Jersey Mike's Subs

{{Infobox company

| trade_name = Jersey Mike's Subs

| logo = Jersey Mike's logo.svg

| logo_size = 235px

| image = Jersey Mike's Subs, Valdosta.JPG

| image_caption = Jersey Mike's restaurant in Valdosta, Georgia

| former_name = Mike's Submarines (1956–1975)

| type = Subsidiary

| industry = Restaurants

| genre = Fast casual

| founded = {{start date and age|1956}}
Point Pleasant, New Jersey, U.S.

| founder = Peter Cancro

| hq_location_city = Wall Township, New Jersey

| hq_location_country = U.S.

| locations = {{increase}} 3,500

| num_locations_year = 2023

| areas_served = {{plainlist|

United States
Canada
Mexico

}}

| key_people = Peter Cancro (CEO)

| revenue = {{steady}} US$974.1 million

| revenue_year = 2021

| num_employees = 19,000

| num_employees_year = 2021

| parent = Blackstone

| products = {{flatlist|

Subs

}}

| name = A Sub Above, LLC

| website = {{URL|https://www.jerseymikes.com/}}

| footnotes = {{cite news | url=https://www.inc.com/dave-schools/how-jersey-mikes-ceo-turned-125000-into-1-billion.html | title=How the CEO of Jersey Mike's Turned $125,000 into $1 Billion | newspaper=Inc.com }}{{Cite web |title=Peter Cancro, Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems Inc: Profile and Biography |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/20965143 |access-date=2022-11-26 |website=Bloomberg.com |language=en}}

}}

A Sub Above, LLC, doing business as Jersey Mike's Subs, is an American multinational submarine sandwich chain headquartered in Manasquan, New Jersey. The Jersey Mike's franchise has about 3,500 locations, with locations in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere.{{cite web |title=Start a Jersey Mike's Subs Franchise in 2024 |url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/franchises/jerseymikessubs/282476 |access-date=2022-01-26 |work=Entrepreneur}}

History

In 1971, at age 14, Peter Cancro of Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, took a part-time job at Mike's Submarines, a neighborhood sandwich shop in the adjacent borough of Point Pleasant at 1009 Trenton Avenue. The eatery, founded in 1956, was only a few blocks west of Point Pleasant Beach High School and was then on its third owner. It was originally named Mike's Giant Submarine Shop{{cite news |date=1958-02-19 |title=Don Fioretti, 'Ball Manager |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-madison-eagle/94386061/ |access-date=2024-06-03 |work=Asbury Park Press}} after its original owner, Michael Ingravallo, who, with his wife Marie, owned several locations in New Jersey and Florida as part of her family's business.{{cite news |date=1964-12-17 |title=New Sandwich Shop To Open |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-madison-eagle/94386061/ |access-date=2024-06-03 |work=The Madison Eagle}}

Marie's father, Jimmy Lepore, immigrated from Caserta, Italy, in 1922 and opened his first submarine shop on Tremont Avenue in the Bronx. After his family moved to New Jersey, they began expanding their business, eventually opening and leasing 13 sub shops up and down the New Jersey coast. By 1979, the family had sold all but two.{{cite news |date=1979-09-02 |last=DeMasters |first=Karen |title=Immigrant Traveled Rocky Road To Sub Shop Ownership |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/asbury-park-press/18341844/ |access-date=2024-06-03 |work=Asbury Park Press}}{{cite news |date=1983-01-22 |title=John Lepore, sandwich store chain owner, dead at 83 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-courier-news-giovanni-lepore-obituar/148677685/ |access-date=2024-06-04 |work=Asbury Park Press}}

When the Point Pleasant shop went up for sale again in 1975, Cancro's mother suggested he buy it. With help from a high school football coach, who was also a banker, Cancro, then 17 and a high school senior, pulled together $125,000 in three days.{{cite web | url=https://www.restfinance.com/rfdc/speakers/2022/peter-cancro-founder-ceo-jersey-mikes-subs/article_ea4cf358-ec10-11ec-9bfc-2f9fe84cbf24.html | title=Peter Cancro, Founder/CEO, Jersey Mike's Subs | date=13 June 2022 }}{{Cite news |last=Schools |first=Dave |date=2018-03-15 |title=How Jersey Mike's CEO Turned $125,000 Into $1 Billion |url=https://www.inc.com/dave-schools/how-jersey-mikes-ceo-turned-125000-into-1-billion.html |access-date=2022-01-26 |work=Inc.}}{{Cite news |date=2010-06-05 |title=Lessons From the Sub Shop |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/jobs/06boss.html |access-date=2022-01-26 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Cancro is the former majority owner and CEO of the company.

