restaurants founded 1981 ; 35 years ago 1981 founder jimmy lambatos headquarters denver colorado u.s. key people doug pendergast ceo 1 susan lintonsmith cmo kenneth cutshaw president of international 2 products submarine sandwiches salads other food products revenue us 400 million 2014 website www.quiznos.com qip holder llc d b a quiznos is a franchised fast food restaurant brand based in denver colorado which specializes in offering toasted submarine sandwiches . the restaurant chain was founded in 1981 by jimmy lambatos and sold to rick and richard schaden in 1991 and grew to nearly 5 000 restaurants . as of the end of 2013 the chain had about 1 500 domestic locations and about 600 international locations . quiznos is the second largest submarine sandwich shop chain in north america after subway . 3 contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 expansion 1.3 recession and restructuring 1.4 bankruptcy 2 locations 3 advertising 4 lawsuits and controversies 5 mascots 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit early history edit the first quiznos subs restaurant the first quiznos restaurant was opened in denver colorado by founder jimmy lambatos . at the time lambatos was an experienced chef having previously worked as an executive chef for the colorado mine co. steakhouse and having founded the italian restaurant footers in 1978 . he founded quiznos with partner todd disner in the spring of 1981 . the first location was at the corner of 13th and grant streets in the capitol hill neighborhood of the city . according to kevin jenkins it was there that recipes for quiznos special baguette style bread special dressings and unique recipes were created . 4 according to patrick sweeney the sandwich shop earned a following for its toasted subs that lambatos said were inspired by the oven baked sandwiches he enjoyed while growing up in new york . lambatos said of his decision to toast the submarine sandwiches at the first quiznos that it s a signature type of thing . heating anything brings out the flavors in food products . 5 6 the restaurant menu featured toasted submarine sandwiches as well as salads soups and desserts . 7 8 expansion edit countries with current quiznos operations after two years the restaurant started offering franchises to facilitate expansion 9 offering its first franchises in 1983 . 10 the franchises were offered under the name quiznos american inc. by 1987 12 quiznos restaurant locations were operating in the united states . that year rick schaden at the age of 23 and his father aviation attorney richard schaden opened their first quiznos franchise in a boulder colorado shopping center . they opened three additional restaurants before purchasing the 18 restaurant chain from the founders in january 1991 and renamed it the quiznos franchise corp. rick schaden became the president and then ceo of quiznos after the purchase . jenkins wrote that schaden began building a professional infrastructure to support franchise owners that included volume purchasing standardized training and operations procedures as well as marketing support . quiznos was taken public in february 1994 with an ipo of one million shares of stock at 5 per share resulting in a 4.4 million yield . by the end of 1995 quiznos had 103 different locations . 4 11 12 13 14 in 1997 quiznos became the number three submarine sandwich franchise in the world with 278 locations in the u.s. and puerto rico . the following year quiznos canada acquired the master franchise rights to quiznos restaurants in canada as well as the master rights in the united kingdom in 1999 . glenvista enterprises then acquired the rights for several states in australia . kmn usa llc acquired the franchise rights for japan opening its first location in early 1999 . the company again went private in june 2001 . 14 in 2002 wendy s acquired the rights to the brand for franchises in australia and later new zealand but was unsuccessful in launching the chain in either country . 15 the first location in mexico opened in monterrey in 2002 . 16 in 2005 the company partnered with ray wilson to open a new chain of fitness clubs called 123 fit . 13 at its peak in 2007 there were more than 5 000 quiznos franchise locations . 17 18 the first location in canada and outside of the united states opened in vancouver in 1996 . 19 the first european location opened in 2001 in peterborough in the united kingdom . 20 the first location in india opened in hyderabad in 2011 21 followed by the first location in the philippines opened in 2012 . 22 in 2013 quiznos opened its first two locations in russia during the same weekend in st. petersburg . 23 quiznos opened its first taiwan location in taipei 24 25 26 and also its first united arab emirates location in abu dhabi 27 28 in september 2014 . recession and restructuring edit between 2007 and 2009 1 000 quiznos stores closed . 29 after the closure of around 2 000 restaurants during the great recession a majority stake in the company was purchased by avenue capital group of new york in january 2012 . according to ed sealover the purchase was done in a deal that eliminated about one third of the company s 900 million debt and infused about 150 million cash into the company . 18 30 avenue capital group brought on turnaround specialist harsha v. agadi as quiznos executive chairman . 31 they also brought on stuart mathis as ceo ; the former president of the ups store stated that the company would try to counteract shrinking sales by promoting the quality of its food . 32 bankruptcy edit on march 14 2014 quiznos filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the united states bankruptcy court for the district of colorado . quiznos said it would continue operating while it restructured its debt and made operational improvements . 