Quiznos & Subway Idiots

I'm stuck with a Quiznos 2 doors to the left of me and Subway 4 doors to the right of me. There are 10 other foodstands/restaurants within the arcade. Can almost spit from one end to the other. Subway comes up with a foot-long sub for 5 bucks. About 3 days later, Quiznos copies them. Most of their customers for these items are 2 people. They buy one foot-long, split it and wind up spending $2.50 for a sandwich. I can barely sell a hot dog for that.

Maybe I'm just a curmudgeon, but these moves have cost everyone else, and when this many food joints are so close to each other, I'd think they'd have a little consideration for their neighbors before giving their stuff away. They've had this "special" since around May 1.

Don't know about Subway, but I know that Quiznos loses money on all their "deals." Corporate doesn't reimburse them and they rape them on supplies, which they have to buy through Quiznos 100%. About 400 Quiznos are for sale (www.isoldmyquiznos.com), some as cheap as $15,000 and usually around a year old. (2 are in Florida). I hate when a chain that's mostly going broke comes up with these hair-brained specials and hurts everyone else around them. Does anyone think Quiznos is making any money with their $2 Sammies?

There, I'm glad I got that off my chest. I had to make up a special to compete. I have a meatball sandwich, chips and a 32 oz. drink for $5. I'm getting almost $2 less for that combo than I used to, but Q & S forces me to come up with something to compete.

I understand your frustration.I work for a local sub chain(Cousins Subs)and we are also competing against the 5$ foot long sub.First of all, Subway uses par baked bread-meaning it is already baked and just has to be heated. We bake our bread from dough that has to be stretched and formed.(I am the baker,coming in at 7 a.m.) Same with Quiznos bread.If you have a good product,dont worry.Our subs our 7 and 1/2 inches, compared to the others at 6.You will do fine with a quality product.Keep it up!!!

Sorry this isn't answering your question... but I don't know how/why quiznos in business. I personally find it repulsing that they use the same lukewarm water all day to warm both beef and chicken. (you know some people are alergic to beef, be nice if they told you this) I don't know how sanitary this is. If you later find the beef contaminated with e.coli or chicken with salmonella, then you've just infected everyone that day. Then they take 2oz of meat and spread on roll, and "toast" it, which acutally barely heats the bread/meat, certainly not toats it. Then you take this half soggy roll and gingerly apply lettuce (they act like lettuce costs more than meat, plus the lettuce has horrible chemical taste (fit?) ) yet liberally apply bananna peppers. (banana peppers must be cheaper than water) Then charge you $7 for this concoction. (guess sounds like their prices have dropped?)

My problem with subway is the turkey is horrible. Why can't places use good turkey like boars head or dietz and watson? PLEASE charge me more, just make the food edible. The chicken terriyaki sub is the closest thing to edible at subway, but they never cook it long enough.

I just don't understand why restaurants all try to make the food as cheap as possible. Make the food GOOD and you will have LOYAL customers and make back the expense 10 times over.

The other thing I don't understand is why do people buy franchises like subway, quiznos anyway? Why can't you just open up a sub shop? Making sandwiches is a pretty simple thing to do. Why do you want to buy your food/supplies from the mafia, then give them a percentage of your sales? Wouldn't all these fees = your profit?

Also, why do places buy from Sysco? My understanding they are not the cheapest? Their food is awful. Makes owners lazy and everyones food the same. I'll buy a hungryman dinner if I want microwaved food.

Source the finest quality products from a couple different vendors. Compute the cost. Sell the food for double the cost. Heck, if i can make a living at 12% markup, you should be able to at 100% markup. You pay your help less than minimum wage anyway. Where's the overhead? Ok, fresh product = spoilage. Otherwise, you pay the same for retail space, the same for electricity, the same for trash removal. Meanwhile, I have to pay $12-16 an hour, plus health, plus dental, plus paid holidays, etc, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by bwave

The other thing I don't understand is why do people buy franchises like subway, quiznos anyway? Why can't you just open up a sub shop? Making sandwiches is a pretty simple thing to do. Why do you want to buy your food/supplies from the mafia, then give them a percentage of your sales? Wouldn't all these fees = your profit?

Also, why do places buy from Sysco? My understanding they are not the cheapest? Their food is awful. Makes owners lazy and everyones food the same. I'll buy a hungryman dinner if I want microwaved food.

