Jersey Mikes

Jersey Mike’s Subs is a national sandwich shop brand known for made‑to‑order cold and hot subs, sliced and grilled in front of the guest. The chain serves a steady mix of lunch, dinner, catering, and digital orders, and operates primarily as a franchisor across a range of real estate formats suited to everyday traffic and convenience.

The concept began in 1956 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, when the original Mike’s Subs opened near the shore and started selling the Northeast‑style submarine sandwiches that still define the menu today. In the early 1970s, a teenage crew member named Peter Cancro bought the single shop and later rebranded and franchised it as Jersey Mike’s. What started as one local sub shop gradually scaled into a regional and then national chain, with a key milestone coming in the mid‑2010s when the brand passed 1,000 locations and established itself as one of the faster‑growing sandwich players in the U.S.

As of November 2025, Jersey Mike’s operates more than 3,000 locations across the United States and Canada. The brand appears near the top of major franchise and growth rankings, including Entrepreneur’s 2025 Franchise 500 and Yelp’s 2025 list of fastest‑growing brands, and has been named the #1 Best Sandwich Chain in America in 2025 by Eat This, Not That!. For landlords and developers, that scale and recognition translate into a familiar, repeat‑visit food use with strong brand pull and substantial national marketing behind it.

Growth over the last five years has been driven by both new unit development and an increasing emphasis on digital ordering and off‑premise sales. The operating model is built to be portable and efficient, allowing Jersey Mike’s to work in inline spaces, end caps, outparcels, and select nontraditional locations. This flexibility gives the brand room to infill mature trade areas in the U.S. while also targeting high‑growth suburbs and urban mixed‑use corridors where quick, convenient food options support daytime and evening traffic.

The company is now in a defined international expansion phase. It has appointed a President of International and entered into a strategic partnership to develop 300 restaurants in Canada by 2034, signaling a long runway of unit growth in that market. The brand has also identified the United Kingdom and other key international regions as priority targets, indicating that its site search is no longer limited to North American suburban retail but increasingly includes dense, global urban environments.

Community involvement remains a visible part of the Jersey Mike’s story. The chain’s annual Month of Giving campaign, running since 2011, had raised more than $143 million for local charities by 2025. That community profile, layered onto a large and growing franchise base, helps position Jersey Mike’s as a credible, traffic‑driving tenant for shopping centers, street retail, and mixed‑use projects across a wide range of markets.