Jersey Mike's Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
Data from FDD filing + SBA 7(a) records
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Jersey Mike's is a fast-casual sub franchise serving made-to-order sandwiches sliced fresh in front of the customer. Franchisees run compact shops for dine-in, takeout, and delivery.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Jersey Mike's franchise requires a total initial investment of $436K – $1.2M, including a $9K – $20K franchise fee and an ongoing 6.5% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $1.4M[2]. SBA 7(a) loans show a 4.4% charge-off rate across 667 loans[1]. FranchiseVerdict grade: A (Strongest tier), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Data last verified · figures per the 2026 FDD issuance
Overview
- Investment
- $436K – $1.2M
- 70th pct Service Resta…
- Avg gross sales
- $1.4M
- 23rd pct Service Resta…
- Royalty
- 6.5%
- 84th pct Service Resta…
- Units
- 3,227
- 95th pct Service Resta…
- SBA charge-off
- 4.4%
- % of SBA 7(a) loans not repaid · median varies by category
Quick verdict · Quick-Service Restaurants · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Quick-Service Restaurants avg · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $436K – $1.2M including a $20K franchise fee, 6.5% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $1.4M/year (median $1.3M).
- RISKVerdict A (Strongest tier), verdict score 98/100 (higher is better). SBA loan charge-off rate of 4.4% across 667 loans (well below the franchise average, based on all SBA 7(a) franchise lending, 2010–2025).
- GROWTHSystem growing at 20.6% CAGR over 3 years with 3227 total units. Strong expansion trajectory.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- A SUB ABOVE, LLC
- Parent company
- Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems, LLC (JMFS)
- Ultimate parent
- Jersey Mike's HoldCo, LLC (majority owned by investment funds managed by affiliates of Blackstone Inc.)
- Predecessor
- Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems, LLC (formerly Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems, Inc.); original concept from The Original Mike's, Inc. d/b/a Mike's Submarines
- Prior franchisor entity
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Charlie Morrison
- CEO experience
- 18 yrs
- Years in role or industry
- Incorporated in
- Delaware
- HQ
- 1 Commvault Way, Suite 400, Tinton Falls, New Jersey 07724
- Auditor
- Deloitte & Touche LLP
- Audited financials
- Franchisor revenue
- $309.8M
- vs $280.1M prior year
Overview
About
- CEO
- Charlie Morrison
- Headquarters
- New Jersey
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 51
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 21% above the typical quick-service restaurants franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
Full Item 7 breakdown19 line items
Initial investment breakdown
| Line item | Low | High | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Franchise Fee | $19K | $19K | |
| Real Estate and Construction Fee | $5K | $5K | |
| Rent/Lease CAM/Taxes/Lease and Utility Security Deposits | $0 | $72K | |
| Architectural Fees | $1K | $33K | |
| Leasehold Improvements | $75K | $722K | |
| Equipment/Furniture/Small Wares | $32K | $208K | |
| Initial Inventory | $2K | $35K | |
| Insurance | $1K | $25K | |
| Training | $1K | $68K | |
| Grand Opening Advertising | $13K | $13K | |
| Exterior Signage | $1K | $40K | |
| Interior Branding / Graphics | $2K | $11K | |
| Uniforms, Office Equipment and Supplies, TVs/Stereo System/Security System | $900 | $66K | |
| POS System | $8K | $28K | |
| POS System Connection to Private Network | $5K | $5K | |
| POS License Fee | $2K | $4K | |
| Professional fees (lawyer, accountant, etc.) | $250 | $21K | |
| Business Licenses and Permits | $500 | $25K | |
| Additional Funds for 3 months | $15K | $15K | |
| Total initial investment | $182K | $1.4M |
Line items extracted from FDD Item 7. Ranges reflect the franchisor's stated low and high per line. Total is the sum of line-item lows / highs — actual costs may fall outside this range depending on market and build-out scope.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $436K – $1.2M
- Bottom third — review vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $17K – $33K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $9K – $20K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 6.5%
- percentage · typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 5.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 11.5%
- vs 9–13% typical
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 6.5% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 5.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $395 |
| Transfer fee | $15K |
| Renewal fee | $20K |
| Inventory (initial) | $14K – $26K |
| Total fee load | 11.5% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 13% above the quick-service restaurants norm.