Source the finest quality products from a couple different vendors. Compute the cost. Sell the food for double the cost. Heck, if i can make a living at 12% markup, you should be able to at 100% markup. You pay your help less than minimum wage anyway. Where's the overhead? Ok, fresh product = spoilage. Otherwise, you pay the same for retail space, the same for electricity, the same for trash removal. Meanwhile, I have to pay $12-16 an hour, plus health, plus dental, plus paid holidays, etc, etc.

Your statements suggest that you know very little about the food industry. I don't know what business you're in, and you may be successful at it, but you'd fail miserably in the food business. JMO.

Jman: I've suspected as much, but I'd love to learn more. One day when I retired I'd love to open a restaurant. I currently own a retail store/service. I'm not trying to be ridiculous here... seriously, I am just curious. So is the mantra in the food biz, serve 'em whatever slop, they'll eat it? Just make it cheap? Then figure out how to make it cheaper than that? I mean why be in business if you can't take pride in the quality of work (in this case food) you do? Isn't it about making a comfortable living, while making people happy, and providing your employees a good job? Or, am I being overly nieve? Is it always about money, money, money?

I guess I'm way different than the average food consumer? I actually like my food to taste good? I believe in rewarding myself with a good meal at least once a day. I budget $50 a day for food. ($6 for breakfast, $15 for lunch, $29 for dinner) I would assume that "everybody" eats out at least 5 times a week? I mean who has time to cook at home? I assume food service is growing exponentially, the only better business to get into would be healthcare?

Ok, go ahead and laugh away. Let me know how I'm wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by bwave

Jman: I've suspected as much, but I'd love to learn more. One day when I retired I'd love to open a restaurant. I currently own a retail store/service. I'm not trying to be ridiculous here... seriously, I am just curious. So is the mantra in the food biz, serve 'em whatever slop, they'll eat it? Just make it cheap? Then figure out how to make it cheaper than that? I mean why be in business if you can't take pride in the quality of work (in this case food) you do? Isn't it about making a comfortable living, while making people happy, and providing your employees a good job? Or, am I being overly nieve? Is it always about money, money, money?

I guess I'm way different than the average food consumer? I actually like my food to taste good? I believe in rewarding myself with a good meal at least once a day. I budget $50 a day for food. ($6 for breakfast, $16 for lunch, $32 for dinner) I would assume that "everybody" eats out at least 5 times a week? I mean who has time to cook at home? I assume food service is growing exponentially, the only better business to get into would be healthcare?

Ok, go ahead and laugh away. Let me know how I'm wrong.

My point had nothing to do with quality of food. Of course everyone should strive to serve quality food. You seem to think that 100% markup is sufficient for pricing food items. That's where you're way off base. And you apparently know very little about Sysco.

quote:

Originally posted by jman

My point had nothing to do with quality of food. Of course everyone should strive to serve quality food. You seem to think that 100% markup is sufficient for pricing food items. That's where you're way off base. And you apparently know very little about Sysco.

Ah, gotcha. I was being simplistic about the 100% markup. I assume (not knowing) that it is extremely higher markup than that. I know for instance that about 8 years ago it cost about $0.38 to make a Whopper, and they sold for $2.39. Even when they'd run a promo for 99c whopper they were still making money, considering there was no cost for the soda that sold for $1.69 and the fries that sold for $1.29. (I assume the packaging for fries and soda cost more than the product). (no I never worked at BK, a customer of mine owned 2 BK franchises)

If anyone is interested, here is a link where several Quiznos (they recently took out the apostrophe) owners bare their souls as to what a thieving, low-life operation Quiznos is. It's an eye opening read and I really feel for anyone that ever got sucked into buying a Quiznos.

http://www.bluemaumau.org/quiznos_new_ceo_greg_brenneman_speaks#comment-62900

Every single restaurant has about 100% mark-up.Doesnt matter the supplier.It is how savvy an owner is to get the best price...

quote:

Originally posted by annpeeples

Every single restaurant has about 100% mark-up.Doesnt matter the supplier.It is how savvy an owner is to get the best price...

I'm sorry, but I don't believe that. At one time, 40% food cost was a standard that most restaurants strived to meet, but now in most cases it doesn't produce enough margin to cover all the operational costs, labor and its associated costs, taxes and profits.

Show me a typical Mom & Pop that buys something for $1.00 and sells it for $2.00 (across their whole menu) and I'll show you a Mom & Pop soon out of business. Even most street vendors couldn't survive that.

