Quiznos Sandwich Chain in Debt, Default, and Decline

 

This morning I heard about Quiznos' financial woes on NPR. About 12 years ago, I thought it was an upscale alternative to Subway, but about 3 years ago the food seemed subpar and I never returned.

Now with 600 stores closing it's on life support. 

Comments

[Shawn]

It's not the economy, as many higher-end sub franchises are booming, like Jersey Mike's and Firehouse.

People will pay good money for good food. People will pay little money for crap food. What people won't do is pay good money for crap food.

I got one of those torpedo sandwiches from Quizno's and it had so little meat in it, it was a joke.

[Bob C.]

Quiznos has lost its way. With a lackluster strategy, uninspired menu items and indifferent service, most Quiznos outlets became a turn-off. Not to mention the inept marketing. It boggles my mind that someone made tons of money designing their idiotic ad campaigns (that goes for Burger King too, by the way). Meanwhile, you've got Subway expanding their menu each month, and the aforementioned new 'higher-end' sub franchises. I'd add Potbelly to that list as well.

Not sure who designs the menu at Quiznos, but over the past 15 years they managed to get rid of a couple of my favorites from when they started out (in Colorado) and they added items that I had no interest in. My last visit to a Quiznos was about 18 months ago. It was okay, but just okay. There was nothing noteworthy about it and it wasn't cheap. It really didn't cost much less than going to a Jersey Mike's or Potbelly - both of which are much better. Not to mention local-type sandwich shops which are head and shoulders above all of the chains.

In a crowded marketplace, you need to stand out. At one time, Quiznos did. Not any more. And it's really difficult to resuscitate a business once it starts such a precipitous slide. The momentum is very negative and that sort of momentum is incredibly hard to counter. Especially when it involves restaurants. They will have to try 10 times as hard to turn this ship around - if they can.