First, I need to say I was a multi-unit Subway franchisee for 33 years until late last year. When Subway field agents inspected our stores, we would be marked

First, I need to say I was a multi-unit Subway franchisee for 33 years until late last year. When Subway field agents inspected our stores, we would be marked up "out of compliance" but that statement sounds more serious than it actually is. Yes, you could technically lose your franchise for a handprint on the glass but, unless it was a constant problem, agents would only point it out with a remark on the form of "need to pay more attention to the glass". I need to call out the article treating the slicing thickness of cucumbers being a minor problem. It's not. It's sloppiness that should never happen but yes it happens to the best of us. We had a problem with one older store where some of the ceramic tile was breaking and coming loose. It took a while to get to it--like months--because we were shorthanded, extremely busy, and the tile was a type that was difficult to find. While our field rep would constantly get on us about it, because it was in the customer area, he was also understanding of our issues. Something to point out. You needed to be written up on compliance issues three times before you could get into trouble. We were inspected monthly so you had three months to fix issues. I never felt threatened about losing our franchise. I always felt respect from our DA. Most of the groaning I would hear at meetings was more from newer owners than "original owners" as we older franchisees sometimes called ourselves. Other groaning came from other areas not mentioned in the article. One was about marketing that didn't work including pricing of advertised deals. The other is the remodeling of older restaurants which would cost around the $200,000 level. If you owned 10 restaurants, that's a $2 million investment that someone of my age would never recover. Fred DeLuca was stuck in his ways and wouldn't change with the times. His sister, when she took over, was more amenable to change but didn't have the respect from higher ups in the system. That she "retired" is not the right word. The problems for most of us was marketing not competing well with the new competition causing sales to falter over the last several years. I sold out for that reason and because I didn't want to spend the money on remodeling. So the problems with this one development agent (DA) in California is something I never heard of before so it really is an anomaly to me, at least.