All of us are guilty from time to time with finding a brand and latching onto it. It fosters exactly the sort of customer loyalty that the producers want. My own brand fascination has less to do with the product—I was hardly hooked on it—but more in how it could have gotten so big and then crashed so hard.
Yes, it’s a blog post on Quiznos…again. My first entry looked at an ancient but well-preserved logo for the fast food chain in Detroit; the second investigated how another restaurant in Danbury, Connecticut had co-opted the Q-shaped neon sign, probably purchased for dirt cheap after one of the many franchises closed down. It’s obvious that the chain has left its thumbprint across a variety of locations, but, until now, none of my references to Quiznos have featured branches that were operational. Until this one—or is it?
The formerly mighty purveyor of toasted sandwiches is but a wraith, nearly absent from many metropolitan areas. At its peak in around 2006, Quiznos boasted over 5,000 locations across the county, mostly through franchises. But rising acrimony between the corporate office and franchise owners—who often claimed that corporate-mandated vendors charged far higher prices for capital than necessary—resulted in a slew of class-action lawsuits. Ultimately, the franchisees collectively felt the parent corporation itself was the biggest obstacle to profitability. Though hit particularly hard by the Great Recession, Quiznos began hemorrhaging franchises as early as 2007. Today, approximately 2,100 locations remain—a nearly 60% drop. Though still commonplace on the west coast and heavily concentrated around Denver (where the chain began), they’re in very short supply east of the Mississippi.
Which makes the one above—at Louisville International Airport (SDF)—such a surprise. A casual search for Quiznos on their website suggests that only six remain in metro Louisville. But it’s unclear whether even this one in the photo above is a fully functioning restaurant. From the looks of things, it could open any minute: all the placards are out, the lights are on, and—perhaps most importantly—the bright yellow bananas in the basket near the register look ripe. So someone was probably there within the previous 24 hours. But why isn’t it open? This picture comes from early evening on Memorial Day—apparently not a busy time at this airport that many people still fondly call Standiford Field, even though the name officially changed 20 years ago. The crowds weren’t exactly thick, though my suspicion is that, like many third-tier airports in the middle of the country, Louisville International isn’t really ever all that busy. Regardless, 7pm would typically within the time for snagging people looking for a bite to eat. After all, the restaurant adjacent to Quiznos appeared to be open.
I called the number listed on the Quiznos website for this particular location, and a completely unrelated answering machine message picks up: a certain “family joint venture”, but no mention of a restaurant. Calling the other Quiznos locations in metro Louisville doesn’t help; they don’t seem to know what’s going on at the airport either. These telltale hints beg the question: did I catch this location in its final throes, right before it headed in the same direction as nearly 4,000 other Quiznos operations?
If this is the case, it does not augur well for the company, which recently welcomed its third CEO in about five years. After all, this is an airport we’re talking about, and if a eat-and-go franchise can’t make it here, where can it succeed? Airports have a captive client base, which in turn compels the vendors to jimmy up their prices. Americans broadly perceive airports as a place where they get ripped off, yet many still find it necessary to eat something during a layover or a long flight. While the TSA won’t confiscate food brought in from outside, it’s still not always a savory proposition, so many travelers still resort to the eateries.
Then again, maybe airport eateries aren’t such a surefire bet. The wave of consolidations in the airline industry, coupled with a marked decline in airport traffic, has resulted in a number of visibly oversized airports, from the formerly mighty Cleveland-Hopkins International (CLE) to the much smaller Woodrum Field in Roanoke (ROA). In many cases, gate after gate—and sometimes even an entire terminal—sit completely empty. Meanwhile, Indianapolis International (IND) had to compromise on its original commitment to public art by saturating its walls with ad space. SDF, with fewer enplanements than IND, can’t even find buyers for all its promotional walls. Time will only tell if airports experience the same retail decline as American malls. If, in a few years, mid-tier cities like IND and CLE and SDF, offer more than a few mom-and-pop hot dog stands, we’ll truly know that the aviation industry is in trouble.
Perhaps the airport just wasn’t the right fit for Quiznos. Or maybe, despite all the indicators, this branch is actually still open. Regardless of what’s happened here in Louisville, it clearly isn’t the right milieu for this chain, which, following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, is clearly still trying to find its footing. I personally hold greater hope for Freshens Yogurt, Hudson News, or all the other stereotypically (and sometimes exclusively) airport retailers than I do for the formerly mighty sandwich chain with the memorable name. But maybe what they’ve got baking in their ovens will surprise all of us.
8 thoughts on “Another hint that a business is toast.”
