Things started to slide. Dan who came from Goldan Corral executive management tried too expand to quickly. Franchise fees went up and royalties skyrocketed.

The Quality Control from one location to the next started slipping. They never used any corporate cash for marketing and required each franchisee to spearhead their own grass roots marketing. Problem with that is word of mouth is powerful. If you get a crappy sandwich at one location, you won't frequent another location, even if it a different franchisee and a better sandwich

Even tho McDonalds isn't very good, you know exactly what you are getting regardless if it is in Bordeaux France, or Santa Monica California.

Craig Gandalf eventually sold all his equity in Gandolfos to Dan Poole and started a new, albeit similar concept in his original Provo location.