33 34 quiznos emerged from bankruptcy about four months later on june 30 2014 and reduced its debt by about 400 million . 35 locations edit as of 2015 there are now fewer than 1 000 quiznos restaurants in the united states . 36 the chain also said it planned to expand to locations in over 40 countries and territories including europe the middle east southeast asia and central and south america by 2012 . 37 in july 2013 the company stated it planned to expand into russia where it is looking to open about 500 stores . 38 qsr wrote in november 2013 that following its most recent international successes in mexico russia and the united arab emirates quiznos will bring toasted sandwiches to indonesia with the signature of pt quiznosindo as the brand s newest franchisor . the group led by tan po lian plans to open 100 units in indonesia over the next 10 years ... quiznos south korea has seen a system wide 12 percent sales lift largely due to a country wide marketing campaign featuring actor lee sang yoon launched in march 2013 . ... expansion into pakistan singapore south korea the philippines and indonesia is part of quiznos continued international development plan to open more than 1 000 international stores in more than 40 countries by 2020 . 39 advertising edit wikinews has related news quiznos restaurant chain airs controversial commercial the company s first major advertising push was a successful advertising campaign during the 2002 super bowl . early tv spots advertised the innovation of toasting sandwiches as compared to the inventor of pants humorously contrasted with men wearing bushes . 40 one commercial in 2003 depicted a man a then unknown jim parsons who had been raised by wolves by suckling at a mother wolf s teat . 41 other promotions include an early 2004 campaign featuring bizarre rodent like singing creatures called spongmonkeys 42 as well as a series of quiznos commercials in canada featuring hockey commentator don cherry . 43 in 2005 quiznos launched a campaign featuring baby bob . 44 in june 2006 quiznos revealed its new slogan eat up . 45 ads nationwide feature a quiznos sub with steam emanating from it with the tagline mmmm ... toasty . actor michael clarke duncan formerly provided the voiceover for all quiznos commercials . 46 47 on september 18 2006 quiznos launched the most aggressive advertising campaign aimed at subway . dubbed the prime rib cheesesteak challenge customers were asked to compare the brand new prime rib cheesesteak against subway s cheesesteak sandwich . the claim is that the prime rib cheesesteak has twice the meat of subway s cheesesteak . if the customers are not satisfied then they can fill out a form mail the form along with their receipt and they will receive a coupon for a free sandwich . 48 49 in subsequent advertisements quiznos was shown competing with the fictional wrong way restaurant based on competing restaurants . 50 the coca cola company was originally the primary soft drink supplier for the franchise until 2005 . at that time coca cola signed an exclusive agreement to provide soft drinks to the competing subway franchise . as a result quiznos signed an exclusive deal with pepsico except in canada and on college campuses that have exclusive deals with coca cola and dr pepper snapple group to serve dr pepper . 51 lawsuits and controversies edit one lawsuit cited a memorandum drafted by a quiznos lawyer in 2003 that stated 40 percent of quiznos units are not breaking even a fact that prospective franchisees say they were never told . 52 the small business administration said 23.4 percent of quiznos franchises with sba loans failed . in contrast subway had a 4.8 percent failure rate . 29 53 as a single example of an unprofitable franchise fredrick n. westerfield was running three quiznos in wisconsin . after spending 14 000 in personal savings to keep the stores running he realized he had a debt of 750 000 . he closed all his stores in 2005 . customers used to come into the store and say to me you must be rolling in the money recalled mr. westerfield . if they only knew . 52 in 2002 the seattle times reported that the company initially ignored the plight of a quiznos employee who took over operations of one quiznos store after the true owner abandoned it . 54 months later the store was closed . 55 in june 2004 the quiznos at downtown crossing boston was at the center of a hepatitis scare . 56 quiznos has been the target of several lawsuits related to its treatment of franchisees including lawsuits in new jersey and wisconsin . 52 it has faced more lawsuits from franchisees than bigger chains such as mcdonald s burger king wendy s and even its sandwich competitors subway and blimpie according to an analysis by the legal research firm thomson west . in february 2007 quiznos franchisees filed a lawsuit seeking class action status in michigan . 52 one lawsuit filed in new jersey that sought class action status said that the astounding growth record of quiznos is merely a fa ade . in 2003 and 2004 quiznos said it sold 234 trade areas in the state of new jersey to franchisees collecting the 25 000 franchisee fee but none of these locations ever opened according to the lawsuit . 52 three years after handing over her check for the fee elisa whitehall said that she had yet to open a quiznos in the location she bought and that quiznos refused to return the fee . 52 in 2006 quiznos sent letters to 300 franchises saying mystery shoppers would be coming to test their services . the company sued franchise owners richard piotrowski and ellen blickman for not putting enough meat in a prime rib sandwich . piotrowski and blickman countersued and won the lawsuit in 2009 . judge