What is Peter Cancro's Net Worth and Salary?
Peter Cancro is an American entrepreneur and businessman who has a net worth of $7 billion. Peter Cancro earned his fortune as the co-founder of Jersey Mike's Subs, an American submarine sandwich chain with more than 3,000 locations in the United States and $3.3 billion in annual gross revenue. It is the second-largest sub-style sandwich company in the United States behind Subway. Peter owns the majority of the chain even after an investment by private equity firm in late 2024. That investment valued Jersey Mike's at $8 billion and came a year after a different private equity firm acquired Subway for $9.6 billion. Peter Cancro still serves as the CEO of the company.
He prides himself on giving back, and each March, Jersey Mike's hosts their "Day of Giving" and donates 100% of sales to local charities, with about $5 to $7 million being donated each year. Peter Cancro is from Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. He started working at a sandwich place called Mike's Submarines when he was 14 years old. During his senior year of high school, Peter found out that the shop's owners, two brothers, were looking to sell. They wanted $125,000. Peter's mother suggested that he buy it. According to legend, Peter skipped school the next week to pound the pavement and raise enough money to buy the brothers out. After days of getting nowhere, he eventually knocked on the door of his football coach, Rod Smith. Peter laid out the shop's finances, and Rod – who worked in finance as his day job – offered to fund the purchase with an interest-bearing loan.
Over the next decade Cancro opened a few new locations, but expansion was slow and challenging. In 1987, he decided that franchising was the way to go. At this point, he also changed the chain's name from Mike's Submarine to Jersey Mike's.
- By 1991 there were 30 locations.
- By 2014 there were 750 locations.
- By 2015 there were over 1,000
- Today there are roughly 3,000 locations and the company generates around $2 billion per year in gross revenue.
Early Life and Education
Peter Cancro was born on May 15, 1957, in New Jersey. He has a younger brother named John. As a teenager, Cancro went to Point Pleasant High School, graduating in 1975.
Founding Jersey Mike's Subs
When he was only 14 years old in 1968, Cancro had a part-time job at a local sandwich shop called Mike's Submarines in the borough of Point Pleasant. The eatery had been founded in 1956 and was at the time on its third owner. When the shop went up for sale in 1971, Cancro's mother encouraged him to purchase it. He heeded her advice and, with the aid of a high school football coach named Rod Smith, who was also a banker, managed to pull together $125,000 in a matter of days. Smith loaned Cancro the money with a 7-year payback plan. It ended up taking Cancro a decade to pay back the loan, but he did so with interest.
Today, Jersey Mike's operates a franchise-purchasing assistance program called the "Coach Rod Smith Ownership Program" to help young entrepreneurs start their careers.
Cancro used the money to buy Mike's, making him a business owner at the age of 17. He went on to become the company CEO, as well. The deal officially closed on March 31, 1975.
In 1987, high customer demand led Cancro to start franchising his restaurant across the United States. It was at this time that he renamed the business Jersey Mike's, referencing the shop's state of origin. The business took off in a major way from there; by 2014, it had amassed 750 locations with 650 additional ones in varying stages of development. The following year, the total number of Jersey Mike's locations surpassed 1,000, and by 2018, the company was doing $1 billion in sales across 1,400 locations. The franchise also has some locations in Canada and Mexico. Each Jersey Mike's shop serves submarine sandwiches made to order, with meats and cheeses sliced as needed. Customers may order their meal "Mike's Way," which involves such condiments as sliced onions, tomatoes, salt, shredded lettuce, and a juice combining red wine vinegar and olive oil.
(Photo by Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for Best Buddies International)
Charity
Through Jersey Mike's, Cancro is involved in charitable endeavors. Each year, on the final Wednesday of March, the restaurant hosts a "Day of Giving," in which it donates all of the money from its sales to various charities. In 2022, Jersey Mike's raised over $6 million on the day for more than 170 charities nationwide.
Personal Life
Not long after graduating from high school, Cancro wed his first wife, Linda. The couple have two children, a son named Robert and a daughter named Caroline. Peter and Linda eventually divorced. In early 2014, Cancro married his current wife, Tatiana Cancro.
Real Estate
In August 2014, Peter paid $15.681 million for a 3,838-square-foot, four-bedroom condo on East 68th Street in New York City. Their apartment, which is in a building called the "Marquand," is at the corner of 68th and Madison Avenue. The monthly HOA fee for the unit exceeds $14,000.
