US restaurants have been stung this winter by a spate of extreme winter weather — with sales down and heating bills up.

The 1,400-store Quiznos sandwich chain, which is trying to restructure its debt, is no exception.

On Thursday the chain is expected to hold a conference call with all its franchisees and reduce its menu sub choices from 18 in an attempt to re-ignite traffic and cut costs, The Post has learned.

Marc Lasry’s Avenue Capital, which owns Quinzos, is fighting a two-front battle — hoping to keep franchisees from leaving while trying to keep creditors from forcing Quiznos into bankruptcy, sources said.

Quiznos several months ago broke its debt covenants. Its lenders, owed $600 million, have given Lasry until Feb. 28 to work out a settlement, a source said.

Time is running out. Quiznos has only $10 million in cash remaining, which will carry it another few months, the source said.

The average Quiznos franchisee needs to generate about $425,000 annually to break even, but is instead ringing up only $280,000, the source said.

As a result, banks are not lending new franchisees money, restaurant lawyer Paul Steinberg told The Post.

“They had a good product for a while and were giving Subway a real run for their money,” Steinberg said, with Quiznos being the first to make bread specifically formulated for toasting.

“The problem was [that the previous owners] were pigs,” overcharging the franchisees while at the same time getting rebates from suppliers, he said.

Quiznos at its peak had nearly 5,000 restaurants.

Lasry’s Avenue in 2012 repossessed Quiznos in a debt-for-equity swap. He even put $150 million of fresh equity into Quinzo’s for its 70 percent stake.

Avenue Capital declined comment, and Quiznos did not return calls.