{"id":431888,"date":"2026-10-19T10:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/431888\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T10:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:08:08","slug":"firehouse-subs-co-founder-and-jacksonville-firefighter-chris-sorenson-dies-at-65","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/431888\/","title":{"rendered":"Firehouse Subs co-founder and Jacksonville firefighter Chris Sorenson dies at 65"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/https3A2F2Fcloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com2Fcmg2FOH6EQ5LWTJAKBN6TZTKO365BVE-5GbhT6-e17.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-image-1405410\" alt=\"\"   loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Jacksonville firefighter who helped grow a sandwich shop he opened with his brother in 1994 into a national chain worth $1 billion died this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chris Sorensen was 65.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sorensen opened Firehouse Subs with his Jacksonville firefighter brother Robin. Its popularity grew, first in Jacksonville and then around the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the time the pair sold it to Restaurant Brands International in 2021 for $1 billion in a cash deal, the chain had grown to about 1,200 restaurants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cJacksonville lost a true local legend this week,\u201d a post on Instagram read.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sorensen was the son of retired Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department Captain Robert \u201cCaptain Video\u201d Sorensen, who dedicated 43 years to the department.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His brother, Robin, also served as a firefighter with the Jacksonville International Airport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to business success, the brothers never lost sight of their roots in public service.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2005, they established the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation, which has awarded more than $110 million in grants to support first responders and public safety organizations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He leaves behind his wife, Kirsten, his children and grandchildren. His sister, Cecily Sorensen, was a longtime communications executive at Firehouse Subs.<\/p>\n<p>WJAX-TV CBS 47 Jacksonville<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jacksonville firefighter who helped grow a sandwich shop he opened with his brother in 1994 into a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[28,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-431888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}