Jersey Mike's Switched Up Its Strategy For Serving Customers This Year — Then Blackstone Bought The Sandwich Chain For $8 Billion

Jersey Mike's Subs whitethorn beryllium known for its classic, no-nonsense appeal, but its readiness to clasp alteration has proven arsenic important. This twelvemonth marks Jersey Mike's 2nd twelvemonth successful a connection astatine nan No. 2 spot connected our ranking, its seventh twelvemonth successful a connection successful nan Top 10, and its eighth consecutive twelvemonth arsenic No. 1 successful its category. It's doing truthful bully that successful November, Blackstone announced it was buying nan sub franchise for $8 billion.

Operationally, this year's biggest betterment is that astir each shop now has abstracted lines for integer and in-store orders. "We started putting 2nd lines successful erstwhile we did nan retrofits a mates years ago, and it's conscionable been building and building," explains Hoyt Jones, president of Jersey Mike's. "We really focused connected it this twelvemonth to make judge nan stores are utilizing it, truthful that we're rewarded pinch nan ratio of nan drivers and our online customers coming in. The ample constituent is not to disrupt nan customer recreation successful nan store." If you're seeking grounds of nan strategy's success, look nary further than nan company's precocious online ratings.

Related: Jersey Mike's Hits 3,000 Locations, Sets Sights connected Aggressive Expansion

Operations are ever Jersey Mike's halfway focus, but homing successful connected integer lines is peculiarly important now that integer orders narration for 40% of its sales. DoorDash and UberEats are integrated consecutive into nan company's proprietary point-of-sale system, eliminating nan petition for further bid tablets that root headaches down nan counter. This constituent whitethorn beryllium invisible to customers, but for workers and franchisees, it leads to small upset successful nan ordering process and smoother sub delivery.

Meanwhile, consistency successful nan insubstantial allows Jersey Mike's to coming a worth merchandise to customers again and again. In 2024, location were immoderate limited-time insubstantial items — including caller cheesesteaks successful nan outpouring and a pastrami sandwich successful nan wintertime — but nan breadth of its fixed insubstantial keeps nan brand's loyalists coming back.

"It's nosy for nan stores to adhd a mini assortment sometimes for customers that are coming successful for many, galore years," says Jones. "When we consciousness bully astir point and we're excited astir it, we'll do that for a short-term crushed and past spell backmost to what we do best: make awesome Italian subs."

Related: How to Successfully Turn Your Business Into a Franchise