12 Secrets Of Jersey Mike's You'll Wish You Knew Sooner

Whether you've been going to Jersey Mike's all your life or are a Jersey Mike's newbie, there are some secrets you need to know about the sub sandwich chain. Some of the secrets are about the food itself, while others are more about what's happening behind the scenes of the restaurant chain, which is now in all 50 states. 

Most of the secrets we've discovered about Jersey Mike's are good ones. There're secrets about how to order, what's available to order, and how to maximize your order. Plus, you'll learn how to skip the line and how to save money. However, we've found a few negatives, too, like some hidden ingredients in one of the popular toppings and some disappointing lawsuits from the first half of the 2020s. Once you read about the secrets you've uncovered, you're likely to come away feeling good about your love of Jersey Mike's, not to mention knowing a few tricks you probably didn't know before. So, happy reading.

Whether you just get a splash of olive oil on your Jersey Mike's sandwich or opt for "The Juice" (a mixture of olive oil and red wine vinegar), the olive oil isn't real anymore. If you look closely at what it's called on the website, you'll notice that it's listed as an olive oil blend rather than olive oil.

If you got olive oil on your sandwich at Jersey Mike's before the COVID-19 pandemic, you were getting real olive oil. However, the amount of olive oil in the oil mixture that the chain uses has diminished from 75% to now being only 25%. With the change, olive oil now only comprises 25% of the mix. We've seen reports of the other oil in the mix being soybean oil or a mixture of soybean oil and canola oil.

Regardless of what the other oils in the new blend are, it's best to consume unrefined oils like olive oil because they're healthier oils. Jersey Mike's new olive oil blend contains 126 calories, 14 grams of fat, 2.06 grams of saturated fat, and 0.16 grams of trans fat. Thus, only 1.6% of the total calories are from saturated fat, as opposed to 14% of the total calories in olive oil. However, it turns out that there's more polyunsaturated fat in soybean oil, which makes a blend that contains soybean oil less healthy overall.

A lot of fast-food chains have a shorthand way to order without having to spell out exactly what you want. For example, you can order your burger "animal style" at In-N-Out or order your menu item at Taco Bell "Fresco" style. At Mike's, you may want to try ordering your sub "Mike's Way."

Jersey Mike's began life as Mike's Subs, owned by Michael Ingravallo, who was the original Mike behind the restaurant's name. The subs sold at Mike's Subs were topped simply with lettuce, onions, and tomatoes and sprinkled with oil, vinegar, and spices. Even though the restaurant changed its name under Peter Cancro and added more topping possibilities along the way, you can still order your sandwiches as they were originally created by asking for them to be made "Mike's Way" — meaning the way that Mike Ingravallo used to make them.

If you don't like making tons of choices, ordering your sub Mike's Way makes everything that much easier, and you still get a tasty sub. Your sub will start out with everything listed for that sandwich. Then, the final toppings will be the ones Ingravallo used to add to his subs back in the day. For example, if you order The Veggie, which ordinarily comes with Swiss cheese, provolone cheese, and bell pepper slices, ordering it Mike's Way will automatically add shredded lettuce, onion, tomato slices, as well as a few dashes of The Juice, oregano, and salt.

Jersey Mike's is among several chain restaurants that have gluten-free options on the menu. For people who are sensitive to gluten, Jersey Mike's offers gluten-free bread as an option for its sub sandwiches. There's an upcharge of $1.75 to $3.50 and possibly, depending on your location, whether you order a regular or giant sub.

The bun is UDI's brand, and it comes wrapped so that it starts out uncontaminated from its surroundings. Of course, with wheat breadcrumbs flying around the countertop and around all the other ingredients all day long, you can't expect a completely gluten-free experience if you have a more serious reaction to gluten because the chances of cross-contamination are fairly high.

It's best to order in person rather than delivery or via an app. While the chain has protocols for employees to follow for gluten-free sandwiches, it's preferable to supervise in person to ensure the best outcome for your needs. Making a few requests can help to minimize your exposure to gluten and remind employees what they should be doing. You'll want to ask them to change gloves and clean any surfaces or utensils they plan to use in the creation of your sandwich. We're sure you can imagine the ways in which this still isn't a perfect scenario, but it should limit your gluten exposure.

