The image of the 11-inch Subway sandwich marketed as "Footlong" that ignited an online chuckle-fest last week has now sparked a lawsuit.

Citing "false, deceptive" and "misleading affirmative statements of fact," two New Jersey men, John Farley of Evesham and Charles Pendrak of Ocean City, sued Subway on Tuesday to regain losses of 5 to 8.3 percent on the several "Footlong" sandwiches they bought from the sandwich store -- about $.41-$.54 per sub, depending on whether it was the $5 or $6.50 kind. The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status for anyone who bought a sandwich in New Jersey from January 22, 2007 to the present, asks for triple damages. That comes to a grand total of $1.23-$1.62, which is not even enough to buy yourself a new sub. The lawsuit specified one date in December Farley bought a Footlong, and three dates between December and January that Pendrak bought Footlongs, along with "various other dates" on which each bought Footlong sandwiches.

After Australian Matt Corby, having a bit of fun, last week posted a photo of a "Footlong" Subway sandwich next to a measuring tape showing it as only 11 inches long, the picture went viral and kicked off a media pig pile. The two approached lawyers after reading the short sandwich news coverage, their lawyer Stephen DeNittis told the New York Post. Online commenters identifying themselves as Subway employees speculated that the consumers were receiving exactly the same dough as others who got 12-inch subs but that the dough, which arrives frozen at franchise locations, hadn't been properly tugged, pulled and "proofed" before it was baked.

Because the legal action is still pending, Subway spokesperson Les Winograd declined to comment on the case specifically.

Matt Corby

Matt Corby uploaded a photo to Facebook of a Subway sandwich advertised as a "Footlong," next to a measuring tape showing it as 11 inches long. The caption read, "subway pls respond," and, after the image went viral, Subway did.

"We regret any instance where we did not fully deliver on our promise to our customers," Winograd told TODAY via email. "We freshly bake our bread throughout the day in our more than 38,000 restaurants in 100 countries worldwide, and we have redoubled our efforts to ensure consistency and correct length in every sandwich we serve. Our commitment remains steadfast to ensure that every SUBWAY® Footlong sandwich is 12 inches at each location worldwide."

Stephen DeNittis, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, told TODAY that his firm had "Footlong" sandwiches from 14 different Subway locations measured, and each fell short. 

DeNittis shrugged off the suggestion that regardless of the sandwich length, consumers were still getting the same amount of dough in their loaf, saying, "If they were selling by net weight, that would be a good argument."

The case is worthy of the court's time, DeNittis said. "It's no different than if a wireless company is profiting on a 14-cent hidden fee."

DeNittis, an experienced class-action lawyer, is familiar with the criticisms of his trade, such as class actions profit the lawyers with big fees while consumers walk away with coupons. DeNittis said class-action courts were set up to deal with consumers with small-damage cases. Any fees lawyers receive are court-approved, he said, and are based on the "hundreds of thousands of hours" they can take to prosecute, as well as factoring for the risk the lawyers take on when they accept the case. 

"If you believe it's OK to shortchange consumers on little fraud ... if you think it's only OK to go after companies for big fraud," then you probably won't think this case measures up, he said.

The case is about "holding big companies to deliver what they promised," said DeNittis. "When you expend it over millions of sandwiches, it adds up." He added that his firm "will be investigating to find out if Subway intentionally made sandwiches smaller to profit unfairly off consumer deception."

Call it "Subway and the angry inch." On Tuesday, a Facebook user posted a picture of a Subway "Footlong" sub next to a tape measure, and showing the sandwich coming up short, measuring a mere 11 inches. The caption read, "subway pls respond."

The Internet did swiftly. The image was posted to the popular link-sharing website Reddit and the Facebook post received over 130,990 likes, 3,910 shares, and 5,890 comments.

Many of the comments took a tone of mock outrage, like:

• "I am calling for congressional hearings about this!"
• "You should ask for 1" refund"
• And one who posted a picture of his own 11-inch Subway Footlong with the caption  "I DEMAND FREE SUBWAY SANDWICHES FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE OR I WILL SUE YOU FOR FALSE ADVERTISEMENT."