File:A_Jersey_Mike's_Subs_chain_location_at_Union_Station_in_Washington,_D.C.jpg]]

Cancro began franchising the restaurant in 1987. By 2014, it had 750 locations with an additional 650 in some stage of development.{{cite web |last=Kulikowski |first=Laurie |date=2014-02-25 |title=Jersey Mike's Subs Is Revving Up for Franchise Expansion |url=https://www.jerseymikes.com/news/721-jersey-mike-and-39-s-subs-is-revving-up-for-franchise-expansion |access-date=2022-01-26 |work=TheStreet}} In 2015, 197 new locations opened and the total number of Jersey Mike's locations exceeded 1,000.{{cite web

| url=https://www.qsrmagazine.com/news/jersey-mikes-finishes-2015-strong-unit-growth

| title=Jersey Mike's Finishes 2015 with Strong Unit Growth

| date=2016-01-26

| work=QSR magazine

| access-date=2022-01-26}} Jersey Mike's locations are gaining a larger presence on the West Coast, particularly Southern California. The original Jersey Mike's location on Trenton Avenue is still used as a training center for the company.

On March 2, 2016, the company opened its Australian first outlet at the Q Super Centre in Mermaid Waters, Gold Coast, Queensland, followed by a second outlet in Benowa Village later that month. Then a third outlet in Browns Plains, Brisbane.{{cite web|url=https://www.smartcompany.com.au/growth/why-another-american-food-chain-is-setting-up-on-australian-shores/|title=Why US food chain Jersey Mike's Subs is setting up on Australian shores|publisher=Smart Company|date=2016-03-02|access-date=November 30, 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://franchisebusiness.com.au/us-fast-food-giant-jersey-mikes-subs-heading-to-australia/|title=US fast food giant Jersey Mike's Subs heading to Australia|publisher=Franchise Business|last=Stowe|first=-Sarah|date=2016-03-01|access-date=November 30, 2024}} These were all closed by late 2020, apparently due to the COVID pandemic.{{cite news|url=https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=GCWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.goldcoastbulletin.com.au%2Fbusiness%2Fgold-coast-business%2Fgold-coast-businesses-that-have-opened-and-closed-during-covid-in-2020%2Fnews-story%2Fb540066b0a734784b42224da845da9f9&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium|title=Gold Coast businesses that have opened and closed - Jersey Mike's Australia's Facebook page lists its operation as "permanently closed|date=2020-12-24|access-date=2024-11-30|url-access=subscription}}

In 2021, the company opened an outlet at the Andares Shopping Mall in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

In January 2024, the company announced a major Canadian expansion with Redberry Restaurants, a large Canadian restaurant operator, in what would be the first major international expansion, with three Ontario locations currently opened in Kitchener, London and Markham, Ontario, with a planned target goal of 300 outlets in the next decade.{{Cite web |date=2024-01-17 |title=Jersey Mike's plans major expansion in Canada with Redberry Restaurants |url=https://www.nrn.com/quick-service/jersey-mike-s-plans-major-expansion-canada-redberry-restaurants |access-date=2024-01-17 |website=Nation's Restaurant News |language=en}}

It was announced on November 18, 2024, that Cancro had sold a majority interest in the business to Blackstone Inc. for eight billion dollars.{{cite news |last1=Sloan |first1=Dylan |title=Jersey Mike's Founder Is Worth $7 Billion After Blackstone Deal |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-19/jersey-mike-s-founder-is-worth-7-billion-after-blackstone-deal?srnd=wealth |access-date=19 November 2024 |work=Bloomberg.com |date=19 November 2024 |language=en}}

Products

Like the original 1956 Mike's store, each Jersey Mike's Subs restaurant serves submarine sandwiches, which are made to order slicing the meats and cheeses as needed. Ordering a sandwich "Mike's Way" tops it with sliced onions, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, red wine vinegar, an olive oil and vegetable oil blend, oregano, and salt. There is also a signature chopped pepper relish (also called "CPR"), but this isn't included in Mike's Way.

File:Jersey Shore's Favorite at Jersey Mike's (provolone, ham, and cappacuolo).jpg—on white bread]]

Some Jersey Mike's locations also serve various breakfast sandwiches during the morning hours, including sandwiches made with pork roll, a New Jersey product.

Advertising

In September 2022, Jersey Mike's began featuring actor Danny DeVito in its radio and television commercials. DeVito grew up a few miles away from the original Jersey Mike's.Shaw, David.[http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Profiles/People_Profile/0,2540,8,00.html "DeVito! Although He Has a Penchant for Dark Comedies, Actor-Director Danny DeVito Is Serious About His Craft, His Family and His Cigars"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404023422/http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Profiles/People_Profile/0,2540,8,00.html |date=2007-04-04 }}, Cigar Aficionado profile, accessed May 2, 2007. "Danny DeVito was born in 1944 in the shore town of Neptune, New Jersey—hence the name of his production company—and raised in neighboring Asbury Park, the youngest of five children (two of whom died before he was born)."{{Cite web|author-last1=Kelly|author-first1=Chris|date=7 October 2022|url=https://www.marketingdive.com/news/campaign-trail-jersey-mikes-subs-danny-devito-authenticity/632849/|title=Campaign Trail: Jersey Mike's Subs serves up authenticity with Danny DeVito|website=Marketing Dive}}