Last week, US-born sub sandwich chain Jersey Mike’s revealed that it had secured a Soho site for its first restaurant in the UK – and indeed Europe.
Expected to open on Argyll Street in late autumn, it will become the latest American sub brand to attempt to loosen Subway’s stranglehold on the UK market.
Subway made its UK debut in Brighton in 1996 and has since grown to around 2,100 locations nationwide, making it the country’s largest QSR operator by number of sites. Importantly, however, it is not the largest by turnover, with the likes of McDonald’s, KFC and Greggs generating considerably more revenue from smaller estates.
Jersey Mike’s follows in the footsteps of several US sub brands that have attempted to establish a presence here. It’s fair to say it doesn’t tend to go well.
Quiznos probably came closest to challenging Subway’s dominance, arriving in 2001 and growing to around 30 locations at its peak. Today, the brand has been reduced from credible challenger to a curiosity, with just one UK restaurant remaining (it’s at The Glades shopping centre in Bromley, since you asked).
Potbelly and Jon Smith Subs followed but both eventually retreated across the Atlantic after struggling to grow beyond a handful of locations.
Which Wich, meanwhile, has maintained a small presence since making its UK debut in London in 2018, but progress has been slow. The Texas-founded brand currently operates two restaurants in the capital and two in Cardiff, although it continues to promise further expansion.
A discussion of the UK’s sub scene would not be complete without mentioning Bodean’s founder Andre Blais’s Gerry’s Hot Subs. It operates two London locations, but isn’t a direct competitor to Subway on account of its more premium positioning.
Then there is Sandwich Sandwich, which has grown to seven locations in Bristol and London over the past few years. It does not serve subs, but its generously filled sandwiches, counter-service format and growing presence in high-footfall locations should make it part of the conversation.
So, given the track record of US born sub brands over here, why does Jersey Mike’s think it has what it takes to succeed where others have failed? There are reasons to be more positive this time around.
First among these is that Jersey Mike’s is entering the UK as a proven market leader on US soil. It is now has 3,378 locations, making it Subway’s closest competitor in the US by site numbers, although there remains quite a gap: Subway operates more than 18,000 restaurants there.
This means that Jersey Mike’s has the scale and infrastructure to support an ambitious international rollout. That financial and operational backing should give it the capacity to invest in brand awareness, establish a UK supply chain and withstand a slower start – advantages that its predecessors lacked.
Second, its proposition is familiar but clearly differentiated from Subway. Meat and cheese sliced to order, bread baked throughout the day, hot fillings cooked on the griddle and its distinctive ‘Mike’s Way’, which sees subs topped with onions, lettuce, tomatoes, oregano and salt.
In theory, this will allow Jersey Mike’s to position itself as a more premium and generous alternative to Subway, rather than simply another customisable sub chain. The distinction was perhaps less clear with some previous entrants.
The success of Sandwich Sandwich also suggests that British consumers are willing to pay more for generously filled, visually striking sandwiches. Jersey Mike’s could occupy a potentially lucrative sweet spot between mass-market food-to-go and London’s new generation of premium independent sandwich shops.
But Jersey Mike’s real ace in the hole is the person leading its incursion into the UK. Peter Cancro bought the original Mike’s Subs shop in 1975, when he was just 17, and subsequently transformed it into the national powerhouse it is today.
Now Jersey Mike’s chairman, Cancro is leading JM Submarines UK, the franchise vehicle behind the expansion. That gives the UK operation direct access to the knowledge and experience of the person who built the brand and - crucially - suggests a greater level of commitment than a typical overseas master-franchise deal.
Cancro is putting his money where his mouth is, too. The first restaurant is positioned in a prime location close to Oxford Circus tube station and will be followed by three further central London sites that have apparently already been secured, while the wider franchise agreement contains a target of opening 400 restaurants across the UK and Ireland.
Taking a meaningful bite out of Subway will not be easy, but Jersey Mike’s appears to have all the right ingredients.