Now, if you include all costs, not just the cost of food, to reach an operational margin of 50%, that's a different story.

If you had an umbrella hot dog cart, how many hot dogs would you need to sell per week to survive if you sold a hot dog that cost you fifty cents for a dollar? Don't forget to figure in all your business expenses before you draw the first dime of wages. Unless someone is in business as a hobby or is independently wealthy, or selling a beskillion of something, selling fifty cents worth of food for one dollar just doesn't equate to being successful.

Kensandyeggo: I avoid chains whenever possible, so I'd be your customer if I were nearby. Read on.

Bwave hit on an issue that I'd like some pros to comment on: food handling.

Because of time contraints and no other choices, I recently stopped at a Subway. The line was a least 12-patrons deep (lack of neighborhood choices - can't be the food), and only two people working the counter.

I was astounded to repeatedly watch sandwiches being assembled with food gloves (after which the gloves were discarded). The preparer would then handle currency, give change, and without washing their hands, don a fresh set of gloves to continue making sandwiches! Can anyone spell cross-contamination?

Obviously, if a health inspector had witnessed this, all the food on the line would be tossed and the facility wiped down. I'm simply a customer, so I walked out.

As a food pro, if you had witnessed this, how would you have reacted? Would you have complained, walked, or both?

Complain all you want. These people wouldn't be in business if they weren't patronized. We've become a nation of sheeple. Witness the lines at the McD drive through at any given time of the day. We all know how wholesome that cr*p is.

We are a nation of complainers these days...often saying one thing and doing another.Most fast food franchises are serving cheap rip-offs of whatever they claim their product is supposed to be...hamburger,pizza,hotdog,sub. As my grandmother said(and millions of others) you get what you pay for...if you think it's value...fine. If i think it's a cheap rip-off, fine!
Complaining doesn't stand for much these days....We complain about the economy...and 65 million is spend on Kung Fu Panda by people in one weekend!, many of whom complain about how poor they are.
I guess we've raised complaining to a new art-level.
I don't like Mikey D's...and you won't see me there...I don't like pizza hut and you won't see me there......Now don't get me wrong,er, I'm not complaining, mind you!!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by bwave

I budget $50 a day for food. ($6 for breakfast, $15 for lunch, $29 for dinner) I would assume that "everybody" eats out at least 5 times a week? I mean who has time to cook at home?

This is a little out of touch with reality. Have you noticed that it's a little easier to find tables in restaurants, lately? No long waits at the bar?

$1500 a month for food? For one person?

Dang I missed the boat somewhere.

quote:

Originally posted by leethebard

We are a nation of complainers these days...often saying one thing and doing another.Most fast food franchises are serving cheap rip-offs of whatever they claim their product is supposed to be...hamburger,pizza,hotdog,sub. As my grandmother said(and millions of others) you get what you pay for...if you think it's value...fine. If i think it's a cheap rip-off, fine!
Complaining doesn't stand for much these days....We complain about the economy...and 65 million is spend on Kung Fu Panda by people in one weekend!, many of whom complain about how poor they are.
I guess we've raised complaining to a new art-level.
I don't like Mikey D's...and you won't see me there...I don't like pizza hut and you won't see me there......Now don't get me wrong,er, I'm not complaining, mind you!!!!!!

Amen - I will do my best to help put Subway out of business by never patronizing them. I am not a picky eater but this place is just awful.

quote:

Originally posted by bwave I mean who has time to cook at home?

Anyone who can afford a microwave and/or a slow cooker. I make a pretty slammin' corn chowdah in my nuker, but usually warm up leftovers in it.

It doesn't take all day to dump everything in your cooker and turn it on. You can actually find good recipes for the microwave if you're willing to look, too. I can have supper on the table in half an hour, admittedly in the direst of emergencies, thanks to my microwave.

Here's a good place to start: http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Dinner-in-an-Instant/Detail.aspx

quote:

Originally posted by NebGuy

$1500 a month for food? For one person?

Dang I missed the boat somewhere.

No kidding. That's my mortgage payment!

"......selling fifty cents worth of food for one dollar just doesn't equate to being successful."

"If you had an umbrella hot dog cart, how many hot dogs would you need to sell per week to survive if you sold a hot dog that cost you fifty cents for a dollar?"

