Quiznos Names Ex-Chief Of Burger King as CEO

Quiznos Names Ex-Chief Of Burger King as CEO

 

Greg Brenneman, the turnaround expert who left the top job at Burger King Corp. last year, has been named president and chief executive of Quiznos Combined Entity LLC, the Denver-based sandwich chain.

 

Mr. Brenneman succeeds Rick Schaden, 42 years old, who will stay on as chairman of the company. TurnWorks Inc., Mr. Brenneman's private-equity firm, has also invested in Quiznos. The company didn't disclose the value of the investment, but in an interview, Mr. Brenneman described it as "very, very significant" and said it makes TurnWorks one of the chain's three largest investors.

After he left Burger King in April, Mr. Brenneman, 45, considered taking a stake in more than 100 different companies. He said he picked Quiznos because he liked its sandwiches and he wanted to work for a closely held company instead of a public one. "It's more fun to take something and be able to own a big piece of it," he said.

Before working at Burger King, Mr. Brenneman orchestrated turnarounds at Continental Airlines Inc. and PricewaterhouseCoopers's consulting unit. He will remain involved with TurnWorks.

Mr. Brenneman said he plans to focus on increasing Quiznos's restaurant profitability while expanding in small towns in the U.S. as well as overseas. Quiznos has about 5,000 locations specializing in selling toasted submarine sandwiches.