo is possibly the best sauce on earth. The black Angus steak sandwich is so damn good it should be on everyone's bucket list. I'm getting so hungry right now I might just go break into that Quiznos (it's night here, now) and fix myself a sub before the cops come to take me away
I think Quiznos could for sure make a comeback, but not in the form and fashion as before. Their recipes are owned by someone, and in the right hands could be very big again. For me, it was all about the Chicken Carbonara sandwich, but the whole "toasted" concept was always better than Subway ever tried. The BEST I've ever had.
My brotha from anotha motha with the Chicken Carbonara. Agreed. It's been so long since I've eaten at a Quizno's (easily over 15 years) that I even forgot what that sandwich was called. When I got my first taste of Quizno's in my early 20's at school, Subway was dead to me. I'd save that extra $3 it cost for a sandwich from waiting table tip money just to go there since it was SO MUCH better.
I was all about the chicken carbonara..... once in awhile I would stay with the beef dip, but I still crave that toasted chicken carbonara goodness.....
My local shop was only about two miles away and it rapidly changed from a great place to a store with major issues over mere months. It was understaffed, the employees were either burning or under-toasting the sandwiches (I had one that was ice cold). I’ll never forget the last time I went: The sandwich was alright, the employee (just one) at the counter was friendly. As I and a few others were eating, the owner himself walked up to each table and said “Thank you for coming in, it really helps…”, asked if we needed anything, then walked away looking defeated. It was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen even to this day. The shop closed about a month later and is now an Amazon Prime pickup location. It’s a shame, but I don’t think they’ll come back where I live. Firehouse has established itself well in the area and it would be hard for Quiznos to overcome the bad press and word-of-mouth.
I worked at a Quiznos through high school. The owners seemed to be strongly encouraged or enticed to open multiple stores when they only wanted the 1. The 3 owners in my area all had 4 stores and they all eneded up closing. Still 2 with in 5 miles of me.
So I worked at Quiznos for 3 years, and this was through covid. Probably one of the main things that kept my location going was the fact we had a drive thru and delivery (I was the delivery driver as well). The issue being that the store was privately owned by a family that personally worked with (Very nice people). Pretty much the end for the location was just no real help from the company itself and the fear of bankruptcy, the owner ended up selling the place to the highest bidder at the time so they can secure a future. To this day though, it is MY personal favorite sub place, no other sandwich place has come close for me and I didn't even try Quiznos until I started working there 5 years ago.
I almost always had something like a sub or a Philly cheese when I was working. I never really liked the attitude I got at Quiznos and they opened at 11:30 AM or later. Farmer Boys had/has a call in service and great food for breakfast and lunch. A well fed dog is a loyal companion.
The concept was actually good, I always asked to double toast mine. Our local Quiznos acquired a new owner who was from India and he would display his religious brass ritual items near the cash register.. that was a bit off since his clientele base was mostly not of his heritage or religion. His business failed shortly thereafter.
The Quiznos in my town closed a long time ago and was replaced by a New York style pizza restaurant that is still very successful today. The weird thing is how they changed basically nothing about the location. The open sign is still the Quiznos logo. The Quiznos logo is still all over the fixtures. They even use the old Quiznos sandwich oven to cook some of their items.
Same thing here. One of the Quizno's locations here in town is now a "Patriot Subs", a local business (not a chain as far as I know). They repainted the wall and themed it up with a lot of military memorabilia, but everything else is still just like it was when it was Quizno's. Still using much of the same furnishings and fixtures as well as using the same oven to toast their sandwiches. Been in there a few times and is actually pretty good. Love their buffalo chicken sub. After a good 5 years of so of business, it is still going strong.
Poor business decisions? The guys running the show made bank. Then they made even more thru the leveraged buyout by "private equity" (aka "vampire squids"). Then wiped out their debt and court judgements by filing bankruptcy.
I worked here around 2002-03 when I was in high school and within a years time I watched the product quality shrivel up real fast. At first this place was booming and we would have massive lunch rushes for like a solid 2-3 hours with lines out the door but eventually by the end of my tenure there lunch hours became about a quarter of what they were. We used to have these cutting boards with lines on them for measuring the bread that were 12”, 9” and 6” and then they gave us new ones with 11.5”, 8.5” and 5.5” but the prices went up. Also the bread got skinnier, the meats got poor in quality and they stopped letting us make sandwiches for lunch. Always wondered what the problem was and I just thought the owner sucked at business. I remember him telling me that his entire family is depending on the success of this franchise. He had his daughter working there too who was the same age as me. Cute too. Looking back and knowing this now I feel bad for the guy and I hope he didn’t get fucked over too much
I went there one time about 18 years ago. Took one bite and spit that crap out and threw away the sandwich! The meats looked neat and uniform, but as I examined them carefully I realized the meats are fake meats! They were some kind of plastic-like substance made from artificial ingredients to look like meat, but tasted like stiff plastic instead! It was the worst sandwich I’ve ever eaten in my life! Still is!
There are two Quiznos within 10 minutes of my house. One is less than five minutes away, and both seem to be doing good business. So much better than Subway, its not even funny.
"the people in charge couldn't care less about the well being of everyone they are in charge of" is basically a one-sentence summary of everything wrong with the US approach to, well, everything. Government policy, business/economic policy, family relationships. This one sentence perfectly describes the core of rot eating away at our society.
It's not limited to the United States, it's just that the United States uniquely glorifies and rewards it. It's just human nature. We are lazy, jealous, self entitled creatures. Some of us do a better job of addressing our natures than others. But it is inevitable that our greed will ruin us somewhere. I don't think of myself as wise or smart for saying this. I just believe in the philosophical catch phrase: The first step is to admit you have a problem.
it's why there will never be any success in the modern age. Everybody is chasing selfish growth, they aren't thinking long term or in good faith. A lot of companies are already learning the hard way. Going to be a lot of bankruptcies in the coming decade.
This explains so much. I remember back in high school all these new Quiznos locations that were being built or had plans of being constructed and then off all a sudden, all of the newly built locations closed down and all talks of new ones ceased around town. I remember being so disappointed because the only sandwich shops we had at the time was SubWay or local, independent shops but those were on the beach and extremely pricy, only worth it on days off.
I use to work at a Quiznos in 2012 when I was in high school. Fortunately my boss, who also owned the store, was very good about quality control and only ordering stock when necessary. However, I could tell there were times when it was cheaper to just buy certain things at the grocery store than go through the distributor. He would get very annoyed or even angry if just a little bit of food was wasted…I now understand why. It’s really a shame they went so down hill as they did, because their subs were really quite delicious! But even when I worked there the common thing I always heard was “yeah, Quiznos is good, but it’s so expensive, and I’d rather just go to Subway.” Once places like Jersey Mikes and Firehouse subs started to pop up, I’m sure it sealed their fate as well. Eventually that location I worked at closed. I sometimes wonder whatever happened to the owner…
Find the people in the supply chain with the most to lose and take everything from them. How franchisees get treated is like being trapped in an abusive relationship.
I was close friends with a woman that owned a Pretzel Maker in a local mall. Exact same thing happened to her. She'd ran the place profitably for close to a decade. The downturn in mall traffic hurt but she was still doing good even when everything else in the food court was closing. (turns out bread, imitation butter, and salt has a really nice profit margin). Then the company got bought out by a conglomerate and made her buy all her supplies from their distributor. She said her overhead more then doubled and she was barely breaking even most months despite her income staying steady. To her credit she simply 'went out of business', waited a year, then opened up her own pretzel place without a franchise name attached and has been doing that for a couple years now. The best part is the non-competition clause of her franchise contract only lasted a year and because of how the franchise worked she owned all the equipment herself. The only thing she had to replace was her sign and menu because of the logo.
That's how a ton of small businesses start, getting shafted by a company bad enough you just do what they did on your own. Doin that myself currently LOL.
Corporations are about greed.
Based
Comgrats to her! I know a gamestop in my local mall that did something similiar, closed and rebranded as their own shop as corporate became greedy and they had better turnaround as a small business
hope she was able to get some joy from that year, all things considered! franchises can work and can be great or bad... i liek steak n shake, and thats a franchise, although they've pretty consistently made some horrible business choices, but a few good ones imo
My local guy was part of a group that sued Quiznos saying they could not make a profit at the prices they were being forced to sell at while also being forced to buy supplies from Quiznos' sister company. Quiznos revoked their franchise licenses. He changed his signs, revamped his menu, lowered prices, added things like fries which Quiznos would not allow, and I'm happy to say, is doing well. The best revenge is to live well.
Mind telling me the name of this rebranded restaurant?
I'd like to show my support to it someday.
There's an independent sub shop that was formerly a Quizno's near my work that serves hot dogs and chili dogs, of all things. They're pretty decent, too.
There's another one near my home that is dinosaur-themed, and while pricey compared to Subway, has way better subs than Subway.
why not tell us the name of this place and locale?
So, sounds like the move is to buy an up-and-coming franchise business chain, and invest enough money to expand like crazy. Next you pull the rug out from under the franchise holders by suddenly forcing them to shovel a bunch of money toward some hitherto unknown company, to buy all their supplies.
You run the various locations into the ground and make a huge profit from your supplier company. All the while the franchisees, still hanging in there, are still forced to pay your franchise fees. They probably got huge savings tied up in the business and couldn't afford to litigate.