Amen to that. There are a couple of hot dog carts near my store that sell a hot dog for a buck. Look at their tow vehicles, their filthy, raggedy carts and them, and the lesson is clear. I sell only Vienna product. I can get an "all-beef," 8-1 dog at Costco for less than half of what I pay for the Viennas. If you don't mind eating what tastes like ground balogna in a tube, I guess they're O.K.

"We've become a nation of sheeple."

Great line!!

It is a free country, and like most Americans, I like competition. That said, I eat a sub at least twice a week, and less than 10% of them come from Quizno's or Subway. I like a deal as much as the next guy, and actually LIKE certain chain food. I know about the $5 deal, and posted about it, but I am yet to eat it.(but family members have) I'll probably eat it eventually, when I am hungry and at a Subway in a strange town. In the meantime, I need to pass a Subway and near a Quizno to get to one of the 3 sub shops that I actually like. One that I recently posted about, Regatta Deli, actually gives you more good food for your $$$ than any chain. Hang in there. Don't cut the quality!!!!

Franchises can kill you. I worked for a couple in Newark, Oh who became the Top Steak house franchise. Fist they payed a fortune for the name, then had to buy all the monogrammed silver and plates, etc. Then they had to buy all meats pre cut from the Top. They were paying over 7 bux for a NY strip(in 87) and had to sell it at the tops prices. Same with specials. They had no internal control. The mgt from the top even equipped the kitchen. It was an old Cork and Cleaver with a tiny libe with no ventillation. They jammed a 2-tier Vulcan broiler in the corner and that was awful. Cook got burned all the time. Eventually they just dropped the name. Then they tred to go it alone with no knowledge at all. I felt so bad for them as they lost everything they owned over the deal.
britt

quote:

Originally posted by brittneal

Franchises can kill you. I worked for a couple in Newark, who became the Top Steak house franchise. First they payed a fortune for the name, then had to buy all the monogrammed silver and plates, etc. Then they had to buy all meats pre cut from the Top. They were paying over 7 bux for a NY strip(in 87) and had to sell it at the tops prices. Same with specials. They had no internal control. The mgt from the top even equipped the kitchen. It was an old Cork and Cleaver with a tiny line with no ventillation. They jammed a 2-tier Vulcan broiler in the corner and that was awful. Cook got burned all the time) you could only pull the drawer out less than half and bend over to reach in and turn steaks-this was also the melter for the onion soup,etc). Eventually they just dropped the name. Then they tred to go it alone with no knowledge at all. I felt so bad for them as they lost everything they owned over the deal.
britt

Does anyone know what the Subway Sub Shops uses to heat thier sandwiches? I need the name of that instant oven/toaster, so I can see if I can find one for sale on line or Ebay.
thanks
Jack

It's a Turbo-Chef. The web site lists Subway as a model C3 customer.

http://turbochef.com/commercial/our-products-C3.htm

quote:

Originally posted by MiamiDon
It's a Turbo-Chef. The web site lists Subway as a model C3 customer.http://turbochef.com/commercial/our-products-C3.htm

Don your a prince thank you. I'm curious how did you know what they're called? Did you ever work at or own a C3. If so other than fast heating of a sandwich what else did you prepare in them? The web site mentions
a ton of different cooking options but usually the sales pitch goes overboard when you get the item.Or maybe not in this case?????
Thanks again
Jack

Other than flipping burgers part time in a bar a long time ago, I have no food service experience. I googled "Subway oven" and found a news release that mentioned the product name. Then I typed "turbochef.com" into my web browser. The Turbo Chef web site C3 listing boasts of Subway being a customer.

I was curious too; glad to be of help.

To get back to the original topic, I firmly believe that if you serve food at your place, regardless of how many cheap chains or crummy Mom and Pop places are near you, and your food is worth the 80-100 mile trip, like so many of the Roadfood places featured here, you can charge what you need to, in order to make a decent living.

Respectfully, I disagree, chewing. Good restaurants fail for the most mysterious of reasons, but one reason that's not a mystery is that many folks _prefer_ the pap and gruel dished out by the chains. Lines out the door for the various Roadhouses, Outhouses, Bennigans and Chilis and Applebees and so on, wherever you go. It can be impossible to compete with these behemoths no matter how good your food is. And when they are undercutting you in price, as Mr. sandyeggo notes above, you might well start throwing good money after bad. My condolences, ken.