Some Subway India branches have stopped serving tomatoes in their salads and sandwiches due to quality issues. It’s the latest move by a foreign brand as prices for this staple have soared almost 400 percent to record highs in the country.
A Subway branch at a Delhi airport terminal announced the “temporary unavailability of TOMATOES” with a sign saying the restaurant could not obtain enough supplies to pass quality checks.
“We are therefore forced to offer you products without tomatoes for the time being,” it said. “We’re working on getting the tomato stocks back.”
Everstone Group’s Culinary Brands, which has the master franchisee for around 200 of India’s 800 subways and manages the supply chain for all, did not respond to a request for comment.
It was not clear how many stores were affected.
Many Indian shops were still offering tomatoes, according to reviews of grocery ordering apps and store calls, but at least two in New Delhi, one in Uttar Pradesh and one in Chennai in the south had stopped.
“It’s very expensive,” said an employee at a Subway branch.
Two weeks ago, McDonald’s restaurants in India removed tomatoes from their burgers and wraps due to quality issues in many parts of India.
In the capital New Delhi, tomatoes were selling for about 168 rupees a kg on Saturday after trading at around 240 rupees.
The government blames higher tomato prices on a lean production season as monsoon rains affect transport and distribution. Months of higher prices follow for items ranging from milk to spices.
The government has organized mobile delivery vans to deliver tomatoes on cheaper terms in recent weeks, with hundreds queuing every day.
Global restaurant chains like Domino’s and KFC are also launching cheaper products in India, where consumers have been cutting back on spending due to high inflation. Domino’s is aggressively promoting a 60-cent 7-inch pizza in the country, the brand’s cheapest in the world.