Jersey Mike’s franchisees Eli Johnson, Joseph Fischer and Julio Cayo opened the sub sandwich chain’s third Apopka location Wednesday at 1637 N Rock Springs Road. 

Founded in 1956, Jersey Mike’s has 3,225 locations across the country, according to the chain’s website. The new location’s paper menu lists 18 sandwich varieties, including the Club Supreme — Johnson and Cayo’s favorite — and Fischer’s favorite, The Original Italian. 

“It’s a nice, great product,” said Johnson, who’s worked at Jersey Mike’s for around four years. “We come in [at] seven o’clock in the morning, put [out] fresh bread, lettuce, tomato and onions every day.” 

To celebrate the location’s opening, Jersey Mike’s gave away coupons for a free regular sub sandwich for a minimum donation of $3 to the Children’s Tumor Foundation, which combats neurofibromatosis (NF). The new location will accept the coupons through Sunday. 

“NF refers to a group of genetic conditions that cause tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body,” the Children’s Tumor Foundation website says. “NF affects 4 million people worldwide. Anyone can be born with NF, and it impacts everyone differently.” 

For Fischer, the cause is personal. 

“I have a close friend and coworker that — their son has been dealing with it [NF] since he was born and has… carved out a nice life for himself with the support of the Children’s Tumor Foundation,” Fischer said. 

That friend is Mark Ehrli, who visited the new Jersey Mike’s location approximately 20 minutes after it opened. He’s known Fischer for 30 years and has supported the Children’s Tumor Foundation ever since his son, Joe, received his NF diagnosis in California in 1993.  

“He’s had surgeries, but he’s an Eagle Scout — proud UCF graduate — and he’s really persevered through a lot of difficult circumstances,” Ehrli said. 

According to Ehrli, Jersey Mike’s locations across central Florida and Jacksonville have donated over $100,000 to the foundation thus far. 

“They’ve been a participant and a retail sponsor of our Shine a Light walk for the last five or six years, which is our walk for a cure that we hold every November,” Ehrli said. “They’ve been the retail sponsor of that, and they supply lunch, and they also do fundraising in the stores in the Orlando area as well as in the Jacksonville area.” 

Johnson has also known Fischer for a few decades and credits Fischer for his start at Jersey Mike’s around four years ago. He believes the relationships built between guests and team members, like that between Ehrli and Fischer, are what set his career from Jersey Mike’s apart from previous jobs. 

“You see a lot of the same people like four or five times a week,” Johnson said. “We stay professional in our execution, in the product and the way we put it out, but the conversation and the banter and the relationships you create with those people you see every day is priceless.” 

Jersey Mike’s is open daily 10 a.m.-9 p.m.