I can’t distinguish the exact tipping point between realistic enthusiasm for a new technology, hype, and aww-come on – but I’m pretty sure that when a sandwich shop with Danny DeVito as a public face talks about AI in its IPO documents, we must be getting close. The same goes for Jersey Mike’s. Given investors’
I can’t distinguish the exact tipping point between realistic enthusiasm for a new technology, hype, and aww-come on – but I’m pretty sure that when a sandwich shop with Danny DeVito as a public face talks about AI in its IPO documents, we must be getting close.
The same goes for Jersey Mike’s.
Given investors’ thirst for all things AI these days, I understand why tech companies feel the need to sprinkle AI dust all over their presentations. This is as true for non-AI startups raising venture capital as it is for the public debut of Bending Spoons, a company that’s in the business of buying up old “non-AI” tech companies to turn them around.
Just for fun, I took a look at Jersey Mike’s IPO documents to see how far this compulsion can go. Surely a sandwich shop wouldn’t need to mention AI in its S-1. But lo and behold!
The term artificial intelligence and its acronym “AI” were mentioned 22 times. In this case, the company cannot claim to sell artificial intelligence software. Sells underwater snacks. AI products are what investors really crave (terrible pun intended).
Still, he found a way to mention AI in his warnings about investor risk. That can be even more fun. He doesn’t explain what he’s using AI for that could be dangerous for investors, beyond a hand-waving phrase: “We’re starting to use AI technologies in our business.”
To be fair, as a company that operates franchisees, it relies on software (mentioned 52 times) and data (112 mentions), as all companies do. His AI risk warning was a boilerplate, perhaps even necessary, since similar disasters have already befallen other food companies, such as the half-baked AI inventory tool launched by Starbucks, which couldn’t count and was recently scrapped.
Still, I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that the risk of an AI disaster for a company that makes real-life sandwiches, not AI waste, is about the same as, say, a franchise store being struck by lightning. By the way, that happened to a store in Texas in 2021. However, weather was only mentioned five times in the S-1. And the lightning? Not once.
When you buy through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This does not affect our editorial independence.
Keep following us for the latest insights.
