Peter Cancro doesn’t like to call himself the CEO. “I was always Peter,” he said.
He won’t have to bother for much longer. At some point, it’s not sure when, the company’s founder—who just marked the 50th anniversary of his purchase of a Jersey sub shop—will cede that title to someone else. It’s part of the provision in the company’s sale to the private-equity firm Blackstone.
“We’re going to look for a CEO to eventually come in,” Cancro said in an interview. “But I still own a good portion of the company and am chairman of the board.”
“I didn’t sell a big portion of the company to stay in and keep running it,” he added. “I want to still be involved quite a bit, but on my own terms, if you will.”
In addition to giving Cancro the slowdown he was looking for, the sale of Jersey Mike’s to Blackstone was largely designed to accomplish two goals: Help the company integrate technology into its restaurants and bring its restaurants to more countries.
But the company has also had to quell some fears surrounding the sale to Blackstone. At the outset of the company’s national meeting of franchisees, a meeting that would feature former Duke University Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski and “Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe, Cancro brought out two people from Blackstone to assure the group.
“You know, pull the Band-Aid off right away,” Cancro said. “I said, ‘These are regular guys,’ and everybody laughed. Hey, they’re human. They’re just like us.
“You hear about private equity, but the group here couldn’t be any better than what they are. I had all the department heads and all the area directors up on stage and I said, ‘This is our company.’”
Still, the company is intent on taking its growth to the next level and hopes that Blackstone will help that. Jersey Mike’s has been one of the strongest performing chains for years. The company last year generated more than $3.7 billion in system sales from about 3,000 locations.
Jersey Mike’s has eyes on the U.K. in particular after a relatively strong performance so far in Canada. Cancro said the locations the company has opened in Toronto are on pace to average $3 million per location. “Each store is better than the next,” he said. “Canada is really going well.”
The company is still looking for the right group to open in the U.K., but Cancro is clearly eyeing the other side of the Atlantic. “We think Europe, it’s time for that,” Cancro said.
At the same time, Jersey Mike’s has plenty of domestic growth ahead of it. The company generated $3.7 billion in system sales in 2024, making it the country’s second-largest sub-sandwich chain, behind only Subway. The company has nearly tripled in size since 2019, according to data from Restaurant Business sister company Technomic.
But with just about 3,000 locations, Cancro said, there is plenty of white space domestically to keep that momentum going.
“We got a long way to go right there,” Cancro said. “That’s where we’re attacking. There’s rural areas way out, because the brand is so well known. Every market, we’re really looking to push some growth.”
The company last year halted growth for a time to retrain franchisees on operations. Cancro said that hold has been lifted, now that all operators know that employees need to wear the correct uniforms and not turn the grills off for hot subs too early.
Jersey Mike’s marketing strategy is designed to help with the company’s growth, particularly in rural areas. The company “still has an issue” with people being too far away from one of the chain’s locations.
The chain years ago tried opening in rural North Carolina, only to struggle badly once it did so. But its marketing in the past few years has boosted Jersey Mike’s brand reputation, and now the company has deals with multiple sports leagues, including the NFL, Major League Baseball, the NHL, college football and college basketball. It’s also doing ads with Danny DeVito. All that has helped openings in smaller markets.
“You open up, and they know about Jersey Mike’s,” Cancro said. “They know what we’re about.”
Cancro is also cognizant of what has happened with some other sandwich chains. For instance, Blimpie 20 years ago operated more than 1,600 locations. Last year it was down to 101. Quiznos in 2006 operated nearly 5,000 locations. Last year it was down to fewer than 150 in the U.S. Subway, Jersey Mike’s biggest competitor, has closed more than 7,000 locations—more than any other restaurant chain in history—since 2015.
Cancro knows that overly aggressive unit growth did that. He said the company is careful not to build stores too close together. “We’re being more and more careful with it and letting the owners know,” Cancro said. “That’s critical for us.”
As for the private-equity owners, Cancro said they’re cognizant of what made the chain successful in the first place: the quality of its sandwiches. And he insists that isn’t about to change.
“They’re not changing the product, not cutting back,” Cancro said. “You know, one Jersey Mike’s sub equals three of our competitor. They’re putting 4 ounces of meat and cheese on their sub, we’re putting 12 ounces on the 13 (inch). The quantity and quality, you would think they would cut that first. But no.”
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