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 19
Single-unit · estimated
Returns at a glance
Indicative numbers using FDD Item 7 / Item 19 inputs and category-benchmarked cost ratios. Full single-unit, 25-unit portfolio, and LBO models (with every input editable to stress-test your own scenario) live on the financials page.
Store EBITDA · annual
$144K
10.5% margin
Unlevered ROIC
17%
EBITDA / total invested capital
Payback
5.7 yrs
cash-on-cash, unlevered
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit. The target band for an attractive franchise is 30–60% ROIC. Below that and a passive index fund likely outperforms; above that and the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses. It's the top line only. Operating costs below are category estimates. Override them to match your real lease quote, labor market, and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Jersey Mike's unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Estimated return on your total franchise investment, before any debt financing.
17%
Below the 30–60% attractive-franchise band
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Jersey Mike's units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
49.9%
7.57× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
1.88×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$957K
on $4.8M purchase
Total debt
$3.8M
SBA $2.4M + senior + seller note
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2026 FDD
Financial Performance
- Avg gross sales
- $1.4M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $1.3M
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- historical unit volume (average/median/high/low)
- Sample size
- 2,606 outlets
- vs category median 20 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $512K→$3.2M
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2025
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2026
- Disclosed in the 2026 filing, covering 2025
- Transparency
- 4 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · typical
Compared against 782 Quick-Service Restaurants brands
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $1.4M/year in gross sales. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 1.7x.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 11.5% — above the Quick-Service Restaurants average of 7.9%.
Disclosure
Transparency score 4/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Operator retention
System expanding at 20.6% CAGR over 3 years across 3,227 units — operators are staying and new ones are joining.
Multi-unit rate
Only 20% of franchisees own multiple units. Could indicate challenging economics or a young system where operators haven't had time to expand.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Quick-Service Restaurants averages
How Jersey Mike's Compares
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 3,227
- Opened
- 259
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 13
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- 0.4%
- Company-owned
- 26
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 99%
- vs corporate-owned
- Multi-unit owners
- 20.0%
- Net growth (3-yr)
- +20.6%
- Net unit change over 3 years
- 3-yr CAGR
- +20.6%
- Compounded over last 3 years
3-year detail · Item 20
- Opened (3yr)
- 259
- Closed (3yr)
- 13
- Terminated (3yr)
- 0
- Non-renewed (3yr)
- 0
- Transfers (3yr)
- 218
- Reacquired (3yr)
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
- Transfer rate
- 2.6%
- Owners selling to other franchisees
- Continuity rate
- 99.7%
- Units that stayed open
- Ceased ops
- 0.2%
- Units that stopped operating
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 51 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator. Not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee contact records (FDD Item 20). Shows states with at least one current operator on file. Full state registration data (Item 12) will appear on a future FDD refresh.
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
- Total loans
- 667
- Loan volume
- $223.3M
- Median loan
- $350K
- 50th percentile
- Charge-off rate
- 4.4%
- rates vary by category · see methodology
Historical SBA 7(a) lending data, not predictive of future performance. How SBA charge-off rates are calculated
- Repayment rate (PIF)
- 95.6%
- 5-yr charge-off
- 1.1%
- Loans approved 2021+
- Active lenders
- 153
- Defaults
- 18
- Typical loan rate
- 6.8%
- avg rate to borrowers
- Franchised industry avg
- 10.8%
- brand beats franchise avg ↓
- Jobs supported
- 9,443
- 5.5 per loan
- Lender concentration
- 7%
- top lender's share
Borrower mix: 77% went to startups / new businesses, 23% to established operators
Franchise vs independent — in limited-service restaurants, franchised businesses charge off at 10.8% vs 10.0% for independents — franchising is associated with 8% higher SBA default risk in this category.
