FARMINGTON – Six months ago, Steven Field was flying high.

The Quiznos franchise he and business partner Robert Tate had purchased had just enjoyed the biggest opening week of any Quiznos in Maine. According to what company representatives had told them, within months the shop would be making money for them, as well as making toasty-warm subs for customers.

But Monday morning, a sign on the door told customers the sub shop had closed down for good. Field shut off the phone and put the restaurant equipment up for auction.

He had put inestimable hours into the shop, he said. And had gotten nothing – not one penny – in return.

“I just know I got tired of working for free,” Field said Monday.

Maybe it’s not all that surprising for a franchise in the niche fast-food sandwich market not to succeed in a small, rural town. But the shop did well enough, Field said, although sales rose and fell along with tourist tides and the weather.

“It was doing a lot of business,” Field said, “but the overhead with Quiznos corporation was killing us.”

“Our account was debited every week for 11 percent of the past week’s net sales. When you take that and put on top of workers comp, it just wasn’t a viable business,” he said.

Not only did Field and Tate never get paid for all their work. They also regularly bailed the store out with their own money.

“We could never get out from under the 11 percent,” he said.

The difficulty surprised him, he said. Prior to buying the franchise for more than $20,000 from Quiznos, prior to purchasing all the equipment, hiring the employees, purchasing, painting, and decorating the building, and buying the food (from a Quiznos-related company, he said), they were told a different story.

Quiznos corporation told them they could make a good living – about $75,000 annually – if their sales stayed around $8,500 per week. Former Newport Quiznos owner Larry Booker was told the same thing. In both cases, the assumption was that if you could make $75,000 at $8,500 a week, you could get by and pay your bills even if the store did less sometimes.

Sales at the Field’s Farmington franchise, for the most part, hovered between $5,500 and $7,200 – their break-even point, Field said.

“I mean, it sounds like a lot of money.”

Field and Booker’s stories are being echoed in Quiznos’ franchises not only all around Maine, but nationwide, Booker said, citing information from the Toasted Subs Franchisee Association – a group of current and former Quiznos franchisees fighting the company.

And Field is one of the lucky ones, by the looks of things, he said.

It’s almost impossible to sell failing franchises, Booker said. And according to their Quiznos contract, franchise owners are barred from closing down their Quiznos and opening a new restaurant in its place. Many have been sued for trying, Booker said.

Since Field and Tate own the land and the building the franchise is on, they aren’t locked into a multiyear lease like many franchisees. And they’re hoping to sell the property, Field said.

“If everything goes well, it could turn out more than all right,” he said.

For Larry Booker and his wife, Patti, things turned out a bit different.

Their Newport store also topped the charts in Maine – not for having the biggest opening, but for having the biggest sustained volume of sales in the state. They, too, lost their store. They also lost their retirement plans, and their credit. They almost lost their house. And now, they’re in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings.

“It financially devastated us,” Larry Booker said.

Calls to Quizno officials for comment on this report went unreturned Monday and Tuesday.