Subway provided this comment to TODAY: “Our bread is freshly baked daily in each of the over 38,000 Subway restaurants worldwide. We are committed to providing a consistent product delivering the same amount of bread to the customer with every order. The length however may vary slightly when not baked to our exact specifications. We are reinforcing our policies and procedures in an effort to ensure our offerings are always consistent no matter which Subway restaurant you visit.”

On Thursday afternoon, the link to the photo on their wall began returning "This content is currently unavailable" when TODAY tried to access it. Earlier on Thursday, Subway wrote on Facebook in reply to the uploader, Matt Corby.

Other Facebook users uploaded their images of short Subway footlongs to a Facebook album, and also reposted Corby's photo, sometimes cropped and with their own captions. On several posts, Subway left the same apology message they left for Corby, even when the uploaded photo was just a repost of Corby's and not their own image.

"Hi Matt - Thanks for writing. Looking at your photo, this bread is not baked to our standards," Subway, which has over 35,000 locations worldwide, wrote in the message to Corby. "We have policies in place to ensure that our fresh baked bread is consistent and has the same great taste no matter which Subway restaurant around the world you visit. We value your feedback and want to thank you again for being a fan."

Commenters identifying themselves as Subway workers speculated that since the bread arrives at the stores frozen, it hadn't been properly tugged and "proofed" before it was baked.

If that's true, then Corby and others are still getting the same amount of bread as they're supposed to, it's just been a bit squished.

That's not much to get angry about, but it's enough to chuckle over.

Matt Corby

Matt Corby uploaded a photo to Facebook of a Subway sandwich advertised as a "Footlong," next to a measuring tape showing it as 11 inches long. The caption read, "subway pls respond," and, after the image went viral, Subway did.

(Updated 4:06 p.m. Eastern) The droughts that ravaged crops across North American and Russia have had a huge impact on the food supply, livestock and farmers but now it may be time to hit the “panic” button – one pig group is predicting a BACON SHORTAGE.

“A world shortage of pork and bacon next year is now unavoidable,” the National Pig Association in the UK said this week.

The droughts meant less feed to go around and farmers had to take drastic measures. One farmer fed his cows candy to survive, while others have pared their herds. The NPA warned that he number of slaughtered pigs could drop by 10 percent in the second half of next year and that could cause the price of pork products to DOUBLE.

The group is taking the situation so seriously, they have launched a “Save Our Bacon” campaign.

So, what does this mean for bacon lovers in the U.S.? 

“Unfortunately it does seem as though this is an unavoidable event due to drought conditions in key pork producing areas,” said Heather Lauer, author of the “Bacon Unwrapped” blog and the book “Bacon: A Love Story.”

Twitter was peppered with all sorts of concern about a possible bacon crisis. “Our worst fear is coming to pass — global bacon shortage!” @allbacon wrote. “Go, scramble the jets! Get me the PM!” @ckk527 wrote.

Some of the bacon Twitterati kicked into action mode. “Time to get that backyard pig?” @JP_Permaculture asked. And @Agropinion said, “Need bigger freezer!”

“My first reaction to the news was: The Mayans were right. This is how it's going down!” Lauer said.

During this time of potential national crisis, we turned to the National Pork Producers Council for guidance and they said — don’t hit the panic button just yet.

U.S. hog farmers have been reducing their herds due to high feed costs but the situation isn’t as severe as it is in the UK and other European Union nations, where some nations have reduced herds 10 percent or more.

“I don’t think we’re too worried about it,” said Dave Warner, a spokesman for the NPCC. “We’re seeing a little bit of that [paring herds] here but not nearly what you’re seeing there.”

U.S. hog farmers probably won’t pare their herds more than 3 percent in the next 6 to 8 months, which would mean an increase in retail prices on bacon and other pork products of about 8 to 10 percent, said Steve Meyer, the president of Paragon Economics and a consultant to pork industry.

“Eight to 10 percent isn’t per se a crisis,” Meyer said.

