Why These 3 Once Thriving Franchises Have Fallen on Hard Times

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. A selection of once-thriving franchises has taken a big hit in recent years, facing bankruptcies, store closures, disgruntled franchisees and nightmarish marketing scenarios. We took a look at what went wrong with three companies--and what, if anything, they can do to survive.

Franchising can be a crapshoot. If you're first to market, find the right spokesperson or speed up operations by 10 percent, you might be a success, but even if you have the world's best burger and the happiest employees, you might fail. Still, there are many aspects of franchising that have nothing to do with chance, such as the basics of site selection, brand differentiation and franchisee relations. Gum up any of those, and you can kiss your system goodbye. 

That's what happened to several big-name franchises this year. While these brands have been sliding for many years--and for many reasons--their declines can be linked back to violations of basic franchising wisdom. We took a look at the problems plaguing Sbarro, Quiznos and RadioShack--and what they need to do to turn things around.

Slice of Strife

Sbarro, the Melville, N.Y.-based pizzeria that has been serving up slices since 1956, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March. It was the second bankruptcy filing