JACKSONVILLE, Fla - 9 April, 2004 -

Firehouse Subs, a Jacksonville-based sub sandwich chain, today announced the sale of its largest-ever franchise territory to Southeastern Interstate Group. Southeastern is a fusion of existing Area Representatives who formed a new company. The sale, involving 163 new stores, will open up a territory that includes Greater Atlanta as well as several areas in Tennessee and North Carolina. “This transaction, the biggest ever for our company, will keep our expansion plans on track,” said Stephen Joost, Firehouse Subs’ chief financial officer. “Since the buyers are already successful owners of Firehouse Subs franchises, we expect that these new stores will begin opening soon, and will quickly produce excellent track records.” According to Joost, the transaction closed March 31, and involves stores in Greater Atlanta and in the areas around Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tenn., as well as around Raleigh-Durham, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point, N.C. The sales price of the territory was not disclosed. Firehouse Subs sells franchise territories to franchisees that it calls Area Representatives. These Area Representatives then oversee all the stores within those territories. The partners are Randy Kibler and Billy Mitchell, partners in Carolina Sub House LLC. of Spartanburg, S.C., which operates Firehouse Subs stores in the Upstate and Columbia markets within South Carolina; Tim Goss and Ray Gowin, partners in Progressive Restaurant Group of Charlotte, N.C., which operates Firehouse Subs stores in the Charlotte market within North Carolina and the Rock Hill area of South Carolina; and Shawn Thranhardt, owner of Pieces of Ate Inc. of Cary, N.C., which operates Firehouse Subs restaurants in the Raleigh, North Carolina market. Southeastern Interstate Group will also operate the partners’ previously owned stores. When all the stores are open and operating, Southeastern Interstate Group will manage 231 Firehouse Subs restaurants in four southern states Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. “We have a lot of experience and synergy in our group. We’ll take advantage of that experience by asking individuals to apply their expertise in certain aspects of the business to the entire territory,” said Kibler. “There is over 120 years of combined restaurant experience in this group.” That experience is diverse and of a high level. Kibler is a former president of Hardee’s largest franchisee (Flagstar - 600 stores), and Mitchell was senior vice president in charge of Hardee’s real estate and construction development; Goss and Gowin were long-time executives with Quincy’s, another restaurant chain in the Flagstar group. Thranhardt was a BellSouth Business account executive. “Some of the new stores are already under construction,” Kibler said. “The growth will accelerate over the next two years with the bulk of the territory being built out in five to seven years.” -0- ABOUT FIREHOUSE SUBS: Started just 10 years ago by two brothers, Robin and Chris Sorensen, two Jacksonville, Fla. firefighters, Firehouse Subs has grown like wildfire. From a single store in Jacksonville, Firehouse Subs will have 235 stores in eight Southeastern states by the end of 2004, and more than 1,100 stores by the end of 2008. Each store has a firehouse theme, with fire memorabilia, boots, pictures of fires and fire equipment and even a hand-painted mural that includes local firefighting themes. The company’s goal: To be among the five top submarine sandwich chains in the nation.

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