Why Some Jersey Mike's Customers Are Giving Up On The Chain — Are The Subs Worth It Anymore?

Jersey Mike's has spent 70 years building a reputation for itself as "a sub above," as its catchphrase says. In that time, the brand expanded rapidly nationwide, now boasting well over 3,300 locations. Despite such a long-lasting legacy in the sub industry, customers have voiced several complaints about quality over the last handful of years, the foremost being the shrinkflation that Jersey Mike's sandwiches have seemingly succumbed to.

It's not necessarily that the sandwiches have changed in flavor or taste, but as one Redditor put it, "[it's a] decent sandwich, but they keep shrink-flating the sandwich." Just as some customers think In-N-Out burgers are a victim of shrinkflation, Jersey Mike's sandwiches are catching heat from this impression, especially in a technological era when customers document quite literally everything.

"Jersey Mike's regular sub keeps getting smaller and smaller," explained another Reddit user, joking that "at the current rate, it won't be long before their subs are the same size as a McDonald's hamburger." Social media threads are full of dozens of similar comments, including one Redditor on the same thread who ordered their regular sub, only to discover that it "seemed half the size as what [they] remember."

It's not as if Jersey Mike's whipped up a machine in a laboratory to make its products smaller, so what could be causing the alleged shrinkage? Some customers theorize that the restaurants are "adjusting the slicer to be super thin," as one Reddit user suggested, leading to less meat. Conversely, another Redditor noted, "The slices of meat are twice the size of the bread." Others believe that the subs are shrinking due to fewer toppings and fluffier bread, meaning less substance in the sandwich and more space filled with plain bread. These go along with other frequent customer complaints about Jersey Mike's.

Though Jersey Mike's hasn't addressed it, folks online suspect that the alleged shrinkflation is caused by the company's 2024 sale to Blackstone, a private equity group. "The death of JM was the moment it was purchased by private equity," one Reddit user stated. A TikToker agreed, adding that "Jersey Mike's used to be a 'Sub Above,' then private equity turned them into a more expensive version of Subway." Still, not everyone thinks you should give up on the brand, as some have come to the chain's defense.

"Most Jersey Mike's are not corporate-run franchises," added one TikTok commenter. "These things are dictated by the owner of the license in your area." That can be considered as one of the unwritten rules to know before visiting Jersey Mike's. Maybe one or two instances of alleged shrinkflation wouldn't be such a huge deal for customers, but the reports of this happening across various locations makes it an issue that's hard to ignore.