Local Businessmen Gain Lessons From Russian Crime Saga

International Chain Reaction



Local Businessmen Gain Lessons From Russian Crime Saga

By SHELLY GARCIA



Senior Reporter

Within weeks of its opening, the first Subway restaurant in Russia was selling more sandwiches than any other store in the chain, and David J. DiTomaso, a Simi Valley-based Subway franchise operator here in the U.S. who had invested in the Subway Russia LLC venture, was figuring his ship had come in.






“We were the happiest guys thinking this is going to be sweet,” recalled DiTomaso, who has since become a partner in Subway Russia.






But the euphoria did not last long. Five months after opening, the venture’s Russian partner stormed the restaurant with submachine guns blazing, the partners said.






The first Subway in Russia had, for all intents and purposes, been hijacked.






It has taken 10 years and millions in legal fees, but DiTomaso and his partners, Jim Gansinger and David Worrell, finally got their store back in April, and the team is well on its way to opening a network of about 20 company-owned and franchised stores in Russia this year and next.






But the struggle to recapture their first store offers some stinging lessons to small businesses that venture into emerging countries.






“There have been major bumps in the road for us,” said Gansinger, who is a business litigation attorney with Gibbs, Giden, Locher