Man blasts Jersey Mike’s for tiny $9 portion after Blackstone purchases beloved sandwich chain. Why private equity firms are gobbling up sub shops
Story by Jessica Wong
Imagine this: you visit your go-to sandwich spot, order your usual and, while the price is the same, the sub feels lighter. If this sounds familiar to you, you’re not alone.
Recently on TikTok, a man blasted Jersey Mike’s for a subpar sandwich (1).
“This, my friends, is what $9 gets you — $10 with tip — at Jersey Mike’s. This is $10,” he said, while holding his thumb and forefinger at either end of the sub.
In January 2025, private equity giant Blackstone completed its $8 billion majority stake purchase of Jersey Mike’s, and longtime fans have been asking why “Mike’s Way” seems less filling (2).
Whether the portions have actually shrunk or not, Jersey Mike’s is part of a trend of private equity buying some of America’s most beloved restaurant chains, and possibly squeezing the margins.
The private equity sandwich grab
Private equity is changing the sandwich landscape, one major acquisition at a time. Subway was bought by Roark Capital in a multibillion dollar deal (3). Firehouse Subs? Folded into Restaurant Brands International for $1 billion (4).
The numbers explain the appeal. Jersey Mike’s is now the fourth-largest sandwich chain in the country, and the U.S. sandwich sector was a $41.5 billion market in 2024 (5). With that much cash up for grabs, it's no wonder the private equity crowd is circling.
Blackstone wants Jersey Mike’s to expand beyond its 3,000-plus stores. The brand has already been growing. opening 828 locations between 2021 and 2023 (6). Blackstone’s payout structure ramps up once Jersey Mike’s hits roughly 4,000 stores, reports CNBC (7), giving the company incentive to grow rapidly.
The speedy growth doesn’t come without change. In the PE world, the priorities are lower costs, higher efficiency and quick expansion. Standardization can replace those sandwich makers who used to slip you an extra slice “just because.” Efficiency is the name of the game and that can mean digital pickup lanes, workflow automation and ultrafast assembly lines.
This could be how you end up with subs that feel a little lighter. Less meat, fewer toppings, maybe bread that seems just a touch shorter.
Jersey Mike’s is a chain that built its reputation, and its pricing power, on heaping, deli-level subs. Customers already pay a premium: a regular Jersey Mike’s sub typically runs $9 to $14, often 30% to 50% more than a comparable item at Subway.
When you're charging top sandwich prices, customers expect top quality. If they think the quality is slipping, the whole value equation gets shaky. Business Insider’s head-to-head comparison of Subway and Jersey Mike’s found Mike’s winning on quality, but Subway taking the crown on price and customization (8).
There’s no hard proof that Jersey Mike’s portions have officially shrunk. No third-party audits, no before-and-after ingredient logs, no weight comparisons that would hold up in a lab. Instead, there’s a wave of TikToks (9) with customers complaining about what they’re now getting.
The majority of Jersey Mike’s locations are franchise-run, so your experience can vary from store to store, even though corporate portion standards and cost-control rules flow down to everyone (10).
While the incentives to shrink portions may be real, the smoking gun evidence isn’t. Yet.
Man blasts Jersey Mike’s for tiny $9 portion after Blackstone purchases beloved sandwich chain. Why private equity firms are gobbling up sub shops |
