---
title: "Building Jersey Mike's - 25 Unit Operator"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/97e24ff3-148f-4122-a356-e08ae0fec1fb
source: "Empires Weekly"
original_url: https://empirespod.substack.com/p/building-jersey-mikes-25-unit-operator
author: "Patrick Buckley"
category: "Sandwich & sub"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Sandwich & sub"
topics: ["Development & multi-unit"]
published: 2026-05-15T13:13:21.000Z
modified: 2026-10-31T13:18:39.644Z
image: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1Hj4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc64bdae6-29b2-41f4-b757-9768bac815b4_1280x1280.png
---

# Building Jersey Mike's - 25 Unit Operator

**TL;DR:** Kavrin McGuire, a 25-unit Jersey Mike's operator, discusses scaling strategies and maintaining product quality. He also talks about the brand loyalty fostered by founder Peter Cancro and the rumors about the Blackstone acquisition.

*By Patrick Buckley, originally published in Empires Weekly on 2026-05-15. [Read the original](https://empirespod.substack.com/p/building-jersey-mikes-25-unit-operator).*

## Story

Kavrin McGuire operates 25 Jersey Mike’s locations alongside his father and brother.

- How Jersey Mike’s maintains product quality at scale
- What it’s actually like operating a high-volume sandwich business
- Why Peter Cancro built such intense loyalty among franchisees
- The truth about the Blackstone acquisition rumors
- How Kavrin’s family scaled through acquisitions + development
- Why they bought the entire state of Minnesota for Mike’s Red Tacos

We also dive deep into staffing, operations, digital ordering, real estate strategy, small-town expansion, and what separates great restaurant operators from average ones.

CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:54 How Kavrin’s family found Jersey Mike’s 03:22 Learning restaurant ops from the ground up 05:20 The reality of running a restaurant 07:57 Why Jersey Mike’s ops are harder than Little Caesars 11:10 Staffing a Jersey Mike’s lunch rush 13:50 How Jersey Mike’s built its digital ordering system 15:22 Why Jersey Mike’s became a breakout brand 16:50 Peter Cancro’s obsession with sandwich quality 20:26 Stories that explain why franchisees love Peter Cancro 25:53 Kavrin’s role running 25 Jersey Mike’s 27:31 Building a long-term leadership team 29:26 Acquiring Jersey Mike’s locations 31:58 Real estate strategy + buildout costs 34:33 Can Jersey Mike’s work in small towns? 37:17 Jersey Mike’s culture of giving 42:31 Blackstone, Charlie Morrison & the future of Jersey Mike’s 47:14 How much white space Jersey Mike’s still has 50:59 Why they bought Mike’s Red Tacos 54:38 Betting on birria tacos as the next big category 57:17 Mike’s Red Tacos operations explained 01:00:42 Comparing Mike’s Red Tacos vs Jersey Mike’s ops 01:04:42 Long-term vision for both brands 01:06:09 Final thoughts

## Entities

- Restaurants (sector)
- unit expansion (topic)
- Jersey Mike's (company)
- Little Caesar's (company)
- brand loyalty (topic)
- digital ordering (topic)
- Peter Cancro (person)
- Blackstone (investor)
- Charlie Morrison (person)
- Empires Weekly (publication)
- Patrick Buckley (person)
- Mike's Red Tacos (company)

---
Originally reported by Patrick Buckley, Empires Weekly (https://empirespod.substack.com/p/building-jersey-mikes-25-unit-operator). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/97e24ff3-148f-4122-a356-e08ae0fec1fb).