At just the right time you sell out to a hedge fund or private equity to get another big payout. How do HF/PE make money from buying wrecked failed companies? I got NOooooo clue. I wish I did. These firms hire the best and brightest from Wharton and HBS and focus their financial engineering prowess with laser like accuracy toward one thing and ONE THING ONLY!
You're basically getting rich by tricking people. Man, I wish I'd gotten to go to better schools.
@@PatrickRsGhost by gar i haven't seen a themed restaurant in ages.. that sounds amazing.
Basically, it sounds like everything was going fine until the new owner got greedy and became a parasite on the franchise owners.
why do companies cut their quality?
a new owner ; doesn't give a shit . rarely does a new owner continue in the same tradition as original owner
@@ChickenMcThicckenit's so weird how people like that exist and do not face karma.
@@somechupacabrawithinternet8866because infinite growth is unsustainable and against the laws of physics. Anybody who has a large amount of money wants more, billionaires are just junkies for hoarding wealth.
@@GODCONVOYPRIMEbecause there is no cosmic justice in the world. Greed needs to be met with force. If allowed to thrive, exploitation will occur every time.
This is why franchises have always been a risky road. The parent company has all of the control, while the franchisee bears all of the risk. The opportunity to defraud the franchisee is just to great.
Wifey was thinking of going into some franchise that I never heard of. When she explained the business model and the work that we would have to put in, I said no way. We do all the work and take all the risks.
*too
That’s just a very narrow and uneducated assumption. I’ve been a Quiznos franchisee and now a Dunkin Franchisee for many many years, and there is a vast difference in the business models. But your greatest chance of success is through a franchise. Would you rather be part of something that has an 80% chance of success or an 80% chance of failure?
@@whynot8082buddy franchises are bleeding the western world dry because of exact situations like this video. As soon as the owner realized they make more by trampling those beneath them they never hesitate. Look at corporate price gouging and their clever excuse of OH THE ECONOMY. It's the economy they ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR!
I remember reading a newspaper article about a Quiznos manager who took money from the cash register to go to COSTCO to buy bread, cheese, sliced meat so that the location could stay open. The manager said the franchise owner couldn't pay Quiznos for the food so she (the manager) took it upon herself to buy the food from COSTCO. Everyone lauded her for her imitative. Because of the bad publicity, Quiznos flew her to their Denver HQ to heap praise on her before her location got closed and she was fired.
Omg! What a lowdown dirty move 😡
I remember going to lunch at the Quizno's near my office and being told the manager had to "run to the grocery store" to get more food. Luckily, they were in the parking lot of the grocery store. It's a shame, because their food was really good.
So what you’re saying is that Quiznos had spud monkeys for a mascot and Subway had a monkey’s spunk for a mascot?
The only way to restore the chain’s image is to have a single Billionaire owner wipe the slate clean and put reputation before profit. This requires the premise of making the Franchise operators independently successful. If you cannot reset Quiznos - the company will implode.
Subway wasn't much better, if any. Where I worked, one of my co-workers, his wife ran a Subway. Her parents owned it but had nothing to do with it other than ownership on paper. Since they also owned a trucking company that hauled produce from a large market terminal to a few grocery chain distributors, they would have drivers purchase cases of peppers, tomatoes, cukes, etc. and they would slip non-authorized (that is to say, not bought through Subway's distributor) veggies in. They had to be very, very careful doing it, as it stated specifically and explicitly in the contract that they could lose their franchise outright if the company caught franchisees doing that. They had a very large cooler at their home where they stored the "contraband" goods, and the daughter/wife and her husband would bring it in slowly at 5am when nobody else would witness it happening, process and cut up all the veggies and dispose of the cardboard cartons and other evidence. They had to buy a certain amount from the distributor so that nobody up above in corporate would really suspect anything. Apparently, their plan made the difference between the business carrying on, or folding, as Subway charged hellish prices too on the food and supplies, and royalties, and other bee-ess expenses.
There was a Quiznos near my office that I used to eat at often. That is, until one day I pulled up only to find a sign on the door saying the location had closed. But the more interesting (sad) thing was that a couple of the employees were standing there looking at the sign as well. The locks had been changed without notice and they found out they were now unemployed the same way I found out the store was closed... by reading a sign on the door. How shitty.
Olive Garden used to have numerous location in the province of Ontario (and Quebec), Canada. That's until Darden Restaurants pulled the plug overnight, and all of their employees and location managers found out. They showed up, placed was locked and chained up. Not even the decency of a note or a phone call. Hundreds upon hundreds of folks out of a job, poof. God, that's gotta be close to 25 years ago now.
😊
I can imagine how much thievery is avoided by just locking the doors.
@@stanpatterson5033 Olive Garden in Québec? I don't think so.
I went through this with another company. It truly is shitty. Not one person cared or respected enough to call most of us. Then they had the BALLS to call us in to empty out the store for them.
The only people to suffer were the franchise owners. The board of Quiznos made a ton of money destroying the company and livelihood of thousands of people, and got out of it with more money and zero obligations when they sold off its assets.
How do you know that the owners of Quiznos made a lot of money. I would bet they lost a lot of money. When you declare bankruptcy, then your debt obligations are cancelled, and the proceeds of the asset sales go to those who loaned the company money. I doubt that owners made anything when things started to go bad.
@@Mark-rw3kwThey said the board made money not the owners. Small misunderstanding.
@@Dim.g0v Usually the Board of Directors of a corporation make about $200-$300K per year for a company of that size back then. I don’t think he knows what he is talking about. The main reason why Quiznos has only a few hundred stores now (after multiple owners who have tried to run it) is that whole concept is flawed. The way they make sandwiches is too labor intensive and takes too long to do enough business during the busy lunch hours.
Late stage capitalism
@@thanhavictus 90% of restaurants fail within 5 years. The market decides which ones survive and which one fail in a free market economy. In a socialist economy, the government decides and your choices of restaurants would be very small and the food would be terrible,
Driving down the interstate, decades ago, a Quizno's corporate car drove past. Several thousand dollars of fancy paint job, in an eighty thousand dollar BMW. I was astonished at the extravagance of this.
Stop the cap 🧢
Funny, I just commented a few minutes ago on another video how I saw a Crumbl branded truck last week. It looked optioned out and I thought it was a very inefficient method for delivering baked goods but a heck of a tax write-off.
Re: comment: 👆Unbelievable! Why don’t they ever learn that selfishness & greed just doesn’t work! Common sense does! But… “stupid is as stupid does!” Or “foolish is as foolish does!” Take your pick.
Quiznos still has the same corporate car. Just that the BMW is now a 1991 Pontiac Sunbird.
@@trajancanadaFaded teal paint, the roof's just about rusted off, there's 1 original hubcap left and 2 more found on the street, the exhaust is single handedly widening the ozone hole, and it's lucky if it can still do 55 on the interstate.
Quiznos was so much higher quality and tastier than subway. The difference in quality was massive. It's such a shame they had to ruin it.
That’s why their failure is such a mystery. Everyone knew Quiznos was superior, yet nasty Subway thrives with millions of stores. Lame.
But it's not a mystery? It's spelled out pretty clearly in the video why they failed. In a word, greed.
@@jacksonrelaxin3425 it's the same with everything. Middle of the road products appeal to the masses. That's why you get these mind-blowing phenomenon like Bud light, sitcoms, Beyonce, Jeep, Chili's, Nike and Marvel movies being so popular despite bordering on intolerable because the average person just goes with what's popular, not whats good.
@@sue7734It’s not really greed if the CEO figures out he can make three times as much money by running the company into the ground instead of managing it properly. That’s called perverse incentive.
@@quentinking1188
Marvel movies and Bud Light are popular? Mister time traveller, I have some bad news.
The Schadens weren't in the business of making food, they were in the business of extorting their franchisees. That is why they were only focused on increasing the number of franchises, not the number of sales each franchise made. They had a Mob Mentality.
Banks were happy to lend them money.
sounds too much like subway, UPS stores, and 7/11!
a shame, i liked their sandwiches over the other fastfood sandwich places too
It almost sounds like a ponzi scheme.
I can't disagree. but damn that's heavy shit.
Every 8 months or so i find myself asking "man, whatever happened to Quiznos?" Now i know.
It sucks because there was a Quiznos down the street from my house in my old neighborhood and I loved it as a kid. Now it feels like every Quiznos has been consolidated to airports and rest stops.
I am saying the same thing about Boston Market
I still see some that are independent!
I used to go to the Quiznos at the heart of downtown Denver. Around 2005 they would have a line going out the door everyday for lunch.
I was literally having this conversation with a friend of mine a few days ago… and now of course it’s in my algorithm
@@ethanfay6091they are listening
At 0:49 you see wet chicken going on to bread. That is what killed Quiznos. They ruined their most popular sandwich by speeding up the oven. They could not fully heat the chicken and used hot water to bring the chicken to temp. The result was a soggy sandwich. They quickly went from round the block lines to almost no one in them for lunch.
The sad part of this story is always how the people that caused the problem face no punishments for it. They got all their money, declared bankruptcy and moved on.
Gotta love the US bankruptcy laws...the system is favored towards the scammers
If Little Ceasars made a comeback Quiznos can
Welcome to capitalism
Little Caesars is still owned by the founders though isn't it?@@chri8067
GO see how much greed existed in the communist black markets then edit you dissertation.@@mogyui2902
It's a shame because Quiznos had some of the tastiest sandwiches around. We were heartbroken when they all closed in our area.
