Quiznos Initiates Lease Renegotiation Program

Release date: March 18, 2009  /  Print This     RSS    

Quiznos Initiates Lease Renegotiation Program

QUIZNOS INITIATES LEASE RENEGOTIATION PROGRAM

TO BENEFIT FRANCHISE OWNERS

Quiznos Establishes Teams to Renegotiate Lower Lease Costs,

Reducing Largest Expense for Franchise Owners

DENVER—MARCH 17, 2009— Quiznos, one of the nation’s premier quick service

restaurant chains and pioneer of the toasted sandwich, today announced an initiative to

renegotiate franchisee leases, effectively reducing the single largest expense franchise

owners incur. Quiznos has engaged three teams to renegotiate store leases into

accordance with current market values, at no cost to franchise owners.

“Even a down economy can be an opportunity and the current market for retail rent is an

example of that,” said Rick Schaden, Quiznos founder and CEO. “Through innovative

and strategic techniques, we are working toward mitigating the impact of the economic

situation and ensuring our franchise owners’ success. My primary goal as CEO is for

franchise owners to say in one year from now they are better off than they are today.”

Since the teams have been in operation, Quiznos has negotiated more than 40 leases thus

far, with an average reduction of 15-20 percent in lease payments.

The store leases in consideration include leases that are expired as well as those that have

high rent given current property values. This program will be beneficial to both franchise

owners and lessors, lowering the leasing cost while extending the lease.

Thomas Mihailovich, a franchise owner in Rochester Hills, MI, participated in the lease

renegotiation program in late February. Quiznos and a third-party team worked with

Mihailovich and his lessor to arrange a reduction in rent of more than 20 percent, a cost

savings of $50,000 over the term of the lease.

“I began the process and within one week I was saving nearly $500 per month on my

rent,” said Mihailovich. “You really can’t complain about saving that kind of money. The

whole process was so simple and they answered all my questions along the way. They

delivered exactly what they said they could deliver.”

Schaden is focusing Quiznos’ 2009 business plan around maximizing profitability for

franchise owners in non-traditional ways, such as the lease renegotiation initiative.

“Rick started with Quiznos as a franchise owner before growing the Quiznos brand into

what it is today,” said Greg Brenneman, executive chairman for Quiznos. “He knows

what it takes to make franchisees profitable and personally understands those costs that

affect the bottom line.”

About Quiznos

Celebrating its 27th anniversary, Denver-based Quiznos is a national chain designed for

today's busy consumers who are looking for a tasty, freshly prepared alternative to

traditional fast food restaurants. Using only premium quality ingredients, Quiznos

restaurants offer creative, chef-inspired recipes for sandwiches, soups and salads. With

more than 5,000 franchise restaurants, Quiznos is one of the fastest growing quick service

restaurant chains. In December, the Quiznos management team was named the "Best

New Class" by QSR Magazine.

In October 2007, Quiznos was recognized for leading the QSR industry in wait time

performance by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association's (MSPA) 2007 Wait Time

Study. In May 2007, Zagat's consumer surveys listed Quiznos in the top 5 for Top Food,

Top Facilities, Top Service and Top Overall, ahead of its direct competitors. In June

2006, Nation's Restaurant News ranked Quiznos in its Top 100 Restaurant Chains as the

#1 restaurant chain in growth in number of units--five years in a row. Entrepreneur

magazine in January, 2006 ranked Quiznos in its annual Top Franchise 500 as the #2 Best

Overall Franchise and QSR magazine ranked the chain in its Top 50 Chains in August,

2005 as #3 by change in system-wide sales.

For further information, please visit www.quiznos.com

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Media Contact

Allison Riley

Coltrin and Associates

(212) 221-1616

allison_riley@coltrin.com