In September 2006, a mystery shopper visited a Pennsylvania Quiznos store owned by Rich Piotrowski and Ellen Blickman. At the time, Quiznos was in the midst of a major national advertising campaign targeting Subway, using commercials that claimed its Prime Rib Philly Cheeseteak sandwich had twice the meat of a comparable Subway sandwich.

To fend off a Subway lawsuit, Quiznos general counsel Michael Daigle had created a test for all 4,000 Quiznos locations. A mystery shopper would go in, order the Philly sandwich, and then tear it apart to weigh the meat and make sure it was at least 4.5 ounces.

Piotrowski and Blickman's beef weighed in at 4 ounces. Like 300 other franchisees who failed to meet the meat requirements, the couple would soon receive notices terminating their franchise agreements with Quiznos, requiring that they shut down and lose their store.

According to the Denver Westword News, the judge determined that Quiznos had failed to prove any of its claims, which sought damages for breach of contract. Instead, he ruled that Quiznos had in fact breached the contract by wrongfully terminating the defendants, and awarded them $349,797.

Read the full article: Quiznos gets grilled in a Denver court

For the past 30 years Entrepreneur Magazine has named the top 500 franchises, which they call the Entrepreneur Franchise 500. All companies, regardless of size, are judged by the same criteria: objective, quantifiable measures of a franchise operation. The most important factors include financial strength and stability, growth rate and size of the system. They also consider the number of years a company has been in business and the length of time it’s been franchising, startup costs, litigation, percentage of terminations, and whether the company provides financing.

Here are the top 10:

1. Subway
2. McDonald's
3. Liberty Tax Service
4. Sonic Drive In Restaurants
5. InterContinental Hotels Group
6. Ace Hardware Corp.
7. Pizza Hut
8. UPS Store, The/Mail Boxes Etc.
9. Circle K
10. Papa John's Int'l. Inc.

For the entire list visit: http://www.entrepreneur.com/franchise500/

The Subway Franchise has been named No. 1 franchise by Entrepreneur Magazine. Subway is on pace to exceed McDonald's (No. 2 on Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500 list) by number of units open within 5 years. Even with the worst economic times since the great depression, Subway CEO Fred Deluca says 2008 was Subway's "best year ever."

In 2008, Subway hit the 30,000 mark for units open and is scheduled to open 1,600 more in 2009. In addition, 2,400 more franchisees have already bought in and are waiting in line to open. Subway CEO Fred Deluca says "We work hard to be extremely efficient. We give great value for our franchisees: They can build a store for well under $200,000."

What businesses do well in a recession? Most people will tell you that franchises have a higher rate of success than mom-and-pop businesses. But, not all franchises will perform well in a recession.

We have had many people ask "What businesses do well in a recession?" and I suggest they read my blog post from September 30th Which Franchise is Safe to Buy Right Now?