>>Lately I've become more and more interested in purchasing a franchise business, namely Subway Sandwich.
>>
>>Do you have any advise, pro/con?
>
>My sister-in-law opened two franchise Mexican restaurants in Orlando. I think they are doing well with them. I do know it is very long hours and (especially at a Subway, McDonald, Taco Bell, etc.) you need the ability to deal with teenagers and (at least here in Marin county) non-fluent English speakers as your primary work force.
>
>In addition to all the other franchises people are talking about here, I would recommend looking into Fazolis. It is fast-food Italian and I haven't seen its equivalent in California. I don't know what it is about the way the franchise treats their staff, but at almost all of the one's I went to in Iowa and Texas they were far and away more polite, friendly, happier seeming, and service oriented than at any other fast-food franchise I've seen.


Fazoli's sounds interesting. They haven't made it to Illinois yet but I will keep an eye out for them. I am sick to death of all the major chains other than Wendy's.

The English-as-a-second-language situation seems to be nearly universal now. This past winter my younger daughter and I were out in a rural part of western Illinois for a volleyball tournament she was playing in. On the way back we stopped at a McDonald's at her request. (Lunch of champions! LOL). It was really strking because the entire crew on duty was white. I had not seen that in a long time. Not saying good or bad, it just seemed like stepping into a time warp.