Jersey Mike’s is Subway’s evil, overpriced twin. What started as a humble boardwalk sub shop called Mike’s Subs earned its absurd popularity after a 14-year-old employee bought the shop with a loan from his football coach. In 1987, he renamed the shop Jersey Mike’s, and the rest is history.
Although the story might be heartwarming, the Jersey Mike’s dining experience is anything but that. You begin by walking into a small shop with the faint smell of dust and diminished hope, and order your sandwich, only for your eyes to pop out of your head when you see the price.
You then take a seat, notice the breadcrumbs scattered across the tables, and wipe them yourself with suppressed frustration. The cherry on top? By the time you have walked from the register to your seat and unwrapped your sub, most of its contents have fallen out and are smeared across the stale bread. As you take a hesitant bite, you unravel the fate of a ceaseless stomachache for the rest of your miserable day.
But despite all of this, anyone I talk to about this sad excuse for a sub shop responds with shock and discord to my opinion, denying my blatantly truthful observations and telling me to try a different sub.
Truthfully, I don’t have much to say about the food; it’s edible to anyone hungry enough. However, charging anywhere from $9 to $12 for a regular-sized sandwich is bewildering, and it should at least live up to the price. At Subway, a 6-inch sub, which is the equivalent of a Jersey Mike’s regular, costs $7 to $9 and is filled to the brim, but still is less messy than Jersey Mike’s.
When I tell the Jersey Mike’s fanatics about the stark contrast between the two shops, they immediately scoff, claiming that Subway is terrible. To that, I say that it is simply conformity and the need to fit in. Like the classic debate between Starbucks and Dunkin’, everybody knows that Starbucks is way too expensive and their drinks are a hit or miss; they choose it because they like to follow the herd and deliberately avoid better value options.
One thing that Jersey Mike’s does right is their constant fundraisers and charity opportunities. While paying for your mind-boggling $12 sub, you can actually spend your money on a good cause and donate to the Special Olympics through Jersey Mike’s. This is all available during the “Month of Giving,” a campaign focused on raising money for local charities and other significant causes. Also, Jersey Mike’s constantly sponsors high school sports teams and clubs for fundraisers, which is how I was originally introduced to them.
However, good marketing cannot justify mediocre subs and a dirty shop. So, whether you choose to dine at Jersey Mike’s or not is up to you, but advertising it without acknowledging these pressing issues is wrong and unfair to anyone who values their money.
