c/o Jersey Mike’s Subs
Jersey Mike’s Subs, the Jersey Shore sandwich chain that went public six weeks ago in the biggest restaurant IPO in two decades, opened its first Upper East Side location on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
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The new shop is at 1111 Lexington Avenue, between 77th and 78th streets. It joins a handful of Manhattan locations that already run from Washington Heights down through Hudson Yards, Midtown East and Second Avenue in the 30s.If you’ve never been, the pitch is simple: meats and cheeses sliced in front of you, bread baked in-store, and every cold sub offered “Mike’s Way,” which means lettuce, onions, tomatoes, oil, vinegar and a shake of spices. The best-known order is the #13 Original Italian, a cold stack of provolone, ham, prosciuttini, cappacuolo, salami and pepperoni. The hot side of the menu leans on grilled cheesesteaks and a chicken bacon ranch, and there’s a “Hot Italian” the chain brought back last year. Bowls for anyone skipping bread, plus subs-by-the-box catering, round things out.
The company behind the counter has had a busy couple of years. It started in 1956 as Mike’s Subs in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, and in 1975 a 17-year-old employee named Peter Cancro bought the shop with a loan from his high school football coach. He ran it for the next five decades, growing it past 3,000 stores before selling a majority stake to the private equity giant Blackstone in a deal that valued the chain at about $8 billion, as reported by the Associated Press. Blackstone then took the company public on July 30 at a valuation of roughly $7 billion, the largest restaurant IPO in 20 years, per Business Insider. The chain now has close to 3,400 stores and a franchise pipeline of about 1,600 more.
The chain’s Manhattan shops keep 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. hours seven days a week. Orders can also be placed through the Jersey Mike’s app for pickup or delivery.
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