Now, just hold on a minute there.
Don't follow the worldly trends follow Jesus Christ today
There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today
Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell
Come to Jesus Christ today
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Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void
Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today
Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jesus
They were really tasty in my area until they weren't. Shortly after the quality went down our locations closed.
Yeah I used to go there frequently in the 2000's. I was wondering what the hell happened bc they went off my radar.
Only one left in Indiana in Plainfield
I had a summer job at Quiznos when I was a teenager. This was at the same time when they pulled that dumb marketing stunt where they started serving food with actual silverware. It sure was fun suddenly having a bunch of extra crap to wash after a lunch rush. That idea ended up flopping hard and the manager just let me and another employee take the silverware home. I still have a bunch of Quiznos forks in my silverware drawer.
"omg a fork noooooooo"
@@nightshadehelis9821 A single fork?
Bonus!👍
Thas go be worth something, someday!
no sandwich shop would do that
Love how the video sheds light on Private Equity. Many, if not most private equity, are not very bright and don't know basic finances. They just have money to invest - like a drunk in Vegas at 2am.
Greed and lack of conscience can make anyone wealthy. If you have ANY intelligence, you can easily mislead and scam ur way to wealth. Sadly, we few who believe in honor are left with a joke "living wage" while these greedy liar fools raise to the top. Society is BROKEN, and we just keep running on that hamster wheel. Even a worldwide virus couldn't wake us up to our hubris and greed
Private equity destroys everything it touches.
I used to work at the Domino’s across the street from the original Quiznos. Seeing their original location shut down was a shock, and it’s so wild to hear how hard they’re actually fell.
Making more money from your franchisees than your customers sounds like an MLM with extra steps.
bingo
Plus the franchisees can get subsidized small business loans from the gov for the franchise fees so we subsidize. with our taxes, companies like McDonald's this way
@@LastAvailableAlias I'm starting to think taxes are just to subsidize the already wealthy 😂 everybody else, the govt is Tony Soprano "you can live in a dumpster for all we care!"
Yep. Same concept
....is it bad that I read this and was confused about what "men love men" had to do with a bankrupt sandwich franchise?
I think you missed a very important point in the Quiznos fall from Grace. You nailed it on a high level but there were also problems with the sandwiches themselves. I was a Quiznos loyalist. They had 3 sandwiches that were perfect for me. The Prime Rib, The Beef Dip, and the Chicken Bacon Ranch. I ate the Beef Dip almost every day for an entire year in college.
Sometime around 2008ish, they changed things up and forced employees to weigh the meat going into each sandwich. The proper amount of meat was nowhere near what they had been putting on the sandwich. This seemingly minor change that was surely prompted by bean counters altered the meat, bread, cheese, etc ratios. The sandwich that was once perfection had become mediocre. The mediocre sandwich wasn't worth the premium price that Quiznos charged. I tried Quiznos a few more times in the early 2010s and each time I was disappointed. I haven't had Quiznos in a decade at this point.
Quiznos had become Subway quality with Firehouse prices.
"Quiznos, Subway quality at Firehouse prices."
I believe that is their new slogan. 😃
That's hilarious🤣
Talking about bean counters... believe it or not, there are strict rules sandwich "artists" are supposed to follow when making a sandwich at Subway. One of the worst examples is olives. If a customer asks for olives on their sandwich, there are only supposed to be 3 on a 6" and 6 on a 12". That's it. You're also supposed to count out how many slices of tomato, how many banana peppers, etc. And meat like steak, or rotisserie chicken, etc. is supposed to be pre-portioned by weight or weighed on the spot before put on the sandwich.
The bean counters absolutely ruin everything. Especially when they dig their claws into every ounce of minutia to be found.
I used to go to Quiznos in college too. And, I just remember they had this Turkey rosemary toasted sandwich and it was delicious. Firehouse has a similar problem.
@@HickoryDickory86 I agree. I worked at Subway for about 6 months. We had to follow the proportions on most things. But the Owner of our store let us eat anything we wanted as long as it didn't leave the store and it was considered "waste"
You wouldn't believe how good even a Subway sandwich can be with the right amount of ingredients and treated with care.
Same goes for those cookies. Same goes for the Bread. Too many stores try to cook everything in the morning and by afternoon the bread and cookies are hard.
You raise the bottom, and you raise the whole. You raise the top, you tear it in half
I owned and operated three stores from 2005 to my final closing in June 2008. Our product, to this day, is far superior to anything out there today. I was a small voice in the San Diego Market. However, I saw the ship sinking well before my final store closure. Losing half a million dollars in my late twenties was undoubtedly a tough climb. However, I did not let Quiznos' or my creditors slow me down. I Bounced back. Unfortunately, not every franchisee saw the same outcome. We had a fellow franchisee take their life over the monetary loss they had in Irvine. It was a sorrowful time, and I will never get over what the Schadens did to us... Thank you for sharing this video.
Yeah, didn't that guy shoot himself on his front lawn?
"Losing half a million dollars in my late twenties was undoubtedly a tough climb." - Yeah, I really feel for you... Business people doing each other like trash and we're supposed to think you've broken through? Haha. Don't worry, your money makes you "better" than me any day.
@@Ali-e5h1b somebody is salty. Still working minimum wage in your 30s?
@@hoobaguy I'm so poor, working so hard, and I'm so old and ugly too! Like your mother...
Gosh, I am so sorry. That is a terrible loss.
In 2006, I willingly walked an additional block and paid a little extra to eat at Quizno's instead of the Subway on campus. The product was that good. It's so sad the franchisor decided to milk every penny out of their franchisees instead of helping them grow.
It's insane. All they had to do was support them and the long term money would have far exceeded the quick cash they got fucking over their own franchisees. I
yea same here
We are talking about this now at work and we all agree, we ALL liked Quiznos a lot and they simply disappeared. We were like "No wonder they disappeared!" Greedy corporate scumbags do it again! They ruined another great business. This is a real sad story. Their CEO/CFO for Quiznos is an idiot for sure.
Wow a whole block, must have been exquisite.
@@secretsauce4530 The fact that he said it like he did makes me pretty sure this fellow is a very well rounded person, if you know what I mean.
I was a shift manager for some time in the mid 2000s at a Quiznos. I took pride in our food and loved working there. You’re spot on for the reason they went down: the owner was getting gouged by the supplier company he had to use. Even worse they constantly made him buy stuff he didn’t need to maintain the franchise, things not delivered and overpriced so he couldn’t turn a profit. Then other competitors like which wich came in and he couldn’t keep up. Was so sad to have seen it close after I’d left.
Subway does that very same thing to their owners. Yet, somehow they’re still in the game with every town having a subway on every corner
What’s also crazy about subway is you can have 2 stores within s couple of blocks from each other, and one is going to do better than the other and by a long shot
Because of Quiznos Subway toasts EVERY sandwich no one even remembers when they didn't
Quiznos idea saved Subway what a sucker
@@dukeofthedance8062 definitely. It’s as if subway wasn’t meant to be toasted. As for Quiznos… toast that shit all day. Their commercials didn’t say “TOASTY” for no reason
@@rondavid7413 I don’t remember subway toasting all their sandwiches. However, I DO remember when subway would cut that flap of bread out of the middle of the bun, then place it on top
Why subway thought doing away with that was a good idea blows my mind. But that was what caused subway to go going downhill. And it was around this same time when Jared started to become a thing. And we all know what that led to…
I remember many years ago hearing the reason the one near me closed was because the owner got caught buying his own meats at a cheaper cost
This made me think back to 2006, when there were 4 different Quiznos near me. Now, the nearest one is 95 miles away.
I worked at a New Quizonos between 2002-2003 I felt so horrible for the owner Glenda. The store was her retirement plan and she put a lot of money into running that store. She showed me the cost of buying all the supplies needed like “Cups, paper napkins and it was ridiculous. she eventually sold the franchise in 2005 the owner of that store also struggled as well and it closed in 2008.
My son managed a Quiznos and it got so bad the owner offered him the franchise for free. He turned it down and the lady owner closed it for good.
I live in a small town (30,000) on the Oregon coast. We had a Quiznos open here and I don't think it lasted 2 years. The first and only time I ate there, I saw they had a jar clearly labeled for tips. I get a few dollars out and the cashier quietly whispers "please don't tip me." Thinking I was hallucinating or having a stroke, I said "what?" She repeated "please don't tip me." As I exit the store and walk to my car, the worker comes outside to explain herself. "The owner keeps all the tips and doesn't pay them out or distribute them on our checks. He claims they are tips for the restaurant itself and not intended for us. Everything I say and do is closely monitored on camera. He says he is barely making any money with the store and every little bit helps." That was incredibly sad to hear and I can only imagine the morale in that place. This video helps shed a lot of light on that memory.
Wow. Reminds me of some Redit stories.
That is illegal as hell in almost every state.
What are you smoking? The legal system is clogged up examining people not being 'woke'. @@jameshendrickson8159
That is illegal.
illegal.
Thats insane. We had a quizinos here and once I ate there I never wanted to eat in a subway again. Quizinos was so good. To think that such a place failed only because of poor management shows that higher ups often have no idea what they are doing. Its the same in many industries. Great video btw!
I literally ate there five days a week for years. There was nothing better to be had.
It's good because it's terrible for you, unfortunately. Not too many folks are looking for a 1,500-2,000 calorie lunch these days... IMO, Firehouse filled their niche well enough.
