Sandwich Shop in AI Hype: Jersey Mike's IPO Reveals Tech Frenzy

The author observes that we have reached a point where even a sandwich shop with Danny DeVito as its public face talks about AI in its IPO documents. Investor appetite for all things AI pushes companies – even non-tech ones – to sprinkle AI references into their pitches.

Examining Jersey Mike's IPO filing, the author expected no AI mentions for a sandwich chain. Yet the term "artificial intelligence" or its acronym "AI" appears 22 times. The company cannot claim to sell AI software; it sells submarine sandwiches. But AI is what investors really crave.

AI is even included in risk warnings. The filing does not explain what specific AI uses could pose a danger, beyond a vague phrase: "We are beginning to use AI Technologies in our business." Fairly, the company does rely on software (mentioned 52 times) and data (112 times), as all businesses do.

The AI risk warning is boilerplate, perhaps necessary given past failures like Starbucks' half-baked AI inventory tool that couldn't count and was recently scrapped.

The author sarcastically predicts that the risk of an AI disaster for a real-sandwich company is about the same as a franchise shop getting hit by lightning – which actually happened in Texas in 2021. Yet weather is mentioned only five times in the S-1, and lightning not at all.