If you like Jersey Mike's Regular Brownies, it turns out that they may not be as unique as you think. In fact, the word on social media is that other fast-food chains may sell the same brand on their dessert menus. Still, they're well-loved enough for some customers to have tried recreating them in their own kitchen.

People on social media who have worked for Jersey Mike's have indicated that the brownies the chain sells come from David's Cookies. David's Cookies sells its pre-made Chocolate Chip Brownies to individuals by the pan-full. However, like Jersey Mike's bread and cookies, each store bakes its brownies fresh every day.

It turns out that you can get the same brand of brownies from other chains, too. For example, social media users who have worked at Chick-fil-A say that the ones there are from David's Cookies, too, but they come pre-baked. While we've seen rumors that the ones at Qdoba are from David's Cookies, too, others argue they come from Otis Spunkmeyer or Aryzta.

Like so many chain restaurants these days, Jersey Mike's has a secret menu beyond its most popular subs. There are a lot of options ranging from asking for ones from other regions, hacking current menu items in interesting ways, and ordering special secret menu sandwich combinations that turn ordinary menu items into something completely different.

The menu you see in the store is pared down to the most popular items. So, you'll want to look online to see the full menu when ordering in the store. There are also some that are only on the menu in specific locations, but they can be made if your location has all the ingredients. For example, you can get the California Club, which is on the menu in California and some Southwestern states, if your location has avocados. You can sub out the meats in specific subs already on the menu. Plus, there are a large number of secret menu sandwiches at Jersey Mike's that employees and customers have created and named.

Of course, there's also the option of hacking the menu by utilizing the available ingredients in special ways. Your location may also have extra condiments, like Frank's Red Hot Sauce or marinara sauce, that you can ask to be added to any sub. You can also ask to have any ingredients grilled, turned into a salad, or made into a wrap. Something especially interesting is that you can have any of the meats in your sub cooked in any of the available sauces.

If you like your sandwiches with a side of giving, you'll be happy to know that Jersey Mike's uses its profits to make the world a little better than it found it. And that's something that can make you feel good every time you eat there.

Every March since 2011, each restaurant has chosen a local charity to support. Then, on the last Wednesday in March, 100% of its sales for the day (not just its profits) go to help support that charity. The charities it supports may be a local food bank, children's hospital, children's organization, animal organizations, or others. Since 2011, the program has raised over $113 million.

Jersey Mike's also regularly donates to Feeding America, which provides food through food banks in different states. It gives money to the United States Tennis Association Foundation, which uses tennis and education as a way to help under-resourced young people succeed. Another charity it supports is the Special Olympics, which provides sports opportunities for people of various ability and disability levels. It also contributes to honoring veterans in cemeteries through Wreaths Across America.

While young people are legally allowed to work at different ages in different states, it seems that some Jersey Mike's locations have violated some of the accompanying labor laws. The Fair Labor Standards Act places limitations on when and for how long younger employees can work, which is where some locations ran afoul of the law. The legal number of hours they can work and how late they can work is dependent on whether it's a school night or not and what time of the year it is.

In 2022, investigators found locations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Oregon that were letting their younger employees work longer and later than allowed. Specifically, 14- and 15-year-olds were allowed more than three hours of work after 7:00 P.M. on school nights. Plus, they were allowed to work past 9:00 P.M. during the summer. Thus, the chain was fined a total of $24,660.

In 2024, the chain received fines for other infractions in Virginia. Like before, younger employees were working more hours and later than they should. However, the chain was also fined for having kids under the age of 16 performing dangerous tasks like operating electric meat slicers and not giving them overtime pay. Breaking these laws came with a $108,000 penalty.

If you're in a hurry and don't have time to stand in line waiting for everyone to decide what they want on their sub, you're going to want to download the Jersey Mike's app. Ordering ahead will allow you to just walk in and pick up your order rather than wait your turn.

To skip the line, simply download the app and make an order. Choose the Jersey Mike's nearest you and how quickly you want to get your order. When we looked at the app, we noticed that it's even possible to make an order for tomorrow. After you've customized your sandwich and created your order, you have to pay to complete the order. So, that means that you don't have to do anything in the store that everyone else standing in line has to do. Just show up in the store at the time that your order is set to be done and pick it up.