The higher ups knew what they were doing. They geared their business around making money off of franchisees instead of selling sandwiches because it made them more money. You could argue that they could have been better at it if they took a little bit less so the franchisees made enough money that they didn't want to sue the company. But they also took into account franchisees failing, which is why they opened so many.
Quiznos is definitely better than subway, thing is, they are rare in my city only 2 outlets, while subway is rapidly expanding. They are too focus on dine in, while subway more on the go. Their restaurant is sad looking, stuck in the 90s.
Most places that failed to so exactly because of management, and little else. Something that one of my mentors in the Army used to tell me rings true here: All problems are leadership problems.
This has got to be one of the best videos/documentaries that I've seen. This is my second time watching it. Please keep up the great work!!
I owned and operated two Quiznos franchises from 2000 to 2003.
I bought into the concept because the sandwiches were so tasty!
It started out well, but did not turn out well in the end.
It was a great experience, but also a huge life lesson.
And, no, I did not get any of the lawsuit money.
I'm sure they blamed you for being a "bad franchisee". I went down the same road with Rita's Italian Ice franchise in an expansion market they didn't support. Of course I was a "bad franchisee".
is it was just the monopoly and overprice on the consumable items, the loss in marketing exposure?
If I was the brothers, I would’ve just hired a consultant if I didn’t know how to fix the problems at the franchises.
@@whobilly1 I was the week-to-week top selling store in my region when I opened my first store. It was inevitable that they would open some more in the area. I was ok with that.
But then they tried to opened a store just down the street, south of the town limits. I pointed out that the obvious demographics of that area showed that the other location would greatly cut into my business. The local guy initially AGREED with me. That delayed my troubles for a while. A year later they went ahead anyway and allowed that store too close to me to open.
My second location was opened in an area completely outside the area of my first store. The second store kept the first store afloat for a while. But the lower sales at my first store eventually proved to be too much of a burden. I sold my second store. No one would buy my first store, so I walked away from it.
The one thing that hurt the fellow franchise owners in my region is that it was corporate's philosophy to count only regional sales, not individual store sales. I came to understand that in their mind, if a successful store with say $14,000 in weekly sales was bringing in dollars to corporate, having two stores near each other, each with $10,000 in weekly sales was bringing in more dollars to corporate from the total of $20,000 in weekly sales. Never mind that now they had two weak stores with owner-operators struggling to be successful.
Just do a better job of marketing they told me.
@@oskarfunes2505
I was the week-to-week top selling store in my region when I opened my first store. It was inevitable that they would open some more in the area. I was ok with that.
But then they tried to opened a store just down the street, south of the town limits. I pointed out that the obvious demographics of that area showed that the other location would greatly cut into my business. The local guy initially AGREED with me. That delayed my troubles for a while. A year later they went ahead anyway and allowed that store too close to me to open.
My second location was opened in an area completely outside the area of my first store. The second store kept the first store afloat for a while. But the lower sales at my first store eventually proved to be too much of a burden. I sold my second store. No one would buy my first store, so I walked away from it.
The one thing that hurt the fellow franchise owners in my region is that it was corporate's philosophy to count only regional sales, not individual store sales. I came to understand that in their mind, if a successful store with say $14,000 in weekly sales was bringing in dollars to corporate, having two stores near each other, each with $10,000 in weekly sales was bringing in more dollars to corporate from the total of $20,000 in weekly sales. Never mind that now they had two weak stores with owner-operators struggling to be successful.
Just do a better job of marketing they told me.
I worked at 2 different quiznos between 2004 and 2007. Every lunch and dinner was a line of people out the door. And those subs were AMAZING! It's such a shame. I would kill for a black angus peppercorn or a chicken carbonara😊
If you get a black angus peppercorn, promise you'll share. : )
That Black Angus peppercorn sub was awesome! Subway doesn't have anything that comes close.
Those subs are still awesome if you can find them. In 2019 I went to a Quiznos in Las Vegas, and the peppercorn steak sub was still as good I I remembered. That Quiznos has since closed down (although I think there may still be 1 or 2 surviving restaurants left in Vegas). It's a shame that corporate's business model was so terrible and predatory that no amount of quality could overcome it.
Chicken carbonara was 👌👌👌👌
@@weswes3142this was my favorite from their menu. Luckily for me there is still an open location about 20mins from me, but I never think to eat there because the name has all but disappeared in any sort of advertising.
I remember the manager at the Quizno's near me complaining about how much he had to pay for napkins, ramekins, etc. A few weeks later they no longer had the condiment/pickle bar and a couple months after that they were closed. I'd say this was around 2008-ish. This video explains it all.
My local Quiznos now charges for their iconic chilli hot sauce 50c for it and no bar at all...American greed will be the US's roman empire demise
The location near me attempted to keep going without all the branded items. They changed out the menu boards to chalk boards, had red trays instead of the Qtrays, plain napkins, etc. That lasted maybe 2 weeks before they were no longer there. According to the maps there are still locations open "near" me, but I haven't been to that part of the metro area in years. I miss their sandwiches.
I remember that pickle bar. All the extra banana peppers you wanted ! The one by us had a pepper relish. I think they call it "Gardanaire" up North or something like that. I may not be spelling that right.
Similar story for me- I went in to a location a couple blocks from my house and wanted a the low carb wrap. The owner happened to be there and said he doesn't order that because no one buys it and he ends up throwing it away. He then went on to rant about the prices they charge him for the food, calling the corp owners crooks, etc. A few months later, I came back and there was a handwritten sign on the glass door the said: Closed due to corporate greed.
I'll never forget the first time I saw the sponge monkey commercial. The people who created and signed off on that marketing are hands down the stupidest people to ever be in the restaurant or advertising business.
I mean 9 year old me thought it was all the rage back then
First thing they teach you in advertising is DON'T SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF THE AUDIENCE! Quiznos failed that!
@@marstondavisThey forgoed that and went with the "Be hip and trendy to appeal to da yung ppls". Unfortunately they tried that by going for Internet humor. *_In 2004. At the same time Howard Dean shot his presidential campaign just by screaming in excitement._*
Every single "why did this beloved business fail after decades of success?" story boils down to the same 3 words that are always within the story: Private Equity Firm.
More responsible for the are the words "the great recession of 2018 or the 2020 pandemic". The private equity firm didn't cause their demise. They are vultures picking through the bones for pennies on the dollar looking for a quick turn-around and profits. They have a bad stigma, however, many people keep their jobs when they assume control.
As soon as you hear those terrible words, it's all down hill.
They are like spiders. They suck the juicy goodness out of their prey and leave behind the desiccated husk.
Quiz was already dead before this.
Same with all the others.
It's like Kitchen Nightmares. A PEQ comes in on these stories when the business is already dead to buy it super cheap, then try and turn it around to make their money. Sometimes it works, most times it doesn't.
But yeah. These businesses were failing and closing long before a PE got involved.
My company recently got bought out, I tell my older coworkers to plan for liquidation, none are listening. ☠️
There was a Quizno's I went to at least once a week in 2008 and 2009. The people were really great and I always tipped them well because of that. I had no idea how much they were struggling. It was a shock when the place closed overnight. It was a family that ran it and I hope they've succeeded at something else. They deserved better.
I told my local guy to cancel his francise and go independant. He's still in business as "Subs" He would complain every week that the price of his supplies was killing him. I said call Sysco and compare. He has a great location.
I worked at one of the first Quizno's in Boulder, Co in 1982. Man, those were some good subs (we made for ourselves). The bread was fresh and excellent. The key was the slow conveyor that toasted the hot sandwiches. There was a sausage sandwich with steamed green peppers and onions, and a meatball sandwich that were both standout. The Italian sandwich was also memorable. If they stayed with the original program they would still be thriving. Greed is a sad thing to witness.
Was the first one out on East Arapahoe? I basically grew up going to the one in South Boulder.
This can be said for many businesses. They start out with a great thing and then decide to ruin it by cutting corners and being greedy. It’s sad, really…………
@@tonylax619 This one I worked at was at Table Mesa Shopping Center across from King Soopers. The first one opened in Denver in 1981 and is located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood at 1275 N. Grant St. The location still has a sign out front that reads “Quiznos: The First Location est. 1981.”
I remember my first Quiznos experience as a kid. With my Mom at a hockey tournament in Vancouver. We were in a rush and had no idea they were going to put our subs on an agonizingly slow conveyor belt. But soon after I realized it was all worth it. What damn good subs!...that being said I was amazed to see a NEW Quiznos just open up a few blocks from my house a few months ago. Maybe the resurrection is underway. 🤔
@@tomproctor.archive Hahah well.....theres a very good chance you served a much younger me, a whooooole lotta sandwiches 😅 That shop was about a 3 minute bike ride away.
Overexpansion is one of the biggest mistakes a food business can make. In this case it wasn't a mistake though, it was a criminal exploitation.
I miss early-mid-2000s Quiznos. SO good, miles ahead of Subway, maybe they were $7 for a footlong instead of $5 but they were easily worth the difference.
We still have one here. While it isn't $7 anymore, it's still in the ballpark of Subway and no comparison.
Back then my coworkers and I often go to Quiznos for our lunch breaks and work meetings because we all loved their subs. We went so often that the people working there learned our names, and would even ring us up without asking for our order - we all had a personal favorite that we ordered every time 🤣 I miss Quiznos, and I wish that they would catch on and climb out of the grave they dug, but like Boston Market, another place I enjoyed but is now all but gone, I don’t see it happening.
