Jersey Mike's Journey From the Shore to Wall Street

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:05)
Jersey Mike's is one of America's favorite sandwich chains.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:10)
All right, we've got today's lunch, and we've got Jersey Mike's.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:13)
Yo, I'm at Jersey Mike's, and I've just learned about the No.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:16)
99

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:17)
Its sandwiches are numbered, and influencers online love talking about the best way to order them.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:23)
If you ever find yourself in a Jersey Mike's, get this order. This is the No. 9

**SPEAKER_4** (0:27)
Is this the best Jersey Mike's sandwich?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:29)
Damn! Come on, that looks good. Mike's way with avocado, jalapeno, and extra CPR, cherry pepper relish.

**Heather Haddon** (0:37)
When you think of their sandwiches, they're known for being freshly made, piled high with freshly sliced meat and vegetables, and available in hot and cold. If you want a really indulgent meat sandwich, you can get it.

**Jessica Mendoza** (0:52)
That's our colleague, Heather Haddon. She covers restaurants. And by the way, her go-to order is the tuna fish.

**Heather Haddon** (0:59)
So like the number 13 is the original Italian, which has provolone, ham, prosciutto, capicciolo, salami, and pepperoni. Oh my goodness, that is so much meat.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:08)
The sandwich has about 730 calories, 61 grams of protein, 62 grams of carbs. So it would make the perfect post-training or post-game meal.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:18)
But in terms of taste and quality, Jersey Mike's is still justified.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:26)
Last week, this fan favorite sandwich shop took its business one step further. It went public on the stock market.

**SPEAKER_7** (1:33)
Jersey Mike's is looking to cash in on the market's appetite. The sandwich chain making its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker JMKE after raising $1 billion in its IPO.

**Jessica Mendoza** (1:46)
And now that it's public, Jersey Mike's is kicking off a new era. Not only does it have to contend with the ups and downs of the restaurant industry, it also has to balance investors' needs with what its hardcore sandwich fans want.

**Heather Haddon** (2:01)
Once you're a public company, things really change. There's just more scrutiny on how you operate. There's just more transparency about it.

**Jessica Mendoza** (2:08)
Will Jersey Mike's be able to keep everyone coming back for more? Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Friday, August 7th.
Coming up on the show, Jersey Mike's journey from the Jersey Shore to Wall Street.

**SPEAKER_8** (2:43)
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**Jessica Mendoza** (3:22)
In 1956, a small sandwich shop called Mike's Subs was founded on the Jersey Shore.
In the 70s, the shop's owners decided to sell the business. At the time, a 17-year-old named Peter Cancro was working there, and his mother had the idea that he could take over. It's a story he's told a few times in interviews.

**Peter Cancro** (3:44)
She looked at me and said, well, why don't you buy it?
I sort of laughed and went upstairs, and that's when the light bulb went off. The next morning, got up, went out to try and raise the capital.

**Heather Haddon** (3:58)
Which is kind of incredible both from his business instincts, but also his mom's business instincts.

**Jessica Mendoza** (4:05)
Cancro was still in high school. He'd planned to play football in college, and maybe go to law school someday.
But instead, he scraped together $125,000 from his football coach, who was also a local banker.

**Peter Cancro** (4:20)
Which today's dollars is about $750,000, and he always said, why did you lend so much money to such a young kid? And no lie, he said, I knew Peter could get the ball across the goal line.

**Heather Haddon** (4:33)
So, he always said he was a quick study, he was used to working on a team from working in football, and knew how to lead others.
So, he said he was quick to learn the meat slicer and how to make a good sandwich. And so, he had success.

**Jessica Mendoza** (4:53)
Visitors to the Jersey Shore flocked to the shop, and Cancro noticed something, that some tourists would wrap up the sandwiches and take them back home. It made him think that maybe these subs could be popular beyond New Jersey. So Cancro began to expand Mike's subs into something bigger. In 1987, he started franchising, and he rebranded to the name Jersey Mikes to reflect the company's roots.