FORTUNE APRIL 2020 35MY FIRST JOB was at Mike’s Subs
in Point Pleasant, N.J., a small
beach town on the Jersey Shore. My
older brother worked there the sum-
mer before I did and got me the job. I
was 14, and I would sprinkle the subs
as they came down the line, wrap
them, and work the cash register. I
did everything, except I wasn’t old
enough to work the slicer.
The owner was great. He ran
the business like a tight-knit fam-a 1,000-square-foot store
with 17 seats, and most of
the business was takeout.
It did what would be
$40,000 a week in today’s
dollars.
In 1975, when I was a
senior in high school, the
store came up for sale. I
was president of my class
and going to college to
study law. One night my
mother said, “Mike’s is for
sale. Why don’t you buy
it?” I laughed, went up
one flight of stairs, and by
the time I reached the top,
I decided to do it.
I talked to the owner,
who had a couple of
potential buyers but could
hold off the sale for a week
or so. I started knocking
on people’s doors, trying
to raise $125,000 to buy
it. On Friday, a gentleman
said he would put up all
the money but wanted
to be 50/50 partners. I
knew the amount of work
involved in running the
store and wanted to [own
it outright], so I said no.
On that Sunday, I
called Rod Smith, my Pop
Warner football coach,
who was also a banker. I
told him what I wanted to
do, and he helped finance
the real estate and busi-
ness loan. He knew me,
and he said I always get
the ball across the goal
line. Back then, you shook
hands, trusted people,
and did business that way.
So my senior year I
went to homeroom, his-
tory, English, skipped gym,
and went to work. I hadily. Even though I was
a teenager, he gave me
the feeling that my voice
mattered. I made $1.75
an hour, which was big
money in 1971. I worked
full-time in the summers
and part-time through the
school year.
Back then, there were
no McDonald’s or Burger
Kings in town. Mike’s was“I learned by doing,”
says Jersey Mike’s
CEO, Peter Cancro.VENTUREPrime Sub
When the sandwich shop where Peter Cancro worked
came up for sale, he bought it —even though he was only 17.
Here’s how he turned that shop into a major franchise,
fought off bankruptcy, and built Jersey Mike’s into a billion-
dollar business. AS TOLD TO DINAH ENGPHOTOGRAPH BY
PATRICK JAMES
MILLERHOW.W.0420.XMIT.indd 35 FINAL 3/6/2020 7:45:01 PM