There's a pickup area in stores that allows online orders, and all you have to do is find yours, grab it, and go. While there is occasional theft of online orders or order-grabbing mix-ups, locations generally trust their customers to be honest and competent to pick up their own orders.

No matter what size sandwich you get, you can greatly increase its mass and flavor by getting more toppings. And unless they're premium toppings, they won't cost you more.

The trick is knowing which of the toppings are free and which will cost you extra. It's easy to tell if you're ordering online or using the app, but you may not realize which ones cost more in the store. The free add-ons include toppings like onions, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, banana peppers, hot chopped pepper relish, and jalapeño peppers. So, you can ask for as much as you'd like of these without incurring any extra costs. Other items that don't cost extra are oregano, salt, red wine vinegar, olive oil blend, and any condiments.

There are a few toppings that are considered add-ons and will cost $1.50 to $2.15 or even more, depending on your location. These include asking to add pepperoni or bacon that isn't already on the sandwich. And after the first round of cheese or meat, it costs more if you ask for more. So, it's not a free-for-all for every ingredient — just some of them.

There's no age limit when it comes to who can order a kid's meal at Jersey Mike's. So, if you're looking for a good deal and don't have a big appetite, ordering a Kids Meal can be a way to eat more cheaply than usual.

The Kids Meal comes with a Kid's Sub Ham (provolone and ham on white bread) with a cookie and kid's drink or water. According to an employee on social media, the kid sandwiches are the same as a mini sandwich, but it has one less piece of meat than the regular mini sandwich. At our local store, the one with a kid's drink costs $5.99, while the one with bottled water costs $5.95. If you were to buy all of these items separately off the adult menu, you'd spend more. For example, a Mini Provolone and Ham costs $6.69, adding bottled water costs $2.49, and adding a cookie costs $1.50. So, without tax, that comes out to $10.68, in comparison to the Kids Meal with water only costing $5.95. Even if you add extra meat to the kid's sandwich for $1.60, it's still far cheaper than ordering everything separately.

According to the app, the kid's sub comes with just lettuce and tomatoes, but you can switch out the type of bread, add extra toppings, and choose condiments, just as you can with an adult sandwich. We also noticed on the app that some locations have a turkey option for the kid's meal instead of only offering ham.

If you're trying to get the most sub for your money, not every size is the same price per inch as others. Plus, splitting can be a good option, depending on which one you want to split.

Your best deal is the giant sub, which is 15 inches long. At the location nearest us, the cost of a giant sub is $15.69, which comes out to $1.05 per inch. The next best deal is the regular sub, which is 7 inches long. At the location nearest us, the cost is $8.29 for a regular sub, which comes out to $1.20 per inch. Finally, there's the mini size, which is 5 inches long. The location nearest us sells the mini for $6.69, which comes out to $1.30 per inch.

We've seen some people talk about asking Jersey Mike's employees to split a sandwich in half for a better deal for two people, but some are better deals than others. Split the giant instead of ordering two regulars, and each piece is half an inch larger than a regular (7.5 inches versus 7 inches). Plus, each person pays $0.44 less per piece ($7.85 each versus $8.29). You could do the same thing with a regular sub, but your sandwich would end up super small at 3.5 inches each instead of getting a 5-inch mini each. Although, the price would be better since you'd be spending only $4.15 for each half rather than $6.69 for a mini. So, it really depends on what size you want on whether or not splitting a sub seems like a good deal to you.

While most of us don't think about sub shops when we're looking for a place for breakfast, it turns out that some Jersey Mike's locations have started serving breakfast. So, take a look at your local ones and the times they open to see if you can get in on the action.

With restaurant owners going in early to get the bread baked for the day, it has made sense for many of them to offer breakfast items for anyone who walked through the door hungry at those early morning hours. The sandwiches generally come on a Mike's roll (basically, a Kaiser roll) and feature eggs and/or cheese along with meats that can easily be made on the grill, like ham, bacon, sausage, Trenton pork roll, and regular sandwich meats like turkey or steak. If you're not familiar with Trenton pork roll (also known as Taylor ham), it's a popular style of salt-cured pork loin meat that New Jerseyans love for breakfast.

Even if your nearest locations don't serve breakfast, they likely open up around 10:00 A.M., which is still breakfast time for many. Unfortunately, the closest approximation of breakfast you can get if there are no eggs or breakfast meats available is to order a BLT.