Totally irrelevant to your excellent blog post but, I did love Quiznos’ roast beef subs.
Quiznos was great – definitely a few steps above Subway. But it just goes to show how everything can – no pun intended – get toasted when top management at a corporation is incompetent. Part of what made Quiznos great was the ingredients they used, which were higher-priced. You get what you pay for…unless Subway is in the picture. In the old days, Quiznos and similar chains were more pricey but worth it because unlike Subway, they didn’t use “government rations” to make their sandwiches. Nowadays, Subway – having edged out all its competitors other than Jersey Mikes – continues using cheap ingredients and now they charge a fortune. Good news if you’re a Subway franchise owner, but it sucks for all the rest of us.
Overall I agree with your comparison. And even though “that’s just my opinion, man”, it probably has something to do with why Quiznos was a genuine competitor, much the way Rax was to Arby’s in the mid 1980s until they flew too close to the sun. Quiznos had good word-of-mouth for quality, and its commercials, though polarizing, were memorable.
Subway has a lot of competition these days. I can definitely remember the era when Blimpie was genuine competition, which is now a shadow of its former self. Off the top of my head, some of the other names I can think of, in decreasing order of prominence: Jimmy John’s, Jersey Mike’s, Firehouse Subs, Potbelly, Which Wich?, Lenny’s, Capriotti. And then there are the build-your-own at various increasingly upscale gas/convenience chains like Wawa, Sheetz, Royal Farms, or (to hide my eastern US bias) Buc-ees. After the Jared fallout, Subway’s was perceived as a chain in decline. I think it has recovered somewhat, but has to take a much greater defensive posture.
Yes indeed. You can never be too greedy or act on the momentary sugar high of success. There were Blimpie’s all over the place in Oregon and Southwest Washington in the 90s and early 2000s. There were Blimpie’s on campus at both of the universities I attended in Oregon and they were busy every single day at lunchtime, competing aggressively with the Subway’s on campus. There were also Togo’s nearby, and Quizno’s soon joined in the fun, but not so near campus. Quizno’s was always the most expensive so they were generally in business districts where the customers had more money to spend. The Togo’s in one of the college towns I lived in was one of the oldest Togo’s locations, at least of the west coast. It was like a historical landmark. They never raised prices much, and not often. Everybody loved it. Then Big Town Hero started replacing Blimpie for some reason. I don’t know what Blimpie’s problem was – it was definitely better than Subway in terms of taste, and the prices were about the same. Big Town Hero was a bit of an oddball. They had a turkey-cranberry one (appropriated from Togo’s magnificent creation of the same name, but theirs had cream cheese spread) that was delicious. And then they started closing about as fast as Quizno’s and Blimpie did. Right now there are exactly 4 Blimpie stores left on the west coast. One in Washington and three in California, one of which is actually within driving distance of where I live. But the Yelp reviews of it are pathetic, so I doubt I will stop by. There was another one about 10 minutes away from my home, but I never went there. It was part of a gas station food mart and I wasn’t about to eat food in an environment like that. It’s sad, because their food was really quite good at one time, and affordable.
I think Potbelly was the one that helped edge out Quizno’s in a way. Undoubtedly, Potbelly is far better managed and in terms of taste, theirs is one of the best. But they haven’t grown like gangbusters. They’re not in every big city. They aren’t trying to overtake their competitors or get a location on every other street corner like even Subway has. Have you heard of a chain called Philly’s Best? Three guesses as to which chain it competes with the most…yep, Jersey Mike’s. But they feature cheesesteak-type subs and *big* sandwiches that most of the other chains don’t push. I have never gone there. Subway has gone rather “sports” in the past couple of years. They’ve added some new sandwiches to their menu. Thankfully Subway has good deals in their app, and also coupons in the mail whereas none of the other chains do, so that’s where I naturally go. There is a lone Togo’s left, about 20 miles away, it was actually the very first restaurant I ate in when I moved to Los Angeles. I still go there sometimes. I pray that it does not close.
I am a sandwich freak as you can tell. But it’s just too bad that the sandwich industry has shaped up to be this shoddy. You can do Subway and Jersey Mike’s and a handful of others, sure, but the great old days of a ton of sandwich options are gone. Most of my family still live in Oregon and Washington and whenever I go there, I hit Potbelly at least once. Much to my surprise, there are no Potbelly’s in California at present. I sure hope that changes. I first encountered it when I used to travel for work on the east coast and I was amazed by how good their food was.
