Jersey Mike’s IPO: A Prime Example of Overhyped AI Expectations

Identifying the precise moment when real excitement for innovative technology shifts into hyperbole and then skepticism can be challenging. However, when a sandwich shop associated with Danny DeVito includes AI in its IPO documentation, it signals that we might be approaching that transition.

Introducing Jersey Mike’s.

With the current fixation on AI among investors, it’s understandable why tech firms feel the pressure to weave AI references into their presentations. This trend is evident not only among startups dedicated to AI but also in companies like Bending Spoons, which focuses on revamping older, non-AI tech enterprises.

Out of curiosity, I took a look at Jersey Mike’s IPO filings to assess the extent of this trend. Surely, a sandwich shop wouldn’t feel the need to mention AI in its S-1. But, to my surprise!

The phrases artificial intelligence and “AI” appeared 22 times. Despite this, the company’s core business revolves around submarine sandwiches, not AI software. Still, it seems AI solutions are what investors truly desire (forgive the pun).

Notably, it also incorporated AI into its investor risk disclosures, a point that’s even more entertaining. The document doesn’t specify how AI might pose risks to investors, other than a broad assertion: “We are beginning to use AI Technologies in our business.”

To be fair, as a franchise, the company does depend on software (mentioned 52 times) and data (112 mentions), which is standard for almost all businesses. Its advisory on AI risks read like common boilerplate, perhaps even necessary, given the issues faced by other food companies, like Starbucks’ problematic AI inventory system that was scrapped due to miscalculations.

That said, I’ll make a bold prediction: the chances of an AI-related disaster striking a business that focuses on making real sandwiches, rather than AI gimmicks, are akin to a franchise location being hit by lightning. This coincidentally happened at a shop in Texas in 2021. Yet, weather was only referenced five times in the S-1, and lightning? Not a mention at all.