Jersey Shore, meet Oxford Circus. Jersey Mike’s opened its first restaurant in the United Kingdom on Monday, according to Nation’s Restaurant News. It’s the chain’s first international location outside Canada.
The guy running the show is Peter Cancro. He bought the original sub shop in 1975 at age 17, built it into a national powerhouse and sold it to Blackstone in 2024. Now he’s back as master franchisee for the UK and Ireland, where he sees room for about 300 locations. The UK tops the chain’s list of about 14 priority markets, and the company is in talks with potential operators in Mexico, the Middle East, Korea and Continental Europe.
The Jersey Mike’s menu across the pond mostly mirrors the U.S. one — with a few exceptions. It adds a chicken tenders sub, since turkey isn’t as big a draw in Europe, and a hot ham and cheese that isn’t sold in the States. The chain, which recently went public, has some catching up to do with rival Subway, which has more than 2,100 UK shops, down from 2,446 in 2019. Is Mike’s sweating it? Fuhgeddaboudit.