Food & Beverage
Jersey Mike's Subs Franchise
A made-to-order submarine sandwich franchise built around fresh-sliced meats and cheeses. The original shop operated as "Mike's Submarines" from 1956 to 2002 before the brand became Jersey Mike's, and predecessor Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems began offering franchises in February 1987; the system added a net of 840 franchised Restaurants across the three years shown here, while company-owned Restaurants stayed small and fell from 34 to 26 in 2025.
Every franchisor has to file a document called an FDD before they can legally sell you a franchise. Buried in it are the two things a sales rep won't volunteer: what you'll actually spend to open, and whether existing locations are opening or closing. That's what's below, pulled straight from Jersey Mike's Subs's own filing.
What it costs to open
From the filing's investment breakdown -- not a "starting at" number a sales rep quoted you.
Franchise fee
$20,000
Total to open
$436,176–$1,162,228
Ongoing royalty
6.5% of gross sales
What you'd actually spend, over time
The upfront cost is only part of it. Plug in what you expect a location to bring in, and see the real total once royalties over a few years are added on top.
Defaulted to a rough food & beverage industry average, not a figure from Jersey Mike's Subs's own FDD -- change it to your own estimate.
Total cost of ownership over 5 years
$761,176 – $1,487,228
Startup investment
$436,176–$1,162,228
Royalty per year (6.5%)
$65,000
Total royalty, 5yr
$325,000
When would you break even?
Revenue alone doesn't tell you this -- it depends on what's left after rent, labor, and everything else. Jersey Mike's Subs's FDD doesn't disclose a reliable profit figure (most franchisors don't), so this starts from a typical food & beverage profit margin (~8%) and applies it to the revenue you entered above -- adjust the percentage to your own realistic estimate.
Defaulted to a general food & beverage industry benchmark, not a figure from Jersey Mike's Subs's own filing -- this is a starting point to adjust, not a promise about what franchisees actually make.
At that profit, you'd break even in about
5.5–14.5 years
Weigh that payback period against what you already know: Jersey Mike's Subs is opening more locations. A long payback period on a shrinking brand is a very different bet than the same payback period on a growing one.
Is Jersey Mike's Subs actually growing?
Franchisors have to report, every year, how many locations opened, closed, or changed hands. Most franchise sites never show you this. Here it is:
Locations opened vs. closed, by year
GrowingFrom Item 20 of Jersey Mike's Subs's FDD, the section franchisors use to disclose real openings and closings.
| Year | Franchised units, start | Franchised units, end | Net change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2,361 | 2,647 | +286 |
| 2024 | 2,647 | 2,955 | +308 |
| 2025 | 2,955 | 3,201 | +246 |
Most recent year (2025): gained 246 franchised units, ending the year at 3,201 total.
What you're actually signing up for
The cost and growth numbers above are only part of the picture. These three FDD items are the ones a prospective franchisee tends to weigh most heavily once they're past the sticker price.
Training & ongoing support (Item 11)
Before opening, the franchisor trains the franchisee (or Controlling Principal) and a designated manager and shift supervisor at company headquarters and other designated locations; training itself is free, but the franchisee covers travel, lodging, and employee salaries during it.
Territory protection (Item 12)
The Area Development Agreement grants a "Designated Territory" and the Franchise Agreement a "Designated Area" around each Restaurant; while a franchisee is in compliance, the franchisor won't open or authorize another Jersey Mike's Restaurant inside it. That protection doesn't extend to other business types, other distribution channels (including online sales of Jersey Mike's-branded products), or Jersey Mike's Restaurants at Non-Traditional Venues, so franchisees do not receive an exclusive territory.
Renewal & termination terms (Item 17)
The Franchise Agreement runs 10 years from the Restaurant's opening date. Compliant franchisees can renew for 1 additional 10-year term, subject to a $20,000 successor franchise fee and other renewal conditions; the agreement has no provision for the franchisor to terminate without cause.
How Jersey Mike's Subs compares to other Food & Beverage franchises
Across the 19 food & beverage franchises we've hand-verified so far, the typical range to open runs $758,099–$1,965,490, with royalties averaging around 5.7% of gross sales (based on the 18 of them that charge a flat %-of-revenue royalty).
$617,800–$2,170,000 · 6% royalty
Slim Chickens$1,188,900–$4,944,000 · 5% royalty
Ziggi's Coffee$315,830–$2,093,361 · 6% royalty
Crumbl$848,566–$1,472,533 · 8% royalty
Little Caesars$376,500–$1,769,200 · 6% royalty
Jamba$480,850–$941,300 · 6% royalty
Tropical Smoothie Cafe$300,000–$720,500 · 6% royalty
Playa Bowls$188,675–$636,458 · 6% royalty
Kona Ice$114,730–$228,601 · non-%-of-revenue royalty
Firehouse Subs$166,671–$950,351 · 6% royalty
Wingstop$310,400–$1,048,500 · 6% royalty
Dunkin'$532,400–$1,832,500 · 5.9% royalty
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen$1,222,045–$3,923,245 · 5% royalty
Del Taco$1,461,200–$3,313,500 · 5% royalty
Blaze Pizza$757,000–$1,297,100 · 5% royalty
Church's Texas Chicken$1,202,400–$1,886,300 · 5% royalty
MOD Pizza$924,732–$1,220,633 · 5% royalty
Twin Peaks$2,959,000–$5,734,000 · 5% royalty
Keep going
- Jersey Mike's Subs and Jamba are both food & beverage franchises; Jersey Mike's Subs's total investment starts about $44,674 lower than Jamba's. Jamba Franchise
- Jersey Mike's Subs and Little Caesars are both food & beverage franchises; Little Caesars's total investment starts about $59,676 lower than Jersey Mike's Subs's. Little Caesars Franchise
Where this came from: Minnesota CARDS, FDD issued April 10, 2026, as amended August 26, 2026 (MN File No. 9229, filed 8/26/2026, effective in Minnesota 9/3/2026) -- Jersey Mike's only files an exemption notice, not a full FDD, with California DFPI, so this entry is sourced from Minnesota's franchise registry instead. The operating franchisor under this FDD is A Sub Above, LLC, an indirect subsidiary of Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems (the pre-2024 California DFPI-registered name, used here as legalName so this entry matches the entity the nightly DFPI monitor tracks). Item 5: $20,000 initial franchise fee per Restaurant (reduced to $8,500 for certain existing franchisees in fiscal 2025), plus a separate $10,000 development fee per Restaurant under the Area Development Agreement and a $10,000 Grand Opening Advertising fee. Item 6: 6.5% royalty on Gross Receipts, plus a Corporate Advertising and Development Fund currently 1% and a National Media Fund of 4% of Gross Receipts (combined payments to both funds currently 5%, capped at 6% total). Item 7: $436,176-$1,162,228 total initial investment (Total row). Item 20 Table 1 franchised outlets. You can pull the same filing yourself from the California DFPI's public franchise search. Filed 2026-09-03. None of this is investment advice -- get the franchisor's current FDD and talk to a real attorney or accountant before you sign anything.
If you see a different unit count elsewhere: franchisors only have to refile their FDD annually, so the numbers here can run 6–18 months behind a franchisor's own real-time marketing claims -- which often aren't independently verified, and sometimes count signed-but-not-yet-open locations. A gap isn't necessarily an error on either side; it's two different snapshots in time from two different sources.