🍞 NJ brand goes global: Jersey Mike’s Subs founder Peter Cancro plans to lead the opening of 400 overseas locations.🌎 From Point Pleasant to Europe: The sandwich shop that began on the Jersey Shore is heading overseas more than 50 years later.📑 Post-Blackstone era: After selling the company, Cancro is leading the international franchise push as chairman.
More than 50 years after the New Jersey creation of an iconic food brand, one fast-casual sandwich shop is expanding “across the pond” for the first time.
Jersey Mikes is expanding to Europe
An existing Jersey Mikes Subs in Point Pleasant, NJ (Jersey Mike’s Subs via Google Maps)From Point Pleasant Beach to an international brand
Jersey Mike’s Subs began in 1975, when a 17-year-old Point Pleasant Beach High School senior purchased the sub shop where he had been working.
“Mike’s Subs” had been open in Point Pleasant since 1956.
Jersey Mike’s growth to more than 3,200 locations
Young entrepreneur Peter Cancro tweaked the name and grew his business to more than 3,200 fast-casual shops in the U.S. and Canada, offering fresh-sliced and grilled subs.
The brand was sold in 2025 to Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager.
Cancro pivoted to become Jersey Mike’s Subs’ chairman of the board.
He will be leading up the new franchise agreement with JM Submarines UK to open 400 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Jersey Mikes is expanding to Europe
An existing Jersey Mikes Subs in Point Pleasant, NJ (Jersey Mike’s via Google Maps)European expansion targets UK and Ireland
The first European location is expected to open this year.
“I’ve lived and breathed this brand my entire life, starting when I worked at the original Mike’s Subs in Point Pleasant as a teenager,” Cancro said in a written release.
“To now have the opportunity to bring Jersey Mike’s to the UK and Ireland as a franchisee is incredibly exciting. I see tremendous potential in these markets, and I’m eager to personally operate the brand I love in regions that value quality and community as much as we do,” the New Jersey native continued.
Strong Jersey roots remain
As of early 2026, there were 148 Jersey Mike’s Subs locations open in New Jersey, out of 3,259 shops in the U.S.
That also included 100 shops in Pennsylvania and 115 across New York.
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Gallery Credit: Jen Ursillo
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