Jersey Mike’s owner treks halfway across the country to help Braden’s Hope

Peter Cancro dabbed sweat from his brow Wednesday after emerging from behind the counter at Jersey Mike’s Subs on the corner Black Bob Road and 151st Street in Olathe.

Most days, the scene wouldn’t be all that remarkable, an employee taking a break after a busy lunch rush.

Except, Cancro and the rest of the sub shop’s staff were handling a lunch rush on steroids this particular day. Oh, and he’s a New Jersey native — the owner of the Jersey Mike’s franchise, which is the fastest-growing chain restaurant in the U.S. — who flew halfway across the country to celebrate his company’s stores giving away nearly $7 million to charity in a single day.

“From the early days, it’s just kind of what we’ve always done — give to give, as they say,” Cancro said.

That philosophy is why, during each of the last eight years, Jersey Mike’s locations from coast to coast have participated in the Day of Giving, the culmination of an annual month-long fundraising effort.

On a designated day, March 28 this year, gross sales from the more than 1,400 Jersey Mike’s locations are donated to local charities of the franchisee’s choosing.

Cancro decided to come to the Olathe store this week, because it’s been the top-selling location for the Day of Giving in 2016 and 2017, with all of the sales/donations benefitting Braden’s Hope for Childhood Cancer.

“When we hooked up with Braden’s Hope, we knew it was going to be a home run,” said Jersey Mike’s Area Director Michael Spiegel — who oversees the Kansas City market and whose son, Michael, owns three stores in town. “We knew it was going to be a home run out of the blocks; (we) didn’t know it was going to be a grand slam.”

During the lunch rush, Cancro was spotted behind the counter assisting roughly a dozen employees, including four college students who skipped class to work in the store for the day, in cranking out sandwiches.

Before that, he’d left Braden’s Hope President (and Braden’s mom), Deliece Hofen, stunned and stuttering after deciding that Jersey Mike’s corporate office would match Wednesday’s final sales figure from the Olathe store.

“I just kept saying, ‘I think he just said that,’ but it’s really unbelievable,” Hofen said. “Who does that? That is so much money and so much hope. To have a company that has a heart to do something like that is truly unique and awesome.”

Spiegel — who grew up with Cancro on the Jersey Shore and played football with him at Point Pleasant Beach High School, home of the Garnet Gulls — wasn’t nearly as shocked.

“That’s the cornerstone of what Peter has developed over 40-plus year with our company,” he said. “... We’re making subs, but we’re changing lives.”

Jersey Mike’s started as a small sandwich shop on the Jersey Shore in 1956. Cancro became the restaurant’s fourth owner in 1975 and started the franchise in 1987.

Today, there are more than 1,400 locations in 45 states. Spiegel oversees the locations in Kansas, western Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska.

“We like to say we’re back out on the field together,” Cancro joked.

On Wednesday, the goal of selling 1,000 loaves of bread — a milestone the Olathe location reached shortly after 7 p.m., touching off a rousing round of cheers — was no laughing matter.

The Olathe location sold around 800 loaves last year and raised almost $20,000, so this year’s total should be well above that, especially considering Cancro’s offer to double the donation.

Braden’s Hope, which has raised more than $2.1 million for children’s cancer research in the last six years, hopes to generate $3 million more during the next three years for Children’s Mercy Hospital.

“Our son Braden was diagnosed with cancer (neuroblastoma) when he was 3 and he relapsed when he was 5,” Hofen said. “There was no known cure, and three months after his relapse I got diagnosed with breast cancer.”

Being dumbstruck by the difference in treatment options for adults and children prompted Hofen to start Braden’s Hope.

“They had all of these treatments for me and nothing for my son,” Hofen said. “I started researching to find out why and found out how overlooked and underfunded childhood cancer research really is.”

Jersey Mike’s is doing its part to close that gap, contributing more than $50,000 during to the last three years simply by feeding hungry lunch patrons — as Cancro works up a sweat.

This story was originally published March 30, 2018 at 11:25 AM with the headline "Jersey Mike’s owner treks halfway across the country to help Braden’s Hope."