Vintage analysis
Jersey Mike's charge-off rate by loan vintage
Top lenders financing Jersey Mike's franchisees
Showing 3 of 153 lenders. The full breakdown — every lender, state distribution, interest rates & risk ratings — is in the SBA Lending Report below.
Explore lender portfolios on Bank Reports or regional data on State Reports.
Premium insight
SBA Lending Report
Deep-dive into Jersey Mike's's SBA lending history: lender network, geographic footprint, interest rates, and more.
SBA Lending Report
- Principal loss rate and NAICS industry benchmark
- 10 lenders with concentration factor
- Per-state charge-off rates across 15 states
- Startup risk premium and job creation velocity
- 15-year lending trend
- SBA 504 real estate/equipment data
Instant access. No subscription.
What could kill this investment?
SBA loans charge off at 4.4% — 73% below the 16.0% national norm, i.e. lower lender-observed risk.
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Litigation (Item 3)
2 concluded cases (WA AG no-poach clause settled for $150,000; Tsou gift-card class action settled for $25,000) and 1 pending class action (Brewer v. JMFS re: mobile app service fees, California consumer protection claims).
Largest disclosed settlement: $150,000
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
None disclosed
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Deloitte & Touche LLP
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
ⓘ These are the parent company's consolidated financials (the parent guarantees the franchisor), not this brand's standalone results — the figure reflects the whole corporate group, not this brand alone.
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: No
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: No
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 98 / 100 verdict
- 01MINORUnprotected territory creates direct competition risk and cannibalization between franchise units
- 02MINORWashington State litigation regarding 'no-poach' clauses signals potential employment law compliance issues across the system
- 03MINOR6.5% royalty on gross receipts (not net) means franchisees pay regardless of profitability
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 11.5% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 10 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 1 |
| Territory type | none |
| Protected territory | No |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 1 mi |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Required |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 10 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 15 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Termination groundsℹ | 22 |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 6 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | Monmouth County, New Jersey |
| Jury trial waiver | Yes |
| Governing law | New Jersey |
| Litigation count | 3 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
2 concluded cases (WA AG no-poach clause settled for $150,000; Tsou gift-card class action settled for $25,000) and 1 pending class action (Brewer v. JMFS re: mobile app service fees, California consumer protection claims).
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 22 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 365 hrs
- Training location
- Certified Training Restaurant (Phase 1 and 3, on-the-job); Company's training center in Manasquan, New Jersey or other designated location (Phase 2, classroom)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Site selection
- franchisee (with approved real estate broker), subject to Company approval of site and Designated Territory/Area
- Franchisor financing
- Offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- ReSource Point of Sale, LLC
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: ReSource Point of Sale, LLC
Item 20 · call current owners
Franchisee Contacts
3,084 owners to call
Name · phone · city · state. Extracted from FDD Item 20
FDD download
Jersey Mike's · FDD (2026) PDF
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Jersey Mike's franchise?
The total investment to open a Jersey Mike's franchise ranges from $436K – $1.2M, with an initial franchise fee of $20K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Jersey Mike's franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Jersey Mike's FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $1.4M. The median is $1.3M. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
What is Item 19 in the Jersey Mike's FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the Jersey Mike's FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Jersey Mike's's franchise failure rate?
Based on SBA 7(a) loan data, Jersey Mike's has a charge-off rate of 4.4% across 667 loans, meaning 4.4% of franchise loans were charged off. Charge-off rates are one proxy for franchise risk, though they do not capture all closures. This data comes from FOIA-sourced SBA lending records.
How many Jersey Mike's franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Jersey Mike's has 3,227 total units in the United States, including 3,201 franchised units and 26 company-owned units. 259 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Jersey Mike's a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Jersey Mike's as a A-grade franchise with a verdict score of 98 out of 100 (higher is better), based on our analysis of investment costs, revenue data, SBA loan performance, and growth trends. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
Are you the franchisor?
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.