@@EatTheMarxists i bet right before you guys got out of your cars- they said "oh, god- here come those boring people again"
@@tommurphy4307 bullshit. We were only the ‘kinda boring’ people. Get it right.
@@tommurphy4307 you suck
This is absolutely accurate, Quiznos forced prices on menu items and then sold you food and supplies at high costs. Most franchises, including the one I worked at, were "cheating" and buying what we could locally (produce mostly) just to be able to keep the lights on. We had plumbing issues and it took months to save up the money to fix it, because it cost so much to just get food to sell. Towards the end, one of the heating elements in our toaster broke and we had to operate without it, sometimes we'd have to send sandwiches through twice. We were down to two-person shifts (make table and toppings/register) and corporate sent inspectors around to see what the "discrepancy" in our orders was. I believe the owner was forced out of the 4-5 locations he operated, and I left as new owners took over...those poor people must have also not made it work, because the space that store was in has long since been absorbed into the phone store that was next door, as they knocked down the wall and expanded it. I bet you'd still find the early 90s MTV/nickelodeon game show tiled floor underneath the carpets if you pulled them up.
Fucking sucks, all the food at Quiznos was awesome. I think I tried almost everything on the menu, and even learned how to make some of the discontinued items (like the classic tuna recipe) from veteran employees, and it was all amazing. Southwest Corn Chowder breadbowl. Steakhouse Beef Dip. The Triple Decker. The Chicken Milano. The Black Angus Steak & Cheese. The Chicken Bacon Guac. The Chicken Carbonara... that motherfuckin Chicken Carbonara... and they fucking squandered it for a get rich quick scheme. That lineup could STILL be dominating today. Ruined for profit.
Please make a video and share those recipes Quiznos beef dip was my favorite!
That chicken carbonara was my go-to!
@@jlscott3102 we used to make an off-menu BLT with the spicy mustard on one side and the bacon carbonara sauce on the other, man it was amazing
@@Comm.DavidPorter roflmfao. Welcome to the Internet. You must be new here. Word of advice: don't be so sensitive that words like 'fuck' hurt you -- it's just a word. It also helps to not be a supercilious cunt.
I'll never get over the Turkey Bacon Guac. Never.
I always wondered why the cost of food skyrocketed at Quiznos. It never ceases to amaze me how a few greedy people will destroy a company.
Its the great American dream; short-term profit over long-term gain. These "investors" always come in and change a business' operating practises around to focus on maximum short-term gain, and when the profits have maxed out, they begin to cannibalize the business until there's nothing but a former ghost of it left, and then they dump it and move on to their next victim... ahem, I mean "investment".
Typical. They have no self control.
It always amazes me that people like this can't go "Hey, we can make X for 20 years or 2X for 2...let's go for 2!"
The White House taking notes
The hateful employees didn’t help either. I went in one ordered a steak and cheese sub asked for peppers and onions with spicy mustard,the guy told me this isn’t subway we don’t put them on . I looked at him and said your right you eat it and left ,I’ve never been back since . That was it for me !
@@donaldpiper9763 Yeah, the employee's... They insisted that their subs are not un-toasted subs, and that their subs are made their way... which pretty much finished it for me That was 20 years ago, and I haven't missed them yet!
Man i still remember late 90’s Quiznos, so damn good.
I loved quizno’s in the early 2000’s around 2005-2008. Ate there a lot then it just disappeared. Always wondered what happened.
Me too. I didn’t eat there alot, but when I did, I loved it. Then one day I just noticed all of them were closed and gone away, and I never knew why.
@@superchicken5000That's what happens when corporate decides to run shit like an MLM.
So many people will never know the greatness that Quiznos was. Back in 05’ there was one across the street from college and it used to be the place to go.
No, just no. There's no greatness in overcharging for a tiny sandwich
They always seemed really expensive
not everyone is a fatass who needs a ton of food@@a_ya5555
I was born in 2007 and I remember always getting Quiznos in my hometown, I part of me died when I came back and realized the Quiznos had shut down.
That means literally nothing coming from a college student
Their sandwiches are still magnificent. I was going to open one and after my due diligence one of the local crooked town officials found out and paid more to get one in my town. I was angry, but celebrated when he lost everything two years later.
Yippie !!!!! 👍👍👍👍👍
💥💥💥💥💥*KARMA!!!!*💥💥💥💥💥
So.... He saved you from making a huge mistake.
Lmao that’s pretty funny
😅😂😂🎉
I just now learned of your existence and watched this video. Then I subbed and liked.
Nate, you're really very good at this. The information presented was entirely salient to the claim in the title, you realized some time ago that you are not Robin Williams and so you didn't try to be funny on a serious topic, and your communication skills are spot-on. I look forward to watching more of your work, sir.
I keep thinking "Man, I miss the $5 foot long" but I guess that was more of a Subway sucker punch to Quiznos than a sustainable business model. Well played, Subway. Well played.
I know right?! After watching this video, I see that $5 foot long much differently now.
Dont forget Bidenflation too.
@@opossumgrylls3275the 5$ footlong died under Trump, just saying
It was fine at the time, keep in mind that the $5 foot long promotion started many years ago when everything involved was less expensive.
@@SmallSpoonBrigadeyeah make excuses for greedy corporations that raised prices during covid, and never lowered them.
I always liked Quiznos and was sad when they seemingly randomly disappeared
It used to be a regular stop of mine in the mid 2000s. Then around 2007 or 2008, the one across my back just randomly disappeared. I think I found a Quiznos elsewhere and ate there one other time since then. RIP
Yeah and they had a "pepper bar" with free pickles, peppers and condiments. Actually it was a good sandwich.
I always wanted to try one but we only had SubWays and Wawas
It took a while for franchisers to realize we can’t make money anymore.
Early 2000's for me, right out of highschool when I had a little lawn service. We loved stopping in there for lunch. Jersey Mike's for me now.
I almost bought a franchise store about 10 years ago, while I was in manager training, I realized the company was going down like a landslide and got out of it before I lost my shirt. I had no idea why they were failing, their sandwiches and soups were great. Having a dead rat for a mascot didn't help one bit. I ran away fast and surprised they still have stores open.
Good thing you saw what was happening before you lost money as a franchise owner!! Fumy thing is, I pay such little attention to them I guess that all this was news to me just now! I don't remember thinking their subs were better or worse than Subway (Jersey Mike's, Penn Station and MOST of Firehouse's subs are TERRIBLE!!!), and their dead rat mascots, while a pretty dumb idea for a FOOD CHAIN mascot, were memorable and as funny as they were annoying to listen to!!
Their food is so low quality and has been for years so no their food isn’t good. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s they were phenomenal. The chicken might as well be made out of rubber.
@@heavymetal_cutting_fabrication My dad was complaining about the low quality a few years ago. He ordered some "premium roast beef" or something and he found that most of what he got was gristle. When he talked to the owner they guy said that is what he got from corporate.
my city of 100k ppl used to have 2 or 3 stores in the 2000s. my grandpa and I would always eat there. I remember management/owners switched around 2009 and the prices increased dramatically. stores closed, now theres actually still one being ran in a small section of a gas station next to the dmv lmao. i still go there and the sandwiches are still way better than subway!
How did you realize it? Caught wind of the lawsuits?
That b-roll handshake at 8:09 was brutal haha. They didnt have time for a second take? lol
This explains why our Quiznos closed. I couldn't figure it out, they shared a parking lot area with a Home Depot and a Walmart, were always busy, and the food was good . We still miss them.
Hi Kathy. Your right. But you gotta remember the allegation against lil boys when it qums to Quiznos.
You know Quiznos was a front form that banned internet stuff. The fbi even got involved and arrested the mascot. Apparently they found sticky substances on his hands and glasses during the raid. And one of the fbi agents caught herpes on his face mouth and fingers after rubbing the substance on his face during a hot day.
The owner of the shopping mall rising rent, Quizno corporate raising franchising fees and/or Quizno food supplier raising prices can lead to these closures (usually 2 out of 3). Not a sustainable business model once u start getting squeezed from inside.
@@i_i8924 I am from NYC which was never as expensive as people acted like it was....but now it is. And this is happening to everything everywhere! It feels pointless to be in NYC but eating at home all of the time since so many places closed or charging ridiculous prices
❤
I know someone who lost his life savings in three quizno's franchises in 2010. And he worked harder than anyone I have known. They literally took all his profits by forcing him to buy everything through the "company".
Sandwich Stalinism. Brought to you by a bunch of greedy capitalists. Go figure. In the end, they both ruined a great sandwich.
how? to buy into it was only like 125k, was one of the cheaper ones to buy into.... i mean, i guess 300k could have been his life savings, but you normally do LOANS for a business investments. you never risk your personal savings....
He could have taken loans but most of them hold you personally liable for the repayment unless you are a well established company.
That's how franchises work. They sell napkins, straws, food, etc. They rent buildings and collect fees.
@@MoonLiteNite Wait until you find out you have to pay back loans
Early Quiznos had absolutely the best subs from any major chain in history. The were fantastic, and it's a shame that the company was run into the ground.
it’s like the new guy wanted that to happen
Bleh, maybe I just had really terrible luck or what, but every sub I've had from every Quiznos had been really bad... And their soup was worse than the discount canned soup you bought from the store...
