Could Quiznos Go Belly Up?

According to the Wall Street Journal, sandwich chain Quiznos has shut 1500 of its 5000 stores—30%—in the past year, and now faces serious risk of bankruptcy. The paper blamed a leveraged buyout five years ago for many of the the company's woes. The authors also note that Quiznos's relatively high-end product has had trouble competing against cheaper rival Subway in the middle of a recession.

Quiznos has already begun to acknowledge its problem. In early July, it hired a Wall Street firm to help them restructure their debt. And its owners added $50 million of capital to the company to avoid a near-term default.

Quiznos was not eligible for listing as one of the 14 restaurant chains most likely to go under by the Street in late June, because, unlike those, it is not a publicly traded company.

Here's a video on the issue:

Comments

[ontariogirl]

08:47 AM on 07/26/2011

Both times I went to Quizno's it was awful. Have not been back nor do I intend to ever again.

[ALL OK HERE ON PLANET X]

07:56 PM on 07/25/2011

Having patronized Quiznos a couple of times, I can understand this story. Food quality, business model and service were all sub par and or poor. The help acted like they could care a less, the sandwich made me sick, and the whole operation seemed to be more complicated than needed. I tried them about two times, was disgusted both times and never went back.

[Imzadi]

06:55 PM on 07/25/2011

Great food - horrendous ads. Relationship? I seriously believe so.

[Janine Louise]

07:05 PM on 07/24/2011

With the economy the way it is,,, it stands to reason,, everyone is looking for a BARGAIN. Having said that a bargain and quality as well. Quiznos (when I tried it) was pretty good for the sandwich that I purchased... but price wise, they could do better. True, the customer service could have been better, I think one of the requirements was not to have personality and to be indifferent. Something like Friendly's which always had jerks working there and thus,, there aren't too many of those left either. Best of all that I have tried is Panera's. They are REALLY good, with the exception of their prices. A bit high, nevertheless the food is good. Quiznos will probably not be missed too much,, still it is a shame that businesses keep going out and politicians keep mounting. Let's say we need less of them so we should downsize quite a bit. Let's start by getting rid of the White House people. Perhaps businesses would actually stay open. Let's take the amount of CVS's as well. Do we need that many on every street corner?

[Rogo99]

01:53 PM on 07/24/2011

Frankly, living in Philadelphia, I don't see how any chain sandwich place survives at all, considering all of the local private places in every neighborhood and town. Everybody has their favorite, and the only ones that list Subway or Quizno's as the best are kids whose taste hasn't developed yet, or who watch too much TV. Same goes for pizza.
I do feel bad about the franchisees, though, who sunk a lot of money into their stores.

[GeorgiaVeteran]

01:30 PM on 07/24/2011

I don't understand why those folks who always criticize the government arguing that "private industry could do a better job" don't hold up these debacles as examples .

As for me, I think there are as many more examples of private industry failures than there are government failures.

[zentech]

11:06 AM on 07/24/2011

We had one come to our little city a couple of years ago. The help and the owner were unfriendly and refused to honor discount coupons. I don't think that they lasted six months and have not been missed since they closed.

[tailgatrz]

07:40 PM on 07/23/2011

Q's used to be good, way back. And slowly they went down hill. I always thought it was worth the extra money over subway. Even Subway was better 20 years ago. Just typical restaurant chains, slowly lower their quality. For the past 15 years I thought Subway was the worst Sub in town, then I tried Jimmy Johns they were the new winners of worst until I tried one other place. I have only been to JJ's once, might have to try again to be completely fair. What I had was horrible. I have to admit that "A sandwich" is at the bottom of my list of choices to begin with. So it is tough for me to really rate the best and worst. Not that it is any big story line, In my OPINION the best is
1. Shlotsky's Price keeps me away
2. Earl of sandwich
3. Quiznos ties with Blimpie if they were as good as they were 10 years ago.
4. Port of subs
5.Subway (it has got to go somewhere) because they are EVERYWHERE. EVERY highway exit,mall,college you name it, they are there.
6. JJ's
7. deli,
8. supermarket
9. A free sandwich at a local church.
10. Pita pit Worst of the worst that I have tried. The only way to describe is a round piece of tortilla that taste like canvas (not a real pita) wapped around deli lunch meats chopped up and Re-cooked on a grease style griddle.

[Marc Evangelista]

06:15 PM on 07/23/2011

I kind of like there food too o well. Everyone is going belly up these days

[slowhanddean]

04:43 PM on 07/23/2011

I have never eaten at a Quizno's because after seeing thier commercial when tha awful puppet thing that was so digusting looking i decided the name fit as it was a quiz on what was really in it.

[Mike Davis 747]

04:21 PM on 07/23/2011

I think Jersey Mike's might be the next to go. Their prices are too high with all the competition.

[Mike Davis 747]

04:20 PM on 07/23/2011

In the last year a Burger King, a Wendy's, a Quiznos and a Daphines have closed. This economy is taking it's toll on the restaurant business. It seems like the only places that are surviving are the healthy food places.

[Dealerdeb1]

03:51 PM on 07/23/2011

too expensive as fast food.

[jjmtprospect]

03:50 PM on 07/23/2011

The Quizno's by me (which has closed) was always terrible - Stingy on the ingredients, bread burned from the toaster, indifferent counter help. I've always preferred Subway for the price, but if I want a quality sub, Jimmy Johns or Jersey Mike's have far superior product to Quizno's. Loss of small business jobs? If a business can't produce a product people will buy in sufficient quantity, they should go out of business. Shed no tears for Quizno's - they created their own demise. As for the rat commercials, who the hell cares about a 'pepper bar'?

[Rogo99]

01:54 PM on 07/24/2011

I went to a Jimmy John's, couldn't find any meat in my sandwich. Poor choice.

[jjmtprospect]

01:09 PM on 07/25/2011

You usually won't find meat on a Jimmy Johns vegetarian sandwich. Poor choice. If you ordered a meat sandwich and it had no meat whatsoever (as you imply), a simple walk back to the order taker will always rectify that problem. If your complaint is about the amount of meat, I haven't been to a chincy-er sandwich chain than Quizno's, another poor choice.

[hikemaroonbells]

03:34 PM on 07/23/2011

Worst sub ever. If they could make a decent sandwich for a fair price they wouldn't be going out of business.