Fortune - 04.2020

FORTUNE APRIL 2020 35

MY 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 had

ily. 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.

VENTURE

Prime 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 ENG

PHOTOGRAPH BY

PATRICK JAMES

MILLER

HOW.W.0420.XMIT.indd 35 FINAL 3/6/2020 7:45:01 PM