And, it’s important to draw the line between the two because UK bacon is a completely different product than US bacon, he said — it’s more like loin there — and the US doesn’t import bacon from other countries.

“A global reduction in supply is almost unavoidable but I don’t think we’re going to have lines for bacon the U.S.!” said Meyer, who also writes a daily livestock report. “Are we going to have less product in the second half of 2013? Yes.”

Rising meat prices have been a concern to the industry for the last five years since the rise of ethanol, which, like feed for livestock, comes from corn. The recent drought in the U.S. and Russia piled on to that. Meyer said without ethanol as a base strain on the industry, it might have weathered the drought better. Though, the drought was even a rarity — the last time the U.S. corn belt suffered a drought was 1988.

Meyer said the unbelievable attention that the potential shortage has received is a testament to America’s sizzling, smokey love affair with bacon.

“I’ve been talking about [rising meat prices] since 2006 but nobody would listen until someone said we’re not going to have enough bacon,” Meyer said. “If I’d known that I’d have used different words. Don’t take away their bacon!”

To be clear, there isn't necessarily going to be a shortage in the U.S., Meyer said, but prices are definitely still a big concern.

The price of bacon and other pork products hit a record $3.56 a pound in 2011 and last month reached $3.53, according to the USDA.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see that number go to $3.60 to $3.70 a pound,” Meyer said.

And this is not good news for families who are already grappling with unemployment and digging out of the recession.

“Anytime you drive up retail prices — beef, pork, chicken, turkey, eggs, milk … it falls on people with low incomes and fixed incomes,” he said. “The people who can’t afford it.”

Over the summer, the government announced a plan to buy $100 million of pork products for schools, the military, etc. It’s a start, but Meyer said it’s still probably not enough to make a dent in the industry’s problems.

So, let’s cut to the chase — which presidential candidate would be better for bacon?

Meyer said the industry isn’t favoring either candidate but what they’d vote for is less regulation.

“It’s not a crisis but there will certainly be a reduction in pork supplies in 2013 and that means higher prices for consumers,” he said.

Still, Lauer said, she’s not taking any chances.

Mulling the reality of a post-apocalyptic, bacon-less Sunday brunch, “there is serious potential for a breakdown in our social structure!” she quipped. “And who knows what lengths people will go to in order to fulfill their basic bacon needs.”

In an effort to "get ahead of this life-altering event," Brooks Reynolds, one of the co-founders of the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival, and other members of the Iowa Bacon Board, traveled to Reykjavik, Iceland for the "International Bacon Summit."

"One of the key resolutions from the Icelandic and Iowa Bacon Boards was to build a world with the proverbial pig in every pot, similar to Herbert Hoover's 'chicken in every pot' presidential slogan in 1928," Reynolds said. "The first step in accomplishing this lofty goal is to encourage bacon lovers to go out and raise their own pigs. If they don't have room in their homes for a pig, we recommend building a 'personal bacon readiness kit' over the next year, which should include things like: thick cut, applewood smoked, dry cured, Berkshire, etc."

He's afraid to even think of a possible bacon shortage and what it could mean -- social and political unrest, an increased need for swine security and a "tidal wave of black market (boar bacon, tofu bacon, turkey bacon and beef bacon) bacon hitting the streets," he said.

And if there were a shortage, what would it mean for the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival?

"We would most likely need to heighten security and consider using identification verification equipment like retinal scans at the door," Reynolds said.

“Perhaps it’s finally time for our country to address the need for a Strategic Bacon Reserve,” Lauer said firmly. “In the meantime, I’m going into survival mode and have already started stockpiling. As FEMA says, ‘Prepare. Plan. Stay informed.’”

Well said, Heather. Stay tuned to the Pony blog for all the latest bacon and bacon crisis news! 

More from CNBC.com:

• Bacon as currency: testing the limits of what it can buy 
• What's your 'bacon number?' Just ask Google
• Bacon tourism: from the Davos of bacon to bacon Mecca
• Bacon around the world: Speck-en zee bacon?

