National franchise to take a bite out of Princeton’s downtown.
By: Jennifer Potash
A fast-food franchise with more than 20,000 storefronts worldwide aims to take a bite out of Princeton’s downtown.
Subway, the sandwich chain, will open a store at 18 Witherspoon St., the former home to Les Copains, which shuttered its doors last fall.
The downtown location is listed on Subway’s Web site as not yet opened.
A Subway spokesman did not have any information Wednesday about the franchise owner.
Subway has several locations in West Windsor, including Nassau Park shopping center and a new store in the Ellsworth Center, as well as in Plainsboro.
Founded as a local sub shop in Bridgeport, Conn., in 1965, Subway has grown to 21,255 restaurants in 75 countries.
In a related development, the former Les Copains restaurant returned to the Princeton Borough Council agenda Tuesday.
In April, the council conditioned the sale of the former restaurant’s liquor license on the owner’s making restitution to former workers who either were not paid or had payroll checks bounce when the restaurant closed.
Michael Lauren, a partner in Regato Holdings that owned Les Copains, agreed to pay three employees back wages totaling $1,055.83. The liquor license was sold to Jack Morrison, owner of the Blue Point Grill and Nassau Seafood Market, both on Nassau Street.
Borough Councilman Roger Martindell, who once represented three Les Copains employees, said additional employees have come forward and he asked the council’s Public Safety Committee to consider a proposal directing the municipal prosecutor to prosecute the wage violations.
The civil courts are another option, but given the small amounts of money involved, the former employees may have difficulty hiring an attorney, said Mr. Martindell, who is an attorney.
Council President Mildred Trotman, who is the Public Safety Committee chairwoman, said the committee would add the item to a future agenda.
Borough Councilman Andrew Koontz, who raised concerns about the cost to the borough for the prosecutor’s time, suggested any ordinance contain "very tight criteria" so employees at higher hourly wage jobs or those working second jobs are not included.