If you just hear Jersey Mike’s growth agenda, it sounds aggressive, CEO Peter Cancro admits. In 2024, the sandwich chain expects to open 350 locations. The same figure, or thereabouts, is on deck for the following year. Then, come 2026, the real breakout—400, 450 openings before settling into a cadence of 13–15 percent annual unit growth after that. We’d be talking 10–15 openings per week for a brand (then called Mike’s Subs) Cancro acquired in 1975 at 17 years old—famously too young to legally slice a sub—with a $125,000 loan backed by his football coach. Or, viewed from above, 5,000-plus domestic locations within five years on the road to 10,000 stores.
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