Jersey Mike’s founder, Pete, bought the company at 17 with the help of a former coach and $125K loan

By the time Cancro joined what was then called Mike’s Subs, the shop, started by Mike Ingravallo in 1956, was already a mainstay of Cancro’s hometown of Point Pleasant, N.J. But Cancro’s vision would later turn the small operation into Jersey Mike’s—a national chain with 4,000 locations open and under development. 

As the sub chain approaches a potential blockbuster IPO set to value the company at about $8 billion and bring in at least $1.1 billion in immediate proceeds, here’s a look at how Cancro helped turn a mom-and-pop sandwich shop into a franchise giant. 

Cancro, born and raised in Point Pleasant, was a normal teenager with a knack for business from an early age. At only 10 years old, he was mowing lawns for between $3 and $5 a piece and picking up the loose change that fell through the boardwalk along Point Pleasant Beach for some spending money, he said on the Our American Stories radio show and podcast earlier this month. 

It was his brother, having worked the year before at Mike’s Subs, who got him a job at the sandwich shop that would later become his life’s work. When he first joined as a 14-year-old in 1971, he started out making $1.75 an hour. Today, his net worth sits at a whopping $4.9 billion, according to Forbes, and should grow after the IPO as he still owns more than 30 million shares in the company, according to Jersey Mike’s S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Before Cancro had even thought about buying what would become Jersey Mike’s, he had planned to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and possibly study law. But he “bought a sub shop instead” and embarked on a 50-year journey to make Jersey Mike’s a national success.

It was Cancro’s mother who told him that the owner of the sub shop was planning on selling, and ambitiously suggested he buy the business. But at first, he brushed off her suggestion.

“I sort of laughed at her, turned, went up the stairs, and it took one flight of stairs before a trigger went off of my head,” he said on the podcast.

Soon after, he called the owner of the sub shop to tell him he was interested, and quickly started searching for the six-figure loan he needed to buy the business.

“I went out literally knocking on doors, telling people you know, ‘I worked there for four years, I know the business, this is what, you know, I’m looking to do,’” he said.

After approaching several potential investors in nearby towns, he still had no leads.

Eventually, he called up Rod Smith, his former youth football coach, who was also a banker. They met at Smith’s house on a Sunday night and he helped Cancro get the $125,000 loan he needed—which today would be worth about $775,000.

Cancro purchased the shop officially on March 31, 1975, and continued attending high school while running the business. He said he frequently went to his morning classes but then skipped others in the afternoon to go work. 

He almost didn’t graduate because he had missed three months of gym class, but he made up a medical excuse to get by, he said. While some people warned him buying the shop and abandoning his college plans would damage his future, he was confident in his decision.

Cancro operated the original location for more than a decade before beginning to franchise the business and eventually changing the company’s name from Mike’s Subs to Jersey Mike’s. Still, the process of franchising required him to meet with attorneys and juggle a complicated process alone, he said.

“There wasn’t any roadmap. I had to figure it all out.” he said. “I didn’t have any mentors in business to kind of show me.”

Still, the decision paid off. Soon Jersey Mike’s had opened locations in Ohio and Tennessee and potential franchisees came running.

“People would come in, try the product: ‘Oh my goodness, this is great, I want to open up one,’ so that’s how it evolved, and really grew through word-of-mouth,” he said.

But the journey to success didn’t come without obstacles. In 1991, a recession led to banks in the Northeast sharply restricting financing, which deeply affected a rapidly expanding Jersey Mike’s.

Cancro recalled being $1.5 million-$2 million in the red and even had to liquidate his 401(K) plan to keep the business afloat,

“That was a dark time because it was the first time in my life that I went down and got stripped, sold everything,” he said. 

While Cancro later was able to rehire the employees he had laid off, the struggle to get back to normal took a couple of years. From this experience he learned to resist the temptation to grow too fast, he said.

Fast forward to 2025, and Blackstone acquired a majority stake in Jersey Mike’s that valued the chain at $8 billion.

Meanwhile, Cancro stepped down as CEO last year and was succeeded by the former CEO of Wingstop, Charlie Morrison. Cancro is still chairman of the board.

Jersey Mike’s didn’t immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Even five decades after his journey with Jersey Mike’s began, Cancro says the chain’s story is just beginning. 

“We believe we are still in the early innings of Jersey Mike’s growth story,” he said in a statement last year when the Blackstone deal was announced.