@@TalkingHands308 Now thats the experience from first hand lol
Plastic meats! If you like stiff, hard plastic meats then Quiznos is for you!! Bought one sub from them and took one bite and threw that shit away! Hard, stiff plastic meat! Never went back!
@@TalkingHands308haters definitely coming out with unpopular opinions. Quiznos blew up so much because it was much better than it's only competition in Subway.
The narrator's uptalking is doing my head in.
So basically the Schaden family took a schad all over their franchises, and squeezed out every last drop until there was nothing left. Good job.
Yup. They just wanted money haha
"Schaden" also means "damage" in German 😆
I’m sure there’s a schadenfreude joke in here somewhere.
So sad because their subs were amazing.
I wouldn't automatically accept what this video claims. All companies like that make a lot of money selling the food and supplies to their franchise owners. There is nothing unusual about that. The problem was that their method of toasting all their sandwiches is too slow and labor intensive for busy lunch time hours. Places like Jimmy John's don't toast their sandwiches, and the meats and cheeses are pre-sliced, so Jimmy John's can produce a lot of sandwiches during busy lunch hours when all the profits are made. It is true that a lot of Quiznos franchisees lost money, but I think that is because the basic food model of Quiznos is flawed and not cost effective compared to the competition.
There was a Quizno's across near my work office. Before the pandemic, I would go there fairly regularly for lunch. They were a bit expensive, but if you took advantage of their rewards program, it wasn't too bad, because I think every 5th sub was free or something like that. I didn't realize so many locations had closed by that time. I guess this one had the advantage of being one of the few lunch places near a high-tech office park and some luxury apartments.
One day, I was eating lunch there when a company rep showed up and started arguing about with the owner. Supposedly, he had started buying his own ingredients and supplies from unapproved sources. The owner argued that he had no choice because he couldn't even get the things he needed in a timely manner. Watching this video, it makes total sense now. Then the pandemic happened, and they closed right away. Google Maps currently shows 3 nearby locations as closed permanently, and the closest one still open is 25 minutes away.
interesting and thanks for sharing that perspective.
You have THREE closed Quiznos and one open one that close to you? That’s wild. I haven’t even seen one in years
There was a location in Homewood Alabama that was owned by an Indian family. They took it upon themselves to make the interior like a coffee shop with a large round table and booth seating, a couple of TVs and seating outside. The owner took pride in every sandwich he made until their corporate office penalized them for their eating area and how the owner was putting extra effort in his sandwich making. They closed a month or so later.
This is why I would not franchise unless I wanted a safe (but small return) investment like McDonalds. If I wanted to make Quiznos subs, I would just copy their most popular sandwiches and make my own store. Yes bigger investment and more risk but u control everything so no outside curveballs except maybe from the landlord.
@@i_i8924ah, your restaurant would be the McDowell's of the sub sandwich world.
@@magatow1906 "Their sandwich has shredded lettuce, ours uses full leaves." :)
@@magatow1906 Quizyes’s
@@thetaekwondoe3887LOL
10:54 Gerry Lopez !!? The surfer dude? Wow cool, far out man ! 😎
I can remember getting into Quizno's around 2005 and it was really good. Within five years the quality had gone over a cliff at just about every location. Not just the food but the customer service as well. I was astonished by how quickly it all fell apart.
100% agreement. I encountered especially with customer service, they didn't care anymore and did not want to be there. Just unfriendly staff near the end and never went back to the certain locations with a bad attitude. Suffice it to say, they closed down not long after. I think within five months.
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John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Mark 1.15
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hebrews 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Jesus
It seems like every Quiznos location I was ever in was owned by Indians.
That's kind of just America in general though. Quality and service has massively declined while prices have massively risen since the early 2000's. There are some exceptions but it's rare.
A company with such a poopy brand name had to fail sooner or later.....😏
Man, I really miss Quiznos. They had good food, convenient locations, and friendly people working for them. A friend of mine worked at the closest one for a couple years, so I got to know the owner a little. I remember hearing about how the main company kept making it harder for him to do business, constantly raising prices, and even having some shortages locally. Their oven for toasting the sandwiches even broke down at one point, and it took a while for them to send someone out to fix it. What a way to destroy a business.
"They began to see their franchisees as customers" -exaclty what I was thinking throughout this video, they saw an opportunity to have a captive customer base through the distributor company. Truly scum behavior and the epitome of greed, to have hardworking people take financial risk and do all your labor and still find ways to rip them off and pocket their earnings for yourself.
because it was a successful scam, other franchisers did the same thing, with the same results
2:12 - Ironicly, the toasted bread is the reason I went to Quiznos for only 1 time.
I actually LOVED Quiznos. So sad it went down.
Me too!
Best Italian sandwich out of all the sub places. Also, their batch 83 chilli sauce is one of the best sauces I've had on a sub.
Unfortunately, they were a chain. I've never had anything good at Quiznos, and I occasionally went there since the 80s, and even eaten at places normal people couldn't get to(like the one on Yokosuka base).
They always sucked, because it was a franchise with leadership that negatively affected every store.
This video is aptly titled, as I've seen the other side(Japan) where franchises can be saved by local operators(KFC, McDonalds, Disneyland, Starbucks) and damn moneygrubbers keeping their mitts off operations.
Yeah me too. They did have great sandwiches. But the truth is that the franchises had mob ties. It's a long, long story.
I loved the French Dip. Tasty sandwiches, but they did get overpriced pretty fast.
The bit about being a food distributor to their franchises is absolutely true. I was friends with a franchisee and then when he sold, I was friends with the new owner. I recall one time they were out of lettuce, and the store was directly across the street from a Publix grocery store. I asked him the obvious question, why don’t you just go across the street and buy enough to get you through the day. He explained he couldn’t, he’d get in trouble if he did. So instead of buying $20 worth of produce to make customers happy, he went without for fear of reprisals.
The second owner was very open with his finances about the store with me. He was working 6 or 7 days a week, 10 hour days, and he was making about 45k a year.
I think a lot of people would take a 45k a year in maybe 2010 dollars, plus the freedom of being the owner.
@@flyingchimp12 For working 60-70 hours a week though?
@@flyingchimp12 It's much better to make $45k a year at a job and go home in peace without a yoke around your neck.
@@flyingchimp12 Does not sound like freedom being tied down like that.
@@flyingchimp12 Remember, the franchisee had to pay what was probably a five or six figure sum to make 45K a year at 70 hours a week.
I was addicted to Quiznos back in the day 😭 they were my favorite sandwich shop and i was so sad to see them go downhill.
same, ate there daily in 2008/09, great food but wow so sad ceo's got greedy
I miss my chicken Baja and snickerdoodle cookie
I never cared for them. I couldn't find a sandwich there I liked. I liked Subway better, and they wrecked quizno's just by putting ovens in their stores.
@@adarateranroldan For me it was the beef dip. That's the best sandwich any fast food restaurant ever sold, imo.
Same man! They were everywhere. Never forget the chicken carbonara!
OMG, that flippen commercial was the best back then 😂😂😂
My cousin was a Quiznos franchise owner several years ago but sold it before things got really bad revenue-wise. It's a good thing he got out when the going was good.
You mean, it’s great someone-else got shafted instead?
@@chriswalford4161 What a goofy brain dead response. When you leave a business you have to sell it, Galaxy brain. Did you expect it to just vanish into the ether? You think the guy had a crystal ball to know what would happen to the next person?
@@chriswalford4161yes its Human nature.
@@chriswalford4161Yes, absolutely. Sucks to be them. They should have had better timing
Glad to hear your Cousin got out. Small business owners put their heart and soul into their business and deserve better.
Absolutely. On the food side they were BRILLIANT, on the management side, horrible. I had to write two national advertising campaigns for them. One was notable in that once the project was in the can, the VP above that manager changed everything. A lot of Quiznos owners had to take second jobs to keep their franchise. When I was finally laid off from my company in the 2008 slump I said one advantage was I never had to write another Quizno's campaign. The inspirations for their food came from 5-star restaurants. Their chefs would eat at top restaurants and when they had a particularly good dish, they would recreate that flavor in a sandwich format. On the business side they restricted owners too much and controlled the supply side for things like cups et cetera. If every restaurant within a mile was serving wine outside you could not do that. The U.S. government reminds me of Quizno, death from the top down.
can you elaborate on the fine dining scouting/copying flavors please?
@@onsidelegal1002If you don't get a reply from them, I was just a restaurant worker/unofficial manager at a Quiznos from 06-09, and I'm guessing they are referring to the upper end meats and sauces.
A lot of people think of basic subs like Clubs and Italians with Red Wine Vinegar or Mayo or something like that. But while I was working there Quiznos had 27 different sauces such as their Peppercorn, Carbonara, Honey French, etc as well as higher end meats like the Black Angus, Brisket, and Prime Rib.
The different flavor combinations were amazing if you were willing to explore, and that was one of the main reasons I had wanted to work there!
To this day, I have NEVER had a sandwich Half as good as what I could whip up at a Quiznos.
except that the us government has been operating that way for more than 100 years. and THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the difference between micro- and macro-!
@@onsidelegal1002 They would eat in fine resturants and when they had an entree they really liked (even if soup) the goal was to replicate that flavor in a grilled sandwich format. (at least that is how Quiznos explained it to me.)
