- published: 17 Oct 2015
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Schlotzsky's is a privately held franchise chain of restaurants, specializing in sandwiches, headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. Schlotzsky's has more than 350 franchised and company-owned locations worldwide. Most of the locations are across the south and southwestern United States, but the company is expanding into areas across the country, particularly the north and southeast.
Don and Dolores Dissman founded the company with a partner, named Al --- who invented the sandwich, in 1971 in Austin, Texas. The initial menu consisted of one sandwich of mixed meats, cheeses and black olives on a freshly made, toasted bun called "The Original." The first sandwich was based on the Muffuletta sandwich. In 1981, the company had 100 franchise stores when real estate investors, John and Jeff Wooley and Gary Bradley, purchased the company for less than $3 million. Bradley split with the Wooleys in 1982, with Bradley taking the real estate business while the Wooleys kept the chain.
The Wooleys expanded Schlotzsky's menu to include panini, specialty pizzas, toasted wraps, salads, soups, and other items. The Wooleys also took the company public on 15 December 1995, trading as BUNZ on NASDAQ,