DENVER Quiznos Subs has filed a lawsuit that accuses former operations executive Michael Grodi of taking trade secrets with him to his new job as chief executive of rival sandwich chain the Earl of Sandwich.
Grodi and Earl of Sandwich, a three-year-old venture based in Orlando, Fla., have denied the allegations. Neither could be reached for comment.
The lawsuit, filed in a Denver federal court, reportedly claims that Grodi had access to proprietary documents, agreements, manuals and workbooks and that he recruited several Quiznos employees to work for Earl of Sandwich. It also names Earl of Sandwich as a defendant.
"We filed this suit against Mr. Grodi and Earl of Sandwich because we have evidence of systematic efforts by those defendants not only to steal our employees in violation of non-solicitation agreements, but also to steal our proprietary and confidential business information, which took us substantial time, money and effort to develop," a Quiznos spokeswoman asserted in a statement. "We believe that the defendants' use of our information against our franchisees and us is just plain wrong, and we've asked the Court to stop them."
Quiznos, which franchises more than 5,000 sandwich shops, is facing lawsuits filed by franchises in Illinois, Wisconsin and New Jersey. All allege that Quiznos defrauded franchises by allowing additional stores to open near enough to cannibalize the sales of existing units.