Quizno's
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Quizno's Sub is a fast-food sandwich chain that specializes in toasted submarine sandwiches. As of 2005 it has become the second largest submarine sandwich shop chain in North America, passing the older and slower-growing Blimpie, though still a fraction of the size of Subway.
There are over 3600 shops located in the United States, over 300 in Canada, and 100 more scattered in 13 other countries including the United Kingdom, Japan, Puerto Rico, and Guam. In 2002 Wendy's Supa Sundaes acquired the rights to the brand for franchises in Australia (and later, New Zealand).
All of Quizno's subs are served toasted, though they can still be sold cold at the customer's request. The most popular subs are the Classic Italian, the Mesquite Chicken with Bacon, the Black Angus, the Smoked Turkey, the Chicken Carbonara, and the Honey Bacon Club.
Due to Quizno's success, Subway started offering toasted subs in 2004.
Advertising
Quiznosad.jpg
Over the years Quizno's has had varied success at advertising campaigns. A 2002 Super Bowl ad was very successful while other ad campaigns were not as successful. One such ad that debuted in 2003 depicted a man "raised by wolves" suckling at a mother wolf's teat. An ad featuring Spongmonkeys produced strongly mixed reactions by reviewers, and was quickly canned.
Quizno's ads in Canada have featured hockey commentator Don Cherry.
In 2005, Quizno's launched a series of ads featuring Baby Bob; like the Spongmonkeys, Bob originated as an Internet blog phenomenon, but was also attached to a short-lived CBS TV series. In the new commercials, Bob is voiced by Ken Hudson Campbell.
Quizno's has also been known to take advantage of underground advertising phenomena in localized areas. For example, they were one of the first advertisers to put ads on the back of famous San Francisco eccentric and alien protester Frank Chu's sign.
Quizno's got advertising of a different kind when the Seattle Times broke the story of Dawna Lentz, a manager of a shop located in a strip mall in North Seattle, Washington. A month after the shop opened, the managing partner left, leaving an absentee owner in charge. He stopped putting money into the shop, and soon severed contact with the shop's employees altogether. Lentz kept the place running for several months, paying employees out of the cash register and buying supplies at grocery stores when the suppliers stopped delivering. When the story broke, Quizno's took over operations of the store temporarily, but ended up closing the store when delays in finding a new franchise owner were encountered.
History
The first Quizno's Sub restaurant opened at 13th and Grant in Denver's Capitol Hill neighborhood in 1981. In 1987, after overhearing a comment by a customer, Rick Schaden opened the first franchise in Boulder, Colorado. In 1991 Schaden and his father purchased the entire franchise operation.
In December 2001 Quizno's, which at the time was a lightly-traded public company 60%-owned by the Schadens, went private, at a $8 per-share price considered low by several of its shareholders. The disgruntled shareholders sued; their suits was settled in September 2004, with Quizno's paying them another $7.35 per share, after fees.
In 2003, Quizno's began to expand in earnest in Canada, where it had established a small foothold a couple of years earlier.
External links
- Official website (http://www.quiznos.com/)
- Official website (http://www.quiznos.com.au/) for Quizno's in Australia and New Zealand
- Website of a Quizno's area director (http://www.quiz-tola.com/), responsible for dozens of franchises in several states
- Franchising summary (http://www.entrepreneur.com/franzone/details/0,5885,12-12---282737-,00.html) from Entrepreneur magazine
- Fact sheet for Quizno's (http://www.hoovers.com/free/co/factsheet.xhtml?&&ID=43726), from Hoover's
- Articles from American City Business Journals:
- Quizno's votes to go private (http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2001/12/17/daily51.html), from December 2001
- Judge orders Quizno's settlement (http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2004/09/27/daily31.html), from September 2004
- Interview with CEO Rick Schaden (http://www.qsrmagazine.com/issue/interview/rick_schaden.phtml), a January 2004 article from QSR Magazine
- Story of a Quizno's from the Seattle Times:
- Fast-food shop owner takes off, employees take over (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002170453_quiznos04.html)
- Quiznos manager gets a boost from the top (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002172444_quiznosfolo06.html)
- Manager who never quit sees Quiznos store shut (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002217972_quiznos24.html)
- Backed into a Corner (http://thislife.org/pages/descriptions/05/287.html), an April 2005 story about the Seattle shop (with RealAudio) from This American Lifede:Quizno's