Cousins Submarines, better known as Cousins Subs, is a U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 sub sandwich chain founded in 1972 in Milwaukee

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...

, Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

. Cousins Subs is a regional chain with stores throughout the Midwest and on the West Coast. Although the majority of franchises remain in Wisconsin, Cousins restaurants can be found in 6 states, including stores in Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 and Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

.

Cousins Subs started in 1972, founded by two cousins from Atlantic City, NJ: Bill Specht and James Sheppard. They opened their first restaurant in Milwaukee, located at 60th Street and Silver Spring Drive.

Until 1985 all Cousins Subs locations were company-owned. Cousins continued to open company-owned stores until 2004. In October 2004, Cousins announced that it would be selling 25 of their 40 company owned stores to franchisees in order to adopt a more traditional franchise growth model.

Co-founder James "Jim" Sheppard died on July 2nd, 2007 due to complications stemming from surgery and long-term health problems.