Thanks for writing. I have heard of Togo’s but never been to one and can’t recall seeing them anywhere around me. Looking at the site ScrapeHero, it appears they are pretty much only West Coast. And yes, Blimpie is even rarer–barely 100 locations and only about 4 out by you as you noticed. I’m not sure how the licensing works for these sandwich chains that get paired with gas station food marts, but it seems to be a growing trend…I would say it’s more characteristic of dying chains (like Blimpie or Quizno) but Subway does it as well. Then again, the eastern US is seeing more of these “horizontally integrated” gas/convenience/sandwich companies that do it all: places like Wawa and Sheetz and Royal Farms. If those grow in popularity (as it seems they are), it may cut into the viability of placing a Blimpie within a gas station convenience store, or even the bigger names that we often see paired in this fashion, like Arby’s or Burger King.
Potbelly is slow growth. It first started making a name for itself in the Chicago area back when I lived there about 20 years ago. Even now, it is very selective about the markets where it grows, and it seems to be going for big metros–not small towns at all. For example, metro Indianapolis is often one of the first places where Chicago institutions “break out” and expand (E.G., Giordano’s or Portillos), but Potbelly only has two locations in metro Indy. Apparently, very few of its locations are franchisees; it’s almost all corporate growth (much like one of its parent investors, Howard Schultz of Starbucks). Very conservative growth strategy.
You’re correct about Potbelly and the conservative growth strategy. It will be interesting to see how they develop…and whether or not they actually do get into California. I will say this though – once Quiznos was gone, people’s “trust” in chains specializing in toasted sandwiches probably plummeted. I know mine did. Subway’s toasted sandwiches aren’t really that good, and don’t taste the mouth-watering way that Quiznos’ ones did, as they rolled off the “assembly line” right before your eyes. But Potbelly picked up where Quiznos left off as far as toasting their sandwiches.
I forgot to comment on Which Wich? or Jimmy John’s in my earlier reply. Much to my surprise, Jimmy John’s has been around for 40+ years now and with 2,700+ locations, it’s perhaps hitting a stride finally. It was not on this coast for quite awhile. But I finally found one somewhat near my home and gave it a try about 6 months ago. They naturally don’t have the presence that Subway does, but the one I found was actually in (as I vaguely recall) in an old Quiznos location in the NoHo (North Hollywood, California) Arts District. It wasn’t bad. They have some original creations on their menu, along with some limited time offerings that they frequently change up. For lack of a better comparison, it’s a lot like Jersey Mike’s only less expensive. I didn’t feel “gouged” there, as I always have at Jersey Mike’s.
One of their limited-time creations was a Firecracker Chicken sandwich/wrap with jalapeno crunchies (deep-fried jalapeno pepper pieces). They also sell the Jimmy Peppers that they put on the sandwiches, in jars and they can be purchased in-store and online – another way to keep the name out there and another source of revenue for the company. They also have their own brand of chips, including a trademark Thinny Chips, with less fat than regular potato chips. They offer a lower calorie version of their sandwiches, known as Slims, that none of their competitors have – at least not in the same form (remember when Subway had the 4 inch round sandwiches? Maybe that’s on their “secret menu” nowadays, if they have one). Long ago, Blimpie actually offered pita versions of their sandwiches and I have yet to see a chain that has had those. They were good for the pre-lettuce wrap crowd who was not wanting a sandwich with thick bread. I got the aforementioned Firecracker sandwich when I went there. It was actually pretty blah. The store was spotlessly clean and organized – but it didn’t taste much better than a typical Subway sandwich. I would probably not return readily, because the lone Togo’s (my all-time fave, where I’ve been going for 20+ years) is right down the road from this Jimmy John’s. But I will try it again sometime for sure, I’ll try anyplace twice if the first time was at least “adequate”.
And finally… Which Wich. I don’t have a lot of data points about it because I only went there twice. It replaced a Togo’s, which had failed to the point where I was the only one ever in the store for roughly its last year in business, every time I went in there. The owner cut back to the point of keeping only one employee to make the sandwiches, down from the 5 or 6 they had for many years. The store was sold to another owner, who probably lost a bundle. Which Wich gutted it completely and took over the space.
