Jersey Mike's Subs

In 1956, Michael and Marie Ingravallo opened Mike's Giant Submarine Shop in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, serving what was then a novelty: the submarine sandwich. Fifteen years later, a 14-year-old named Peter Cancro walked into the shop for a part-time job while attending Point Pleasant Beach High School. In 1975, Cancro heard the owner was selling. He was 17, not old enough to legally operate a slicing machine, but he convinced his football coach, who happened to be a banker, to loan him $125,000, roughly $750,000 today. He bought the shop and renamed it Jersey Mike's Subs.

From that single store, Cancro built a chain that now spans more than 3,500 locations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The company's signature is its made-to-order approach: meats and cheeses sliced in front of the customer, bread baked fresh daily in each restaurant, and the finishing touch of red wine vinegar and olive oil, known as Mike's Way. In 2023, systemwide sales hit $3.3 billion. In November 2024, private equity firm Blackstone acquired a majority stake, valuing the company at roughly $8 billion and making Cancro a billionaire with an estimated net worth of $7.5 billion.

Jersey Mike's has been named America's Fastest Growing Food Chain by QSR magazine in 2022 and has logged 27 consecutive quarters of growth, with average annual sales growth of about 20% since 2019. The company's philanthropy is anchored by its Annual Day of Giving, when every location donates 100% of sales to a local charity. Since the program began, Jersey Mike's has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for community organizations. [edit]