Jersey Mike's Opens First UK Restaurant, Targets 300 Units

Jersey Mike's opened its first United Kingdom restaurant near Oxford Circus in London on Monday, the opening move in a plan for roughly 300 units across the UK and Ireland. Four London locations are planned this year alone.

The store is the chain's first international site outside Canada. It is operated by Peter Cancro, the brand's former owner and chief executive, who now leads JM Submarines UK Ltd. That company serves as master franchisee and operator for Jersey Mike's in the UK and Ireland — a structure that puts the founder's own capital behind the flagship market rather than handing it to a third-party regional franchisee.

"Having spent my career building this brand, it's incredibly rewarding to see Jersey Mike's open its first restaurant in the UK," Cancro said in a statement. "London is the perfect place to begin Jersey Mike's next chapter, and we look forward to becoming a meaningful part of the communities we serve."

What is the growth roadmap?

The Oxford Circus unit will be followed by a Baker Street location in mid-November, with two more London restaurants on deck. Cancro projects about 300 units in the UK and Ireland over time.

The chain now counts about 3,400 units, including 44 in Canada. The long-term target is 15,000 locations globally — split roughly 7,500 domestic and 7,500 international. That figure implies more than quadrupling the current system, an ambition the company has not yet supported with disclosed timelines, unit economics or average unit volumes for the new market.

Jersey Mike's was founded in 1956. Cancro bought the sub shop in 1975, at age 17, and built the mostly franchised chain before selling it in 2024 to private-equity firm Blackstone. The company went public earlier this year with an initial public offering that raised close to $1 billion.

Andy Skehan, president of international, said the company has identified about 14 priority markets worldwide, with the UK at the top. Talks are underway with potential operators in Mexico, the Middle East, Korea and Continental Europe.

"We want to make sure we get the right partner in the right market at the right time," Skehan said. "We've made a focus on quality over quantity, so we want to go at it in a very disciplined manner."

How has the menu changed for London?

The Oxford Circus restaurant is slightly larger than the typical 1,500-square-foot Jersey Mike's, with more seating, because it sits in a busy pedestrian shopping zone.

The UK menu stays close to the U.S. version, with two engineered additions:

• A chicken tenders sub, added partly because turkey is less popular in Europe, though turkey stays on the menu.
• A hot ham and cheese, which does not exist on the U.S. menu.

Otherwise, Skehan said, the menu is the same. The tweaks are sourcing and demand-driven adjustments rather than a redesign — a restrained approach for a market where American sandwich players have a thin track record.

Who is the competition?

Jersey Mike's joins a wave of U.S. fast-casual brands expanding into the UK, including Dave's Hot Chicken, Raising Cane's, Wingstop, Velvet Taco and Five Guys. In sandwiches, its only U.S.-born rival there appears to be Subway, which holds more than 2,100 UK locations — a base that has declined from 2,446 in 2019, according to Technomic.

Subway's contraction suggests the category leader is losing sites, not that demand is growing. Jersey Mike's enters a market where the incumbent is shrinking, and where the chain has bet its founder's operating company, a recent IPO's capital and a four-store 2025 slate on proving the model travels.