Jersey Mike’s latest marketing deal is going to take the chain to the Super Bowl. Literally.
The fast-food sandwich chain has a sponsorship deal with the National Football League, its latest in a series of marketing efforts that have helped turn the brand into a national force and paved the way for its recent, $8 billion sale to Blackstone.
The deal will give Jersey Mike’s the exclusive right, among sub-sandwich chains, to use the NFL’s trademarks in its advertising. The chain is already pondering ideas for advertisements for next season featuring celebrity spokesman Danny DeVito. “It’s a big deal,” Peter Cancro, Jersey Mike’s CEO, said in an interview with Restaurant Business. “Football is still the No. 1 sport. If you look at the ratings and rankings, it’s still the No. 1 sport.”
The NFL deal, which has been in the works for months, comes six weeks after the company completed its sale to the private-equity firm Blackstone. The deal is expected to pave the way for an influx of new technology into the Jersey Mike’s system and could help the company expand into international markets. Jersey Mike’s has had strong sales in Canada since its entry there, and the chain is currently eyeing the U.K. for further international expansion.
(Check out our story on why Cancro decided to sell Jersey Mike’s.)
But Jersey Mike’s also believes it has plenty of growth in the U.S., and Cancro said that the company’s marketing efforts in recent years have strengthened the brand and improved its name recognition—which helps its expansion into new markets.
The company started advertising on national television five years ago, with some ads featuring Cancro himself. In 2022 the company began featuring DeVito in its advertisements.
It has also sponsored sporting events. It sponsors college basketball, college football, National Hockey League and Major League Baseball. New York Yankees star Aaron Judge appeared in ads for the chain in 2020, for instance, and the sandwich chain donated $1 million to Judge’s All Rise Foundation.
The NFL is the world’s most valuable sports league by revenue. And the Super Bowl is one of the most-watched events in the world.
Cancro also noted the reality of television viewership trends. “Nobody’s really watching TV as much anymore,” he said. “But they are watching live sports.”
Jersey Mike’s marketing push is also helping the company’s brand. Cancro said the chain has more than 90% brand recognition these days. That helps improve sales when the company opens new locations. That is fueling the chain’s unit growth. Jersey Mike’s is opening about 300 locations per year.
In the 1980s, Cancro said, the brand opened locations in small cities outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. “It didn’t do well,” he said.
That’s not the case these days, he said. “Now we open up, it’s like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe you’re here.’ They know Jersey Mike’s. They know what we’re about. They’ve seen it on the TV for years now.”
Under its deal with the NFL, Jersey Mike’s will sponsor the NFL Draft Experience, a fan football festival during the upcoming NFL draft. It will also be a presenting sponsor of the Super Bowl Experience and will be a sponsor of the Pro Bowl games fan vote.
“We’re thrilled to have Jersey Mike’s on board across the NFL’s key tentpoles and initiatives,” said Tracie Rodburg, SVP of sponsorship at the NFL.
There is another key benefit for Jersey Mike's. "Now we can call it the Super Bowl," Cancro said.
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