@@darinladd5312and inflation has gotten much worse in the last couple of years.
I knew a Quiznos owner who was out of business in 2 years. He was screwed just as you described.
I cannot fathom how they thought that blatantly screwing over their franchisees was a sustainable business model.
McDonald's makes their franchisees buy from suppliers that are McDonald's approved. Some suppliers are, of course, on the board. I remember when they switched from powdered sanitizer that you mixed with water to sanitize your dishes, to a liquid sanitizer. This required all McDonald's locations that used the liquid sanitizer to get a retrofit kit on one of their hand sinks to double as an eyewash station. The company that supplied the retrofit kit just happened to have a member on the board of Mc D's. So approximately 10K locations need a retrofit kit and a McDonald's approved contractor to install them. Funny how that works. Check out any videos about why their ice cream machine is always "broken".
@@jokester696 Well, but on the other hand, franchises are not fully independent businesses, so they have to feed their overlords
@@jokester696 are they making franchisees buy from the 'approved' suppliers at above market price? I doubt it.
It wasn't intended to be. For most venture capital firms it's actually better to run the business into the ground while extracting every last penny from them on the way down.
_I cannot fathom how they thought that blatantly screwing over their franchisees was a sustainable business model._
It wasn't meant to be a _sustainable business model._
It was meant to make the most money possible for the people at the top without any regard or concern for the franchisees, the employees, or the customers.
Making money was the goal and nothing else was allowed to get in the way or it got crushed.
Something like the energy company Enron when the people at the top took everything and to hill with everyone else.
I got MY piece of the pie and my stomach is full, I don't care about anyone else.
I worked at Quiznos for about 10 years - they're all gone in my area now, but I can recreate some of the subs pretty accurately with the right ingredients at home. I do miss the atmosphere from that place though. We definitely had some good times working there!
Start “Eric’s”. 😃
I work for Rite Aid. It filed bankruptcy last month. I’m anticipating a video on them soon 😢
Yes, I have used Rite Aid for as long as I can remember. Now I need to find a new pharmacy when I was perfectly happy with the one I had. It's sad.
I thought Rite Aid was already long gone, it's must not be regional where I live 🩹 good luck to you
They are an example of reaping karma. Went into many small towns and put the local pharmacies out of business. Pharmacists had no choice but to go work for Rite Aid. This was a story from a town in PA. The local government caved to Rite Aid because they thought sales taxes would benefit the community. The community didn't want it. They gave Rite Aid too many tax breaks. It was around the time of Walmart bashing. Walmart taking advantage of tax breaks and closing up and moving to the next town over when the contract to start paying came due.
The local Rite Aid near me is still open but every time I go in there, seems to always curiously be running low on stuff. I kind of suspected they were going out of business. The one near me used to be "Thrifty," so I assume this one will probably get bought out by CVS or some other chain.
I loved those Quiznos commercials! Me and my friends used to sing that song all the time!
When ownership gets greedy and starts selling supplies to its franchisees, it's the kiss of death. I've seen this phenomenon in other systems. It's almost always ends in disaster.
Quizno's owners were trying to act like the shovel and pick-ax merchants during the great gold rush era, unfortunately it has back fired. lol
Subway doing just fine and they are corrupt and franchise owners hate their businesses
The crazy part is if they acted as there own distributor of supplies the logical thing is build minimal profit there but pass bulk purchase discounts on making a lean machine
Well, if you're going to drag logic into this...@@DJSincereTV
Little Caesar's, love it or hate it, thrives with this business model.
Quiznos was one of those restaurants that I never planned on going to, but I ended up at them often just because they were everywhere and they were good. While watching this video I realized that I haven't been to one now in probably about 5 years. Didn't even notice they were gone.
You have got to take a road trip to the nearest Quiznos and get something. You gotta!!
For me, it's been well over 15 years since I've had Quiznos. Personally, I like Schlotzkys better.
I miss Quiznos !
Watching the video made me hungry! Too bad the Subway is closer than a Quizno’s.
Sounds like the owners never intended for the business to be permanent, they came in, got as much money as they could and let the company fall flat, while they make off with a few hundred million. It’s not a pyramid scheme, but it’s a scheme none the less.
I went to one during college when my friend bought a sub. I never tried one and didn't even know it doesn't exist anymore
I almost purchased a Quiznos Franchise in Miami back in 2010. I met their sales rep who from the very beginning, did not like at all, visited a few stores, spoke with some of the franchisees, who were neither very enthusiastic, nor said anything to motivate and inspire me. Nonetheless, I decided to move forward anyway. We drew up the contract and prepared the funds to do the closing scheduled to take place within a few days. However, I had this gut feeling. I suddenly picked up a negative vibe about the whole thing and backed out on the deal. The Sales Reps freaked out and came close to insulting me for cancelling on him. It was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made in my whole life, and I am glad that I did, and for obvious reasons have no regrets.
and then everybody clapped and you were hailed as a regional hero, right?? 🤡
@@jimmyjon9970-You must be either that A-hole Quiznos sales rep I cancelled on back in 2010, who is probably still pissed off at me because his deal fell through, or you must be a former franchisee who is butt hurt and still licking your wounds after losing your shirt from the Quiznos you once owned.
@@jimmyjon9970Cool self-portrait
Gotta listen to what your guts telling you. Your brain works in funny ways sometimes.
and then you woke up in the last booth with your face stuck to the table
They were absolutely the best sandwich of ANY sandwich shop....I miss Quiznos sooooo much, that chicken carbonara was amazing
I loved Quiznos backin the day. I got to know my local franchise owner a little bit. He'd complain how he made less money than one of his employees, how he had to work every day of the year, even holidays, he couldn't ever go to his kid's school functions, and when figured per hour - he made less than minimum wage. He was so happy when he was able to sell the place to someone else.
Now I know why he was so screwed over financially: the ownership treated franchises terribly.
Franchise owner had to work everyday? Bs.
@@secretsauce4530 did you watch the video? He probably had to personally work because he couldn't afford the help
@rjmurphyo0 if his business was doing so bad he couldn't afford employees why not sell it back? Makes no sense.
@@secretsauce4530There is no one to sell it back to, you don't buy a restaurant from Quiznos, you buy a license to use Quiznos branding and permission to source the required equipment from Quiznos. You have to either shut down (and lose the money you invested into it) or sell it to some other sucker. He eventually found someone to sell it to. You heard in the video, Quiznos' own lawyers concluded that almost half of their franchises didn't even break even. If a business isn't breaking even it's losing money and will eventually go out of business. That's why the franchise owner had to save every penny he could by not hiring enough staff to cover for himself.
@@secretsauce4530 As far as I know, they can't just sell it back, they either close doors and cut their loses or they find someone else to be the new owner, which probably isn't so easy
Man, I always wondered what happened to Quiznos. I'd see their commercials and my family occasionally got food there, and then one day it just seemed like they weren't there anymore. I thought they had went completely under, but apparently there are still a few chains open, none of them around me so I won't be eating there anytime soon, but I'm amazed that they failed so suddenly and spectacularly.
I ran a restaurant for several years, and one of the hardest hurdles to overcome was how expensive the overhead was, and by that I mean the paper products!!
I worked at a Quizno's in the early 2000's. We had a pretty loyal customer base and though dead a fair bit, the location was turning a small monthly profit. When the owner's wife got breast cancer, the small profit just wasn't enough. I watched him argue almost daily with corporate, trying to keep his business afloat during this terrible time. A few months later he had to close the doors. Haven't heard from him since, but I hope his wife is better now.
I loved Quiznos. I was so bummed when they closed the one here around 2010. What happened to that company is a shame cause they had some dang good sandwiches.
I'd take Quiznos over Subway every time.
@@Georgiavr-1 Still got two locations in my town, the sandwiches suck now. Between that and being more expensive, I just don't go to Quizno's anymore, and that's a shame. Back in their heyday, their food was great.
@@Georgiavr-1 Subway is even worse than they were in 2010. In 2010 they were still good to eat, now it's the lowest grade food you can get.
Their roadkill animals singing Quiznos commercial came out when I was like 7. I got it in my head that the meat they used were the road kill animals. I never ate there once. Despite knowing damn well as an adult that’s not the case. It lives rent free in the back of my mind to not eat there.
Me too, once those rat looking things came out I stopped eating there
Lmao!! 😂😂
Exactly why I never ate there. Disgusting!
One of the worst marketing ideas. This was the reason my brother didn't want to eat there. I loved their food, but they were dumb. I thought that was the reason they closed all the stores.
@@unicron76 they’ll never admit it but it was definitely the real reason for their decline. Who did they think watched commercials back then? It was the kids like me and the adults changed the channel. But it was always the kids to be like I’m not eating here. And then we never did 🤣
I stumbled across my first Quiznos as a ravenous teenager in the mid 90s, fresh off the hiking trail in Colorado. I thought it was nirvana, and when I saw a franchise in my city years later I was amazed to discover that it wasn't my post-deep-country backpacking appetite that made it so amazing, it was just plain delicious. It's a real shame what happened to this franchise.
Me too. I liked adding red wine vinaigrette to their turkey, ranch, & swiss. Throw on some pickles and banana peppers, and you are in toasted sammy heaven. Yum!😍
Plastic meats! If you like stiff, hard plastic meats then Quiznos is for you!! Bought one sub from them and took one bite and threw that shit away! Hard, stiff plastic meat! Never went back!
