Toasted-sub-sandwich giant Quiznos has settled with franchisee Chris Bray after a battle that began when a group of franchisees posted on the Internet the suicide note of a fellow store owner who blamed the corporation for his troubles.
Bray, former president of the Toasted Sub Franchise Association, said mediation occurred this month and he could not discuss the confidential agreement.
“As part of the settlement, Mr. Bray is selling his Quiznos restaurants and is doing so for personal reasons,” said Rich Emmett, executive vice president and chief legal counsel for Quiznos. “And he is hopeful that Quiznos management is on the right track.”
Bray, of Killeen, Texas, has been a Quiznos franchisee for more than a decade.
Bray was one of eight franchisees who sued Denver-based Quiznos after the company tried to pull their franchise contracts in December. Five of the franchisees previously settled with the company.
At the time, Quiznos said the franchisees – none of them from Colorado – were harming the company by posting information online about a California franchise owner who was in the midst of a lawsuit with Quiznos and committed suicide.
In May, a judge upheld a temporary injunction that kept the company from canceling the franchise agreements. Two other cases are pending with franchisees in Montana and Oregon. There has been no discussion of settlement with those owners, Emmett said.
“It’s unfortunate that it took for it to get into the courts. That is not the way we want to operate,” said Danny Kessels, new president of the Toasted Sub Franchisee Association, who runs a store in Boulder. “We are just trying to move forward, settle some of the internal issues we have had and be successful.”
The TSFA was created by a group of disgruntled Quiznos franchisees critical of the chain and how it has operated in the past.
Kessels said he has seen some positive changes recently in how the company and franchisees are working together.
Emmett said the company, under new chief executive Greg Brenneman, is working to improve communications, franchise profitability and food costs. Quiznos has cut more than 4 percent in food costs this year.
“The litigation is just one aspect of a large number of initiatives that we have going at Quiznos to move the system forward,” Emmett said. “We are real ly like in the second or third inning of a nine-inning game.”
Staff writer Elizabeth Aguilera can be reached at 303-820-1372 or eaguilera@denverpost.com.
