When Jersey Mike’s was sold in 2024, the owner of the sandwich chain became a multi-billionaire, but his name wasn’t Mike. With the dubious origins of so many chain restaurant names and mascots, you’d be forgiven for thinking that “Jersey Mike” is just another piece of branding. After all, Colonel Sanders wasn’t a real colonel, and there is no person named “Arby” behind the roast beef spot.
Jersey Mike’s has piggybacked on the Garden State’s reputation for stellar Italian subs to become one of the fastest growing chains in America, offering Jersey Shore subs and sandwiches “Mike’s Way” that are doused in a classic East Coast deli mixture of olive oil and vinegar. But Jersey Mike’s also has a pretty good reputation for quality, and it turns out that it has real Jersey cred too. The original location wasn’t just founded in New Jersey, it was actually founded by a guy named Mike.
The original shop that became Jersey Mike’s was just called Mike’s Subs, and was located in Point Pleasant, New Jersey near the shore. It was named after the original owner, Mike Ingravallo, who was a local New Jersey business owner who actually has several sub sandwich shops in the area, but he wasn’t the man who changed the name to Jersey Mike’s. The original location underwent several changes in ownership until it was sold in 1975 to Peter Cancro, the man who took Jersey Mike’s from a single shop to a nationwide chain worth billions.
Jersey Mike’s took its name from the original Mike’s Subs named after Mike Ingravallo
It was Peter Cancro who changed the name from Mike’s to Jersey Mike’s. Customers might recognize his name from the “Cancro Special” on the Jersey Mike’s sub menu that’s made with roast beef and pepperoni, and he was the owner of the company from 1975 up until its sale in 2024. Cancro actually started working at Mike’s Subs when he was only 14 and ended up buying the shop when he was only 17. He did so with the help of a loan from his high school football coach, who was also a banker.
Cancro ended up expanding Mike’s Subs into a local chain, and that’s what led to the name change. As the popularity of his sub shops grew, Cancro started franchising in 1987, and to keep the chain more clearly tied to its Jersey Shore origins, he renamed the business Jersey Mike’s. During the shop’s entire run from a single location in Point Pleasant (which is still there and used as a training center) to having almost 3,000 nationwide locations, Cancro remained at the helm. So while he may not have been “Jersey Mike” himself, he was a sub-loving Jersey kid, and he kept his business named after a real Mike. It turns out that, sometimes, a big corporate food chain really is being honest about where it came from. Let’s hope that authenticity can survive under its new private-equity owners.
