Name me a female CEO in the tech world who's actually competent.
when deluca, founder of subway (one of the largest sandwich franchisers of the world), died his sister suzanne greco took over. and everything went downhill.
https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Subway-got-too-big-Franchisees-paid-a-price-14076769.php
Subway got too big. Franchisees paid a price
By Tiffany Hsu and Rachel Abrams
Updated 6:52 am PDT, Sunday, July 7, 2019
Manoj Tripathi couldn’t shake the feeling that someone had a vendetta against his Subway sandwich shop. A franchisee for nearly two decades, he had done everything he could to keep his restaurant, in an Orinda strip mall, in perfect condition. But lately it seemed like someone was out to get him.
It was the middle of 2017, and inspectors sent by Subway’s regional manager were finding a new problem to cite each month: a handprint on the glass door, the wrong brand of bathroom soap, cucumber slices that were too thick, he said. They seemed to be little things, but with each write-up, Tripathi’s grip on his store weakened. If he racked up enough infractions, Subway could terminate his contract and take control of the business.
When inspector Rebecca Husler arrived one day that September, Tripathi thought his restaurant was pristine. Then he noticed that a single light fixture needed a new bulb. Tripathi rushed out to buy a replacement, but by the time he returned, Husler had marked it as a violation. A year later, just as he feared, he lost the Subway.
Tripathi wasn’t paranoid. Husler really was out to get him. She had specific instructions from her boss, the regional Subway supervisor, to find fault with the store, she said in an interview.
“I was kind of his hit man,” she said, sipping an iced tea at a Starbucks in the Bay Area. Husler worked for the regional supervisor for nearly a year, she said, and she has come to regret the role she played in pushing a group of store owners out of their investments. The lightbulb moment with Tripathi, especially, gave her pause. “We’re ruining these people,” she said.
Subway is the largest fast-food company in the world by store count, with more than 24,000 restaurants in the United States alone. It got that way thanks in large part to entrepreneurial immigrants. Unlike at chains such as McDonald’s and Burger King, where many franchises are operated by investment firms, Subway owners are mostly individuals and families. The company’s co-founder, Fred DeLuca, made stores easy to open; most new franchisees are charged a $15,000 initial fee, compared with $45,000 at McDonald’s. In exchange, Subway operators must hand over more revenue than at many other chains — 8% of gross sales — while also agreeing to other fees and stipulations.
For half a century, the system worked to mutual advantage. Subway’s value hit $12.3 billion, and countless first-generation Americans bootstrapped their way to success, one foot-long at a time.
By the time DeLuca died in 2015, though, the company was struggling. Rivals like Jimmy John’s and Quiznos had grown, and Subway’s spokesman, Jared Fogle, pleaded guilty to child sex and pornography charges.
DeLuca’s sister, Suzanne Greco, took over as chief executive, inheriting a company that many felt had grown too fast and haphazardly. In 2016, for the first time ever, more Subway stores closed than opened. But while many franchisees shut down because of underperformance, others operating profitable locations began to feel targeted, too.