Subway Australia finally responds to the 'missing pickle' outrage

Subway Australia customers are suffering through a prolonged pickle shortage, for a second year in a row.

A frustrated Subway customer reported the issue to nine.com.au, saying: "Every time I've been to Subway recently, they are fully out of pickles. Been a months long issue!"

This was soon confirmed by another Subway customer who asked: "Where are all the damn pickles?"

Reddit threads lamenting the lack of pickles date back four months ago and as recently as a week ago, pointing to this having been a long-term issue for the fast food retailer.

"Is there a pickle shortage at Subway?" one Perth resident posted on Reddit's 'Perth' thread.

"I haven't seen pickles on the menu for a few weeks (been to four Subways so far)."

"It took me calling eight Subways before anyone was actually able to give me any info beyond 'no pickles right now sorry'," another customer said.

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One Subway customer couldn't understand why the pickle shortage has been Subway-specific, with plenty of pickles in stock in supermarkets and food sellers across the country.

"They previously had a jalapeno issue," another said.

"Yet you can go to the nearby supermarket and buy some. Same with pickles. They must have some supplier contract that says, if you can't use ours, you can't use anyone's."

"Yes there are no pickles available, it's been on 6PR and signs are up at Subway."

Subway Australia confirmed the pickle shortage to nine.com.au, but said they will be back in stock soon.

"While we found ourselves in a brief pickle, pickle supply is now arriving and will be progressively replenished across Subway restaurants from late this week into early next week."

This is good news to the reader who first brought the pickle shortage to our attention, who told us her go-to order is "Italian herbs and cheese w/old English cheddar, melted with lettuce, tomato, pickles, olives, chipotle mayo and salt and pepper".

Subways previously experienced a pickle shortage at the end of 2025. At the time, a sign was spotted at Subway's North Sydney location.

It read: "Temporarily Unavailable. Pickles. We are currently experiencing a supply shortage of this stock and it is therefore temporarily unavailable at this store.

"We apologise for any inconvenience and we expect to offer this product again very soon. Thank you."

A similar statement was issued to nine.com.au by Rodica Titeica, CMO at Subway, who said: "Well, we found ourselves in a brief pickle! Yes, it is true that due to a damaged shipment we had some intermittent outages of pickles in some areas.

"We take the quality and safety of our product seriously and as a result we had a brief lapse in product supply.

"But rest assured, we are definitely not out of pickles across our whole network, just in some stores and are we are working hard to replenish this stock as quickly as we can."

In 2022, Subway Australia experienced a significant pickle shortage due to a reported global supply chain disruption which affected their suppliers leading to temporary unavailability of pickles in many stores.

That same year Subway experienced a Garlic Aioli shortage.

At the time, we were told: "Due to nationwide supply pressures, our garlic aioli sauce may be temporarily unavailable at select Subway Restaurants. We anticipate supply will improve in the coming weeks."

These issues eventually resolved, however as recently as December 2024, another pickle shortage impacted Subway stores in Australia and around the world, according to social media posts.

Today (May 28) is World Burger Day, and Subway is challenging burger-lovers to try a Subway sandwich which they say offers better value for money, offering app uses a free side with any Subway Footlong sub from May 28-30.

"We get it, in 2026, every dollar needs to pull its weight," Titeica explained.

"At a time when value is more important than ever, the Footlong stays legendary. It's the undisputed heavyweight champion of value, just pure, guilt-free abundance."

This is part of Subway's effort attract more app users ahead of a new app-based loyalty program that is "currently in development" following the end of the their Subcard loyalty program from June 30.