Once at the top of the food chain, Quiznos achieved over $2 billion in sales and had nearly 5,000 restaurant chains. But just as things were heating up, the iconic company found itself in a pickle, leaving behind a very sour taste.

Tune in to Episode 63 of The Great Fail to listen to one of the most significant and dramatic restaurant collapses in American history. Special thanks to Jonathan Maze for his contributions to this segment, and a shout-out to Adweek and Acast for their support.

Episode Resources

A brief history of Quiznos’ collapse

The Real Reason Why Quiznos Is Disappearing Across The Country

The Quiznos Story: From Huge Success To Huge Bust

WHAT HAPPENED TO QUIZNOS SUBS?

Wikipedia: Quiznos

Quiznos – Failure Case Study

Denver-based Quiznos hit by new lawsuits from disgruntled franchisees

Three Factors That Led to Quiznos’ Epic Decline

QUIZNOS: Biggest Collapse in Restaurant History?

Quiznos terminates franchisees on heels of suicide

Fast Food’s Most Unhinged Mascots Are Back

Quiznos is bringing back Spongmonkeys, its creepy rat-like mascots from 20 years ago, as the restaurant looks for a comeback

Death of a toasted sandwich salesman

How Quiznos Failed Itself By Failing Its Franchisees

Quiznos Bankruptcy May Have Roots in Long Beach Franchisee’s Suicide

The Untold Truth Of Quiznos

Special Guest

Jonathan Maze
Editor In Chief at Restaurant Business Magazine
Jonathan Maze is a seasoned journalist and currently the executive editor at Restaurant Business Magazine. He covers finance and franchising and tracks restaurant sales and performance with an eye on industry stocks. He writes the blog The Bottom Line, and also produces the podcast A Deeper Dive.

He is a regular guest in a conference call series held by Citi Investment Research and has been quoted in several publications, including the Orlando Sentinel, Yahoo! Finance, Denver Post, New York Post and the Dallas Morning News.