It looked great after years of being a sleepy Togos. But after awhile, it disappeared. I think the reason was partly due to the fact that the customers had to fill out the information on the bag that the sandwich would eventually go in, and…people are lazy. They wanted to give the order verbally, have the staff make it, and leave. I might add, this Which Wich was in a rather upscale area and I would bet my life that the neighborhood local yokels would absolutely not be into that. They had a big ol’ stack of the narrow brown bags (with the cute little scissored ridges at the top) at the front of the store; you mark the sandwich and toppings you want with one of the red Sharpies in the jar and hand it to the sandwich jockey, they make it, hand it back to you, and you pay down at the end of the counter, and leave. There were some tables, but it was like they wanted to get rid of you – the bags are, obviously, designed as durable to-go bags. The store was plastered up with a bunch of customer graffiti (yeah, one of those places) only the graffiti took the form of a bunch of decorated bags that covered at least one wall of the store. The sandwiches themselves were on about a par with Subway, when all was said and done. But…that wasn’t the end of sandwiches at this location. They were replaced by an Ike’s Love and Sandwiches. Yes, that’s the name of the place and this is literally a sexy sandwich joint. They have a sandwich called Menage a Trois (translation for those who don’t know French or the jargon: a three-way experience) and the caption on it is: “Wanna Get Dirty?” Will I go to Ike’s? Never. Marketing like that is totally not my thing, no matter how good the food is. See this URL for more info: https://www.ikessandwich.com/ I don’t really care to research it any further! “Diggidydee!”, in the words of Rax’s Mr. Delicious.
And so my quest for the perfect sandwich continues. What a ride it’s been!
Thanks for sharing. Business models and store location decisions (which are often intertwined) often interest me more than the food itself, since people’s impressions of that are highly subjective. Clearly there’s enough of a fan base for Rax’s Roast Beef to help keep people reading and writing and watching vlogs on the handful of remaining locations, to a once-prevalent chain now in its death throes. In the almost one year since I wrote my popular Rax article, the website has gone down.
For the record, you can get pretty accurate info on location information for national retail chains (not just restaurants) at the site ScrapeHero. They seem to update about quarterly, so don’t expect breaking news but it’s good to get a general sense of trends. The chains apparently need a franchise presence to show up on the site.
I had never heard of Ike’s Love and Sandwiches, but ScrapeHero says it has just over 100 locations–so about the same as Blimpie and Quiznos these days. It’s probably
“up and coming” but with a huge vegan and halal menu, it’s not likely to breakthrough in anything but bigger cities. I was surprised to find a lone location for Ike’s in my former home of New Orleans, but NOLA is weird for attracting pioneer West Coast chains, even when it has one of the best local food scenes in the country.
I would like to see Rax return – I think a lot of us would. But the right person with lots of capital would have to do it. As much as I would like to see it return with a salad bar, I don’t think it probably would happen. Salad bars don’t sell anymore. They’re in some restaurants – including a handful of pizza restaurants like Round Table – but since Covid, salad bars and literally anything buffet have sharply declined. On another note – the stuffed potatoes. That was a staple of Rax’s menu. But again, they lack popularity nowadays. There was at least one potato restaurant chain in the 80s and early 90s in shopping malls. I wish I could remember the name of it. People at that time loved the pizza potatoes and Mexican potatoes. Wendy’s is the last chain barely hanging onto them – and they got rid of their delicious broccoli-cheese one long ago. Kids of today don’t want potatoes, either. Judging from the current menu of Rax – which bears only a vague resemblance to the offerings they had in the 80s and early 90s – I’d say they’d have a good shot at vigorously competing again with Arby’s but it would have to be improved upon. They’d have to bring in some other menu items that would make Rax worth returning to. They’d have to bring back their shakes and make them more 21st century, not just the plain old Neapolitan flavors they had earlier. They’d have to do some shakes and stuff to compete with Shake Shack, for instance. They could do salads again, but not a salad bar. As I say, I think it could happen if the right person did it but they’d have to plan out the menu, and of course, the marketing.
One thing that I remember Rax did – and this was innovative for its time – is palmtop ordering. The location I went to often got so busy that they would take the orders on a palmtop computer (ipad-like precursor, only they had a power cord!) from people standing in line and they’d give them a number ticket (or verbally) and once they got to the front, they’d pay and pick up their food. Nowadays, some restaurants are kiosk only. Taco Bell is one of the first. The last time I went there, the people behind the counter were not taking orders. They were only making and serving the food, including for the drive-thru customers. The problem is, not everyone is kiosk-savvy. I know some of my family members in their 70s and older couldn’t order on one no matter how hard they tried. So, they have to have staff there to help. But the only place they take cash is in the drive-thru. Not inside the store itself on the kiosk (credit card only) system.
By some miracle, I kept one of the Rax paper menus from about 1985.
Yeah, a fast food place with paper menus – just one of the things they tried to do in order to *not* come off like an Arby’s. And in fact, they were way better than Arby’s. The funny thing is that Rax never became extinct. It just never completely disappeared. It did resolve its identity crisis, after all! So – that means there’s hope for it!