Quiznos grew from a handful of shops to 5,000 stores and then collapsed, a warning for anyone buying into a franchise.

• The chain was bought cheap, scaled fast, and expanded to thousands of locations.
• Its main rival, Subway, handed it an opening with the Jared scandal, one of the worst brand disasters in business.
• Quiznos still lost, because the franchise owners running its stores were not making money.
• The lesson for franchise buyers: if the parent company profits while its operators bleed, the system falls apart.

Outlook: Franchise brands that squeeze their own store owners tend to shrink no matter how strong the brand looks from outside.