Quiznos
The toasted-sub chain that ran your sandwich through an oven — and ran the most bewildering ad campaign of 2004, a pair of shrieking rodent-things called the Spongmonkeys singing "We love the subs." Quiznos was Subway's hot-pressed rival before it collapsed.
Quiznos opened in 1981 in Denver's Capitol Hill neighborhood, founded by chef Jimmy Lambatos and Todd Disner around one idea: toast the sandwich. "Heating anything brings out the flavors in food products," Lambatos said, and the toasted sub set Quiznos apart from cold-cut competitors. Franchising began in 1983.
Growth accelerated through the 1990s and 2000s — from 278 locations in 1997 to more than 5,000 by 2007, making it a genuine challenger to Subway. Its advertising was as memorable as its ovens: 2002 Super Bowl spots pushing the toasting angle, a 2005 "Baby Bob" talking-baby campaign, and, most infamously, the 2004 Spongmonkeys — googly-eyed, hand-drawn creatures created by British animator Joel Veitch — warbling "We love the subs."
The empire didn't hold. Between 2007 and 2009 roughly a thousand U.S. stores closed, squeezed by franchisee complaints and the recession, and in March 2014 Quiznos filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, emerging that June about $400 million lighter in debt. By the end of 2023 only around 145 U.S. locations remained — a toasted footnote to the sandwich wars it once seemed poised to win.
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