Earlier this month, Auntie Anne’s pretzels opened a new storefront in Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building – the second of five planned launches in Sydney this year.
Since the first Australian store opened in Parramatta, pretzel lovers have turned out in full force. This is in part due to the clout the brand brings from its success in the United States, but the local team’s social media game has played an equally important role.
In the lead-up to the QVB launch, Auntie Anne’s teased the location on Instagram and TikTok, challenging followers to guess where they’d pop up next.
Let us be the first (or last) to tell you – with clips featuring a corner of the Queen Victoria statue, the iconic streetlights on the corner and the highly identifiable floor tiles – it wasn’t hard to guess.
The next video came shortly after. “POV: We spent weeks planning a marketing campaign for our next opening, but the whole city has clocked the location,” read the caption.
Was Auntie Anne’s a beacon of subtlety? Not particularly. Was this a clever marketing campaign? Absolutely.
Rolling with creators
Ahead of the grand opening, the QVB venue invited creators from across Sydney to try some of Auntie Anne’s best and experience what happens behind the scenes.
Instagram creator @our_unpredictable_journey was invited to the kitchen, where she learned to roll, twist and bake the signature pretzels. “It looks easy, but it’s really tricky,” she admitted in her video.
Another creator, @lavenia_clarabelle asked Sydneysiders to save the date post her preview. They serve freshly baked pretzels in both sweet and savoury flavours”, she shared with her followers. “My favourite is the pepperoni cheese pretzel and they also have sweet almond cream cheese and pretzel dogs.”
What are people saying?
On October 11, queues formed at the new QVB store as fans lined up for their fix of Auntie Anne’s pretzels, which have quickly gained cult status since their Australian debut.
With two storefronts now serving an already loyal customer base, here’s the feedback the new franchise has received so far.
Sydney-based American TikTok user @madrobichaux said she waited in line for an hour. “Auntie Anne’s used to be one of my comfort snacks in America,” she shared. “There is nothing better than a day full of shopping and a little cinnamon pretzel to wrap up your day.”
Her one request was that the brand add the sweet glaze dip – a staple pairing in the US – to its Australian menu.
Not every review was glowing. Some American expats who attended the Parramatta opening said the pretzels “didn’t quite capture the classic Auntie Anne’s flavour we know and love from the US locations.”
Others, however, couldn’t get enough. @alicechow_n noted that there’s a three-item limit per order, adding, “There is still a line outside and I can definitely see why.”
“They make it fresh in store with a dough that is so soft and pillowy, filled with a lot of cinnamon sugar,” she said.
“I waited in line for two hours for a pretzel instead of studying and it was 100% worth it,” said Sydney-based @snackingclub in an Instagram post a little after the Parramatta opening.
“I have loved Auntie Anne’s since birth and now I don’t have to trek all the way to Auntie Anne’s in Indonesia to fulfil my cravings.”
The long lines are a running theme in user-generated content for both the Parramatta and CBD stores, which is to be expected given their proximity to key transport hubs.
In July 2025, with the launch of the Australian flagship, friends-turned-business partners Yu Jin-Lett and Johann Wong announced plans to roll out 60 locations across Australia, with five new openings already on the horizon in the following 12 months.
With the QVB store now operational and more on the way, Sydney’s pretzel future looks golden – and a little bit twisted.
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