Jersey Mike's Lands in the UK With a Sub America Can't Buy
Jersey Mike's opened its first UK restaurant at Oxford Circus on Monday, targeting about 300 locations and a global footprint of 15,000 restaurants.
By Grace Kim
2 min read
What's News
- Jersey Mike's opened its first UK location at Oxford Circus, London, on Monday — its first international site outside Canada.
- The chain plans roughly 300 locations across the UK and Ireland, part of a 15,000-restaurant worldwide target.
- Peter Cancro, who bought the original shop at 17 in 1975 and sold the chain to Blackstone in 2024, returns as UK and Ireland master franchisee.
- The UK menu adds a chicken tenders sub and a hot ham and cheese not sold in the U.S.
- Rival Subway operates more than 2,100 UK shops, down from 2,446 in 2019.
Jersey Mike's opened its first UK restaurant on Monday, with plans for roughly 300 locations across the UK and Ireland as part of a broader push toward 15,000 restaurants worldwide, Nation's Restaurant News reported.
The shop sits at Oxford Circus in London — a long way from the Jersey Shore, and a first for the chain outside Canada. The opening marks the start of an international expansion that the company has ranked across about 14 priority markets, with the UK at the top of the list.
The man running the UK operation is Peter Cancro. He bought the original sub shop in 1975, when he was 17 years old, and built it into a national chain. In 2024, he sold the business to Blackstone. Now he's back — this time as master franchisee for the UK and Ireland.
What's on the UK menu that isn't in the U.S.?
The menu mostly mirrors the American one, with two notable exceptions:
- A chicken tenders sub, added because turkey isn't as big a draw in Europe.
- A hot ham and cheese that isn't sold in the States.
That's a deliberate localization play, not a wholesale menu rewrite. The core Jersey Mike's lineup crosses the Atlantic intact.
How big is the gap with Subway?
It's large. Subway, Jersey Mike's closest rival in the category, operates more than 2,100 shops in the UK, according to the report. That figure is itself down from 2,446 in 2019, meaning the market leader has been shrinking while still dwarfing the newcomer.
Jersey Mike's, which recently went public, starts from zero UK locations. Three hundred planned shops would put it at roughly one-seventh of Subway's current UK footprint — a long build, but one Cancro has bet his own franchise agreement on.
Where does the chain go after Britain?
The company is already in talks with potential operators in Mexico, the Middle East, Korea and Continental Europe, according to Nation's Restaurant News. Those markets sit behind the UK on a list of roughly 14 priority countries, and the worldwide target is 15,000 restaurants.
The sequence matters. Cancro chose the UK first, took the master franchisee role himself, and localized the menu before opening day — a template he could replicate in the next markets on the list.
One shop at Oxford Circus against Subway's 2,100-plus is the start, not the story. The number to watch is how fast those 300 UK locations get built.
Original: nrn.com
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Market editor covering people, launches and day-to-day practice in entrepreneurship, startups and venture funding at Business Bearings.
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