| Trade Name: | Jersey Mike's Subs |
| Former Name: | Mike's Submarines (1956-1975) |
| Type: | Private |
| Industry: | Restaurants |
| Genre: | Fast Casual |
| Founded: | Point Pleasant, New Jersey |
| Founder: | Peter Cancro |
| Hq Location City: | Manasquan, New Jersey |
| Hq Location Country: | United States |
| Locations: | 3,500 |
| Num Locations Year: | 2023 |
| Areas Served: |
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| Key People: | Peter Cancro (CEO) |
| Revenue: | US$974.1 million |
| Revenue Year: | 2021 |
| Owner: | Peter Cancro |
| Num Employees: | 19,000 |
| Num Employees Year: | 2021 |
| A Sub Above, LLC | |
| Footnotes: | [1] [2] |
A Sub Above, LLC, doing business as Jersey Mike's Subs, is an American submarine sandwich chain headquartered in Manasquan, New Jersey. The Jersey Mike's franchise has about 3,500 locations.[3] Outside of the United States, there are 3 locations in Canada and one location in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
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 then on its third owner. Originally named Mike's Giant Submarine Shop[4] 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.[5]
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 thirteen sub shops up and down the New Jersey coast. By 1979, the family had sold all but two.[6] [7]
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.[8] [9] [10] Today, Cancro is the owner and CEO of the company.
Cancro began franchising the restaurant in 1987. By 2014, it had 750 locations, with an additional 650 in some stage of development.[11] In 2015, 197 new locations opened and the total number of Jersey Mike's locations exceeded 1,000.[12] 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.
In January 2024, the company announced a major expansion into Canada with Redberry Restaurants, a large Canadian restaurant operator, in what would be the first major international expansion. The goal was for 300 restaurants over 10 years.[13]
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, oregano, salt (spices) and a mixture of red wine vinegar and olive oil. There is also a signature cherry pepper relish.
Some Jersey Mike's locations also serve various breakfast sandwiches during the morning hours, including sandwiches made with pork roll, a New Jersey product.
Beginning in September 2022, Jersey Mike's featured actor Danny DeVito, who grew up a few miles away from the original Jersey Mike's, in a series of radio and television commercials as the company's first celebrity spokesman.[14] [15]