Love of food is catalyst for Firehouse Subs
Firefighters love their food. The Sorensen brothers of Jacksonville, FL, combined their love of food and their firefighter backgrounds to start the Firehouse Subs franchise.
Robin Sorensen, one of the co-founders, visited the Firehouse Subs location at 72nd Street Crossing in Omaha recently. His brother Chris is the other co-founder. He was unable to make the trip.
Firehouse Subs appreciates social media and the role they play in communication. The restaurant’s franchisee in Omaha invited several bloggers from the Omaha area to attend the visit. It ended up being the most-attended blogger event for the company. 
Robin discussed the company’s history and future goals, while the bloggers and their guests enjoyed samples of their sandwiches. By samples, I mean sandwiches. There was no way to walk out of there hungry.
Guests sampled the popular Hook and Ladder, NY Steamer, Smokehouse BBQ and Italian.
Lisa was torn between a couple of sandwiches as her favorite. She liked the NY Steamer and the Smokehouse BBQ. The Steamer is made with pastrami. The Smokehouse features brisket. She has been encouraged to try the meatball sub.
My favorite was the Steamer. I like pastrami and corned beef.
Robin said they wanted to make their sandwiches and service stand out from other restaurants when they started the company.
They start with a higher quality of meat and cheese (Sargento’s). They toast the bread. Then, the last step is to steam the sandwich – with the bread, meat and cheese.
The first time we ate at a Firehouse Subs, it was OK. But, after trying the other sandwiches this time, we agreed that the restaurant is worth checking out more often.
Lisa actually told Robin that our first visit was not a great one. We got our sandwiches to go. The pickle packaging caused her bread to get soggy (a no-no for her). He apologized. Robin admitted that they have had issues with to-go packaging. They plan to address that in 2014 by using different packaging. He seemed to actually appreciate the feedback.
Meanwhile, the history of the company was interesting to me.
As the sons of a career firefighter, the Sorensen boys spent a lot of time in firehouses. They both were firefighters as young adults.
As a youth, Robin saw himself as an entrepreneur.
“My mom used to call me an entremanurial,” he joked.
The brothers became seriously interested in starting a business in the early 1990s. They researched businesses. They zeroed in on food.
They visited a couple of franchises in Jacksonville. The further along they went in the process, they became dissatisfied with the businesses they met with.
The Sorensens sat in a car after a visit and decided they wanted to create their own sub shop. And do it their way.
They spent the next two years visiting eateries. They noted what worked and didn’t work. They worked on their business plan.
In 1994, they opened the first Firehouse Sub shop in their native Jacksonville.
The restaurant’s success led to growth fairly early. They opened 25 locations from 1994-2000.
They borrowed $30,000 to start the business in 1994. The company became debt-free in 2000.
“We were disciplined and stayed with our plan,” Robin said. 
The company should hit $450 million in sales this year.
After realizing they could not grow nationally as company-owned stores, the Sorensens decided to sell franchises in the early 2000s.
However, they maintained two important requirements: Candidates had to come to Jacksonville for interviews and they had to approve the restaurant locations.
The interviews, called “Day of Discovery” gauged the potential franchisee’s commitment. Robin said they didn’t want someone whose goal was to own a few locations but not manage daily.
“You have to get up every day and work,” he said.
Their plan has been fruitful. The chain has 678 locations in 35 states and Puerto Rico. Plans are to expand in the northwest United States, Mexico and Canada.
The Omaha area has three restaurants, owned by Tom Davis. Davis has the franchise area for Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota. There are five restaurants right now in the region, including one each in Sioux Falls, SD, and Lincoln.
Tom said he plans to have 36 locations in Nebraska and Iowa. Toss in the Dakotas, and you add up to another 10.
Firehouse Subs creates 1.3 million sandwiches a week nationally.
As I mentioned earlier, the Sorensens strive for higher quality meats, cheeses, and bread. They use a bread company out of Atlanta. They work with each vendor to ensure consistency for every item.
They view franchisees and employees as family members. The annual convention is referred to as a “family reunion,” Robin said.
He comes across as a controlling person, Robin said. He and Chris are that way on purpose.
“If you fail, we’ll be fine,” Robin said. “If you fail, you may not be OK. This could be your only chance for a successful business.”
Firehouse Subs has a three-part mission statement:
“To Continue Our Tradition of Commitment and Passion for:
Hearty and Flavorful Food
Heartfelt Service
And Public Safety”
They started a foundation to address the public safety aspect. They have raised and contributed more than $7.7 million to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, as well as fire and police departments and schools (defibrillators, in example).
When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast in 2005, the company sent food and water to the region.
When the trucks arrived in the area, a local police officer directed them to a town in Mississippi. The residents hadn’t been visited, so they provided food and water for that community. They eventually moved on to Kiln, MS, and served there.
They have helped provide food and water in other disaster-impacted areas since then.
The Council Bluffs store ranked sixth among all franchises for donations in 2012.
As for future business growth, Firehouse doesn’t plan to sit still.
New menu boards are scheduled for stores in 2014, Robin said. They will include the calorie count for each item. The federal healthcare law will eventually require that information, but the company decided to move forward with it.
A light menu has been developed and will appear after the New Year.
“We wanted a light menu under 500 calories, but wanted to keep hearty flavors,” Robin said.
A cool thing about each location is a mural painted on the wall. They use the same artist, who travels to create the mural.
The 72nd Street location’s mural featured the Grand Central Hotel in Omaha. It burned in 1878 after a lit candle fell over. The building was destroyed because not enough volunteer firefighters were able to respond.
That fire led to the start of a professional fire department in Omaha, one of the employees told us.
The mural depicts the Grand Central Hotel in black and white and then modern day firefighters in color.
A cool thing to us was the Nebraska-Omaha mascot Durango with a hockey stick. He was bent over petting a dog, which was based on the local owner’s family pet. 
So, it was interesting to get a firsthand account of the history of a sandwich shop. It’s amazing at how much thought and effort went into creating a place where most people just order a sandwich. But, it’s that background that goes into making someone want to come back.
So, next time you walk into a Firehouse Subs shop and the staff says “Welcome to Firehouse,” know that they mean it.
Enjoy your next trip there. We may just see you there.