@@grandwonder5858in their decline the quality suffered but I started eating them right around their peak (2007) and the quality was fantastic
3:33 his name is "Schaden"..... that's the German words for "damage". How fitting
It's a shame as they had a REALLY good product. Right around the time they really started expanding in the early 2000's I got my first job and a Quiznos was just 2 blocks away. I ate there at least twice a week. I was a big fan of their black angus steakhouse sub, as well as their salads. I always wondered how they made enough to survive in a busy and expensive downtown area where other fast food restaurants refused to enter. Now I know.
Their sandwiches were far better than subway. they were first to "toasted" subs. the ingredients were far superior.
I have a Quiznos 2 blocks from my work, I love the Black Angus sub and order it every time I go there for my lunch break.
Their black angus on rosemary bread with the honey bourbon sauce was literally my favorite sandwich ever. Shame what happened to the franchise.
I used to love going there for their prime rib sub. I realized they were in financial trouble after they replaced the prime rib with "prime rib steak" which tasted lower quality than anything Subway had to offer.
Still travel occasionally forty minutes to get the black Angus steak sandwich, it's still that damn good
I loved Quiznos. And then they just started going away. Many rumors as to why, but none of the ones I heard were true. Thanks for explaining what really happened.
But they're still around. You gotta look for em harder. There's one about 10 miles from me on the north side of San Antonio. I am addicted to them. Every sauce they have is good.nthe creamy bacon Alfredo is possibly the best sauce on earth. The black Angus steak sandwich is so damn good it should be on everyone's bucket list. I'm getting so hungry right now I might just go break into that Quiznos (it's night here, now) and fix myself a sub before the cops come to take me away
I think Quiznos could for sure make a comeback, but not in the form and fashion as before. Their recipes are owned by someone, and in the right hands could be very big again. For me, it was all about the Chicken Carbonara sandwich, but the whole "toasted" concept was always better than Subway ever tried. The BEST I've ever had.
My brotha from anotha motha with the Chicken Carbonara.
Agreed. It's been so long since I've eaten at a Quizno's (easily over 15 years) that I even forgot what that sandwich was called.
When I got my first taste of Quizno's in my early 20's at school, Subway was dead to me. I'd save that extra $3 it cost for a sandwich from waiting table tip money just to go there since it was SO MUCH better.
I was all about the chicken carbonara..... once in awhile I would stay with the beef dip, but I still crave that toasted chicken carbonara goodness.....
Their chicken carbonara sandwich was insanely good.
Yes! That was my go-to at Quiznos.
Chicken Carbonara sandwich my fav
Stake house beef dip was my fav
Chicken Carbonara was so good.
My local shop was only about two miles away and it rapidly changed from a great place to a store with major issues over mere months. It was understaffed, the employees were either burning or under-toasting the sandwiches (I had one that was ice cold). I’ll never forget the last time I went: The sandwich was alright, the employee (just one) at the counter was friendly. As I and a few others were eating, the owner himself walked up to each table and said “Thank you for coming in, it really helps…”, asked if we needed anything, then walked away looking defeated. It was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen even to this day. The shop closed about a month later and is now an Amazon Prime pickup location. It’s a shame, but I don’t think they’ll come back where I live. Firehouse has established itself well in the area and it would be hard for Quiznos to overcome the bad press and word-of-mouth.
I worked at a Quiznos through high school. The owners seemed to be strongly encouraged or enticed to open multiple stores when they only wanted the 1. The 3 owners in my area all had 4 stores and they all eneded up closing. Still 2 with in 5 miles of me.
So I worked at Quiznos for 3 years, and this was through covid. Probably one of the main things that kept my location going was the fact we had a drive thru and delivery (I was the delivery driver as well). The issue being that the store was privately owned by a family that personally worked with (Very nice people). Pretty much the end for the location was just no real help from the company itself and the fear of bankruptcy, the owner ended up selling the place to the highest bidder at the time so they can secure a future. To this day though, it is MY personal favorite sub place, no other sandwich place has come close for me and I didn't even try Quiznos until I started working there 5 years ago.
I agree their subs were awesome the one near my house closed years ago and I haven't tried another since than.
I almost always had something like a sub or a Philly cheese when I was working. I never really liked the attitude I got at Quiznos and they opened at 11:30 AM or later. Farmer Boys had/has a call in service and great food for breakfast and lunch. A well fed dog is a loyal companion.
What city was your Quiznos in? It sounds like the one by my work in Hazelwood MO that closed a few years ago.
@@TomCandela It was that exact one xD
A perfect opportunity for a new start up! toast sandwiches have historically been popular....this can be done, without interference from Q.......
The concept was actually good, I always asked to double toast mine. Our local Quiznos acquired a new owner who was from India and he would display his religious brass ritual items near the cash register.. that was a bit off since his clientele base was mostly not of his heritage or religion. His business failed shortly thereafter.
The Quiznos in my town closed a long time ago and was replaced by a New York style pizza restaurant that is still very successful today. The weird thing is how they changed basically nothing about the location. The open sign is still the Quiznos logo. The Quiznos logo is still all over the fixtures. They even use the old Quiznos sandwich oven to cook some of their items.
Wait same with the one in my town! I see the sign still every day and always noted it, too.
Same thing here. One of the Quizno's locations here in town is now a "Patriot Subs", a local business (not a chain as far as I know). They repainted the wall and themed it up with a lot of military memorabilia, but everything else is still just like it was when it was Quizno's. Still using much of the same furnishings and fixtures as well as using the same oven to toast their sandwiches. Been in there a few times and is actually pretty good. Love their buffalo chicken sub. After a good 5 years of so of business, it is still going strong.
I loved Quiznos subs it's really sad to see how poor business decisions sunk this business. Thanks very informative
Poor business decisions?
The guys running the show made bank. Then they made even more thru the leveraged buyout by "private equity" (aka "vampire squids").
Then wiped out their debt and court judgements by filing bankruptcy.
I worked here around 2002-03 when I was in high school and within a years time I watched the product quality shrivel up real fast. At first this place was booming and we would have massive lunch rushes for like a solid 2-3 hours with lines out the door but eventually by the end of my tenure there lunch hours became about a quarter of what they were. We used to have these cutting boards with lines on them for measuring the bread that were 12”, 9” and 6” and then they gave us new ones with 11.5”, 8.5” and 5.5” but the prices went up. Also the bread got skinnier, the meats got poor in quality and they stopped letting us make sandwiches for lunch. Always wondered what the problem was and I just thought the owner sucked at business. I remember him telling me that his entire family is depending on the success of this franchise. He had his daughter working there too who was the same age as me. Cute too. Looking back and knowing this now I feel bad for the guy and I hope he didn’t get fucked over too much
I went there one time about 18 years ago. Took one bite and spit that crap out and threw away the sandwich! The meats looked neat and uniform, but as I examined them carefully I realized the meats are fake meats! They were some kind of plastic-like substance made from artificial ingredients to look like meat, but tasted like stiff plastic instead! It was the worst sandwich I’ve ever eaten in my life! Still is!
There are two Quiznos within 10 minutes of my house. One is less than five minutes away, and both seem to be doing good business. So much better than Subway, its not even funny.
"the people in charge couldn't care less about the well being of everyone they are in charge of" is basically a one-sentence summary of everything wrong with the US approach to, well, everything. Government policy, business/economic policy, family relationships. This one sentence perfectly describes the core of rot eating away at our society.
That means a lot, thank you
100% agreed with this take
Been saying this for 20 years. 100% true.
It's not limited to the United States, it's just that the United States uniquely glorifies and rewards it.
It's just human nature. We are lazy, jealous, self entitled creatures. Some of us do a better job of addressing our natures than others. But it is inevitable that our greed will ruin us somewhere.
I don't think of myself as wise or smart for saying this. I just believe in the philosophical catch phrase: The first step is to admit you have a problem.
it's why there will never be any success in the modern age. Everybody is chasing selfish growth, they aren't thinking long term or in good faith. A lot of companies are already learning the hard way. Going to be a lot of bankruptcies in the coming decade.
This explains so much. I remember back in high school all these new Quiznos locations that were being built or had plans of being constructed and then off all a sudden, all of the newly built locations closed down and all talks of new ones ceased around town. I remember being so disappointed because the only sandwich shops we had at the time was SubWay or local, independent shops but those were on the beach and extremely pricy, only worth it on days off.
I use to work at a Quiznos in 2012 when I was in high school. Fortunately my boss, who also owned the store, was very good about quality control and only ordering stock when necessary. However, I could tell there were times when it was cheaper to just buy certain things at the grocery store than go through the distributor. He would get very annoyed or even angry if just a little bit of food was wasted…I now understand why.
It’s really a shame they went so down hill as they did, because their subs were really quite delicious! But even when I worked there the common thing I always heard was “yeah, Quiznos is good, but it’s so expensive, and I’d rather just go to Subway.” Once places like Jersey Mikes and Firehouse subs started to pop up, I’m sure it sealed their fate as well. Eventually that location I worked at closed. I sometimes wonder whatever happened to the owner…
I would just rather make my own all sandwich shops are too expensive
Fine dining Italian?
"let's call it FOOTERS !!"
Find the people in the supply chain with the most to lose and take everything from them. How franchisees get treated is like being trapped in an abusive relationship.
capitalism in a nutshell
What stores like Kroger and Walmart are doing to us big time for the past four years