Fox News Cuddles Up to Quiznos CEO
Yesterday, April 1, Fox News cozied up to Rick Schaden, the reborn CEO of Quiznos. The discussion was framed as Subway vs. Quiznos, as opposed to the bigger issue of the recent shifting of the marketplace in the entrance of other major chains to offer sub sandwiches. Marketing, franchise issues, a line of law suits, layoffs, sold-but-not-opened stores, the story of the resignation of its last CEO, its huge new head office amidst the downturn, or the status of the company and franchise financial situation were not touched upon — to mention just a few of the issues one can Google.
Below are some questions and answers. But those in the restaurant industry will naturally ask, “Where’s the meat?”
Q: You took a couple of years off and then came back. Why's that?
Schaden: "You know a company called CCMP bought a large piece of the company. I took the time to go into semi-retirement. In just recently, we had a change in the CEO and the seat came open. My investors asked me to come back and so I’m back in the seat.
Q: You rose like a rocket to about 5000 franchises and then it kind of stalled a bit. Were you a victim of your own success or what?
Schaden: No, I think what you find is that I was there as a founder and a growth guy for a long time. We grew very quickly and had a lot of success. As the economy started to stiffen, rents went up, construction went up, costs went up. It was harder to grow. I think that's true for all chains and so it slowed our growth down. We're still growing slightly but we're actually growing in-store sizably, which is great.
Q: You are really playing into the news about the economy by offering these cheap alternatives. I thought Subway was the cheapest but you came out with a $4 sandwich. Tell us about it.
Schaden: You know the price point is nice but it's not about price point. We really talked to the customer. We talk to them every week and we ask what they want. That keeps you ahead of the game. . . in this economy, consumers told us that they wanted a lower price point. But here's what they told us they wanted. They wanted to pay a good price for the food they wanted. They didn't want discounted version of something else. So we created something new. It’s actually called the Torpedo.
Q: Subway is ahead of you in the sub war. Forgive me but you're kind of the Avis to their Hertz. That is they've got about 30,000 franchises, while you’ve got about 5,000. So how're you doing head to head with Subway?
Schaden: You know we’re a challenger brand. We always have been. We're kind of getting back to our roots. Our commercials, our advertising are a little bit more edgy. We are the product innovators in the market. That's where we are. That's who we should be and that's where we belong. That’s been highly successful for us. I mean things like the $4 Torpedo. I mean you can come and get over a foot of flavor for four bucks. That's exactly the kind of thing that works. And right now we're having a great year.
I mean to be fair and balanced. I understand the time limits of a four minute clip but television business news could and should do better than this love-fest. There are thousands of middle-class Americans who each are investing hundreds of thousands of dollars of their money in this venture. They need to understand.
See the 4:59 video interview
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