Overview
- News reports published Sunday and Monday confirmed that Chris Sorensen died at age 65 and that the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department posted the notice.
- Sorensen and his younger brother Robin opened the first Firehouse Subs in Jacksonville in 1994 after starting the business with very limited funds.
- He served as a firefighter before and during the chain’s early years, later retiring from the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department at the rank of engineer.
- The brothers founded the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation in 2005, and the foundation has awarded about $118 million in grants to roughly 7,700 departments in the U.S. and Canada.
- Firehouse Subs was sold in 2021 to Restaurant Brands International for about $1 billion and the company has said it will continue the brand’s charitable work while remembering Sorensen’s role in shaping its identity.