A Message from Quiznos' Greg Brenneman

Greg Brenneman, the new Chief Operating Executive and President of Quiznos, declined my request for an interview this week. The Senior VP of Communications for Quiznos explained in her email that Mr. Brenneman’s focus was being out in the stores and getting work done, and that he would not be doing anymore interviews at this time.  I did however receive the latest announcements, press releases and personal messages to franchisees from an unknown source.

 In his folksy Message from Greg letter to franchisees, he said that he was proud to be CEO, president and partner of Quiznos and that he had been an admirer and customer of the brand for many years.  He praised the Quiznos team, including franchisees and suppliers, for the outstanding job of taking the franchise from 18 to over 5,000 restaurants in a very short period of time. He said, “It is one of the greatest U.S. business success stories,” and he followed with his sentiment that Quiznos was the best kept secret in the restaurant industry.  Mr. Brenneman feels that together they will have the incredible opportunity to increase brand recognition and strong growth. 

But in his memo, he did give franchisees a glimmer of hope for change, saying, “The lifeblood of any retail company is unit profitability. Quiznos wins when franchise owners win.” One solution he gave was that they will provide their “best franchise owners” with opportunities to grow by offering prospects with multi-unit ownership. 

Brenneman makes it clear in his memo that the major reason for accepting his new position was to work with Rick Schaden, the former CEO, that he was a very unique and special individual who led the company to incredible accomplishments over many years. Although Schaden will be concentrating on his investment firm, Cervantes, Brenneman said he will continue as a partner to him and Quiznos board members.