ST. CLOUD -- A new sub shop is about to open in the Granite City. Jersey Mike's Subs is on deck to open at 3959 2nd Street South in St. Cloud, Wednesday.

Bart Crockett is the franchise owner. He says to kick off their grand opening celebration they will be doing a free sub fundraiser. They will give away 7,500 coupons in the community that offer a free regular sub if you make a $2 donation. Donation funds go to different area schools and programs.

The fundraiser will go for three weeks. Each week a different St. Cloud area school will benefit from the funds raised.

"We're with the St. Cloud Youth Lacrosse and a couple of the Catholic schools in town the first week, the second week we are with North Junior High and the third week we're with Madison Elementary. We do a five-day opening fundraiser but we've found more schools that want to be involved with us so we said hey let's do week number two and three."

Crockett owns four other Jersey Mike's Subs locations, all based in the Twin Cities. He says he wanted to expand to St. Cloud because it's a growing area.

"St. Cloud is such a vibrant ongoing market, we just found the right fit for the location in the Rivertown Village...Getting the right location, with the right access and the right co-tenants, it's really important for us and this was really the perfect fit. It's an A+ location in an A+ market."

Other than the restaurant's opening fundraiser, Jersey Mike's Subs will also be taking part in a national fundraiser this month.

"March 28th is a huge day for us. All of the proceeds that are taken in by the store that day, all sales go to the Lymphoma & Leukemia Society of Minnesota. We call it our Day of Giving."

Jersey Mike's Subs was founded in 1956. The restaurant is known for freshly slicing meats and cheeses in store. Crockett says most people order their sub "Mike's Way" with onion, lettuce, tomato, and the restaurant's famous olive oil mixed with red wine vinegar dressing and spices. His favorite sub, a classic club sub with turkey and ham, "Mike's Way."

Jersey Mike's Subs has more than 1,500 locations in the country. The St. Cloud location will be open every day 10:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.

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