Quiznos Initiates Lease Renegotiation Program to Benefit Franchise Owners

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Quiznos Establishes Teams to Renegotiate Lower Lease Costs, Reducing Largest Expense for Franchise Owners

Denver--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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 established 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.

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