More money and business news:

• Bank fees soar as free-checking offers decline
• Crunch on this: America's favorite snacks
• Brain training may help elderly drive better
• Waffle on gay marriage isn't helping Chick-fil-A
• Video: A flat-tax lesson from Europe
• Sign up for our Business newsletter

Follow NBCNews.com business on Twitter and Facebook

AP

It's tough for many Americans to pass by Ritz crackers.

 Americans may not be able to agree on much these days, but we can usually be counted on to unite around one thing: The chip bowl.

Americans love their salty snacks, but some are more favored than others. YouGov BrandIndex on Monday released its list of the top 10 items we like to crunch on.

The annual list is based on the company’s daily polls of around 5,000 Americans. The researchers asked people if they had a generally positive feeling about a wide variety of snack brands, and assigns a score based on subtracting the negative scores from the positive ones.

Ritz topped the list. The round, golden, buttery cracker and its distinctive red packaging may be an old favorite, but it’s apparently been able to keep its loyal following through the years.

No. 2 on the list was Lay’s potato chips, followed by Doritos. The list was little changed from last year.

Here’s the full rundown:

1. Ritz
2. Lay’s
3. Doritos
4. Fritos
5. Orville Redenbacher
6. Wheat Thins
7. Tostitos
8. Cheetos
9. Pringles
10. Triscuit

Hungry yet?

Rain is in short supply across most of the country and you could be paying the price for it at the grocery store. NBC's Janet Shamlian reports.

Coinstar

"Hi. I'm your new robobarista. May I take your order?"

    Betting, perhaps, that Americans just can’t drink enough coffee, Coinstar announced Wednesday it would have 500 automated kiosks serving Seattle’s Best Coffee in the Northeast and West Coast by year's end and “thousands” across the country in the coming years.

Coinstar has experienced success with its Redbox movie rental machines in supermarkets and convenience stores. Seattle’s Best Coffee is owned by Starbucks.

The machines will also serve coffee drinks such as lattes and mochas. Prices will begin at $1.

It will be a new business model said Nick Montano of Vending Times, an industry trade publication. The coffee vending business is established, but no company yet has tried the placement Coinstar may use.

“The mainstream vending industry serves workplace locations,” Montano said. The operators are primarily regional.

“Is this something new? No. But how they are doing it? Yes,” he said. “They aren’t going outside of a 7-Eleven that sells coffee inside. But maybe inside a Wal-Mart or supermarket – places that have no coffee service.”

In a press release, Coinstar said the kiosks would be in “grocery, drug, and mass merchant locations. As Coinstar expands geographically with its coffee kiosk, it will also pursue additional channels as part of an ongoing roll-out.”

Coinstar CEO Paul Davis told CNBC the company has been testing the product for “a year-and-a-half to two years” and was optimistic about success.

“We’re convinced there’s a terrific business opportunity there,” he said.

Below, Davis discusses the company's moves and strategy with CNBC.

Salad is good for you. That’s why it’s the first item in the buffet line. Not.

Plantingmoneyseeds.com passes along a list of four tricks restaurants use to get more money out of each customer. And cheaping out is well represented, both by the salad and the size of straws they use for non-boozers.

Are you paying too much? Fight back!

Another category is "menu engineering." Although slapping “new” in front of an item hardly seems like bridge building.

Have you worked in the hospitality industry? What tricks did management have you employ? 

AP

Before you think that your pithy, self-referential online review will bring down (“I said THREE CHERRIES in my Appletini — this place haz Worst. Service. Evar.”)  or completely make (“They offered this delight! It’s called sushi! I’ve never had it before! Tasty!!!) your local restaurant, a Harvard Business School student has some facts for you.

Writer Michael Luca looked at how Yelp.com reviews affect the bottom line in Seattle-area restaurants. It turns out that unverified rantings really do matter. From the abstract:

1. A one-star increase picks up revenue 5 to 9 percent.
2. Unless you’re a chain restaurant.
3. Where Yelp penetration increases, chains lose market share.

Read the entire article here. Then make your comments on it that are sure to influence other readers below.

Shout-out to Eater Seattle for bringing it to our attention.