Ryan “The Pickled Guy” Lucas holds a jar of his sweet pickle entry made exclusively for Pickled Palooza.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
DUNCANSVILLE — For some people, happiness is a strenuous hike or a relaxing meal after a long day at work. But for Ryan Lucas, it’s a jar of crunchy pickles.
The Duncansville resident has built a growing social media presence of more than 430,000 followers on social media as “The Pickled Guy,” reviewing pickled foods and offering advice to aspiring home picklers.
Lucas, who will host Saturday’s Pickled Palooza at Peoples Natural Gas Field, recently released his own line of pickling spices and pickle-themed merch, and he’s hungry for more.
According to Lucas, he began his TikTok channel in September 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic as a friendly competition with his oldest daughter, Madison, who had been posting dance videos on the platform to blow off steam during quarantine.
“I was kind of joking around with her saying that ‘no one wants to see that,’ so I told her I’d make a bet, I said I was going to do something interesting, and I had a had a couple jars of pickles in the fridge, and I wondered if anyone had ever reviewed any pickles,” Lucas said. “There’s a lot of food reviewers out there, but not specific to pickles.”
Ryan “The Pickled Guy” Lucas of samples pickled sausage on the back deck of his Duncansville home.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski
After some research to confirm his suspicion, Lucas said he found that there wasn’t anyone online doing dedicated reviews for pickles, so he started his page “The Pickled Guy” on TikTok.
“She’s proud of me,” Lucas said of Madison, “but she was like ‘I can’t believe pickles won over trendy dances.’”
Lucas’ younger daughter, Mia, appears in her dad’s videos as his cheery sidekick, the aptly named
“Pickled Girl,” Lucas said.
Progress was slow at first, Lucas said, but he kept “pumping out content,” frequently visiting local farmers markets and grocery stores to gather a wide variety of pickles to review.
About six months in, Lucas received his first email from a brand who noticed his channel, and offered to send him a package of products to review, he said.
“I said, absolutely, sure. So I did the review and it kind of blew up from there over the past four years,” Lucas said.
Working out of his basement office, Lucas said he tries to post a video every day in order to stay relevant in the
Tiktok algorithm.
Lucas now gets packages from large brands on a regular basis, and is one of the most well-known online reviewers in the pickled food niche, he said.
“I now have about 450,000 followers across Tiktok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, just watching me eat pickles,” he said.
For each product he reviews, Lucas has a specific process. First, he reads the list of ingredients, then opens the jar to smell the contents — like a seasoned wine sommelier — before taking his first bite.
Lucas said he carefully assesses every pickle on texture and flavor before the most sacred part of his review, “brine time.”
“I have this shot glass that says ‘brine time’ on it, and I pour the pickle juice in it and take a shot of the juice,” Lucas said, “I’ve sold a lot of those shot glasses, people always tell me ‘I like to watch your videos and do a brine time with you.’”
After developing his palette for pickles through hundreds of reviews, Lucas says the No.1 most important factor in a good pickle is the crunch.
“It has to be a crunchy pickled item. I like spicy food, so I like a nice, spicy, crunchy item,” he said.
Despite the steady pace of his review videos, Lucas said he can’t keep up with the quantity of products he gets from brands to review — leading to his garage refrigerator constantly overflowing with pickles.
This, he said, is a good problem to have, since it allows him to regularly give away free pickles to his family and friends.
While more than 90% of his reviews focus on pickled cucumbers, Lucas said he has branched out to other foods like pickled peppers and beef jerky.
“I do get some comments like ‘you’re the Pickled Guy so stick to pickles,’” Lucas said, but his most loyal fans are supportive of anything he does on the channel.
Lucas currently works as a full-time systems administrator at Penn State Altoona.
“If I made more money on social media I would (consider content creation as a full-time job), but right now … I don’t make enough money to do it full time. It’s a fun hobby,” Lucas said. “It’s definitely something I’m passionate about.”
Lucas said he is particularly passionate about maintaining The Pickled Guy as a family-friendly page, and intentionally avoids using any vulgarity or crude jokes during reviews.
“It’s just good clean entertainment compared to a lot of the other stuff that’s out there,” he said.
Lucas launched his own line of pickling spices almost a year ago after receiving feedback from fans.
“People have always said, ‘when are you going to start creating your own pickle, since you critique all these other items … I think you would have a nice item if you would make it yourself.’” Lucas said.
So Lucas partnered with White Mountain Pickle Co. from Derry, New Hampshire, to release his first two offerings in the “License to Dill” pickling spice kit, a mild and a hot flavor.
Lucas has since added a third, medium-heat option since the kits “really, really took off.”
These kits are now available online at Kittery Trading Post and in several local stores, such as Ace Hardware, Beer World Warehouse, Leightys and Holland Brothers Meats.
According to Holland Bros. owner Mike Holland, Lucas and his wife, Brandi, were familiar faces for years as customers and fellow Duncansville residents prior to the Pickled Guy page taking off, so when Holland heard about his kits he knew he had to reach out.
Holland Bros. now carries all three kits alongside their own pickled items, including the fan-favorite pickled bologna, Holland said.
“It’s been a great working relationship with (Lucas),” he said.
Holland said that his favorite use of the kits is to pickle the beef-blend hot sticks sold in Holland Bros., since the spicy, briny flavors complement each other.
Although his store doesn’t currently offer the hot sticks pre-brined, Holland said he may expand his operation to produce more pickled items made in-house.
“He’s a local, and as a local business we always like supporting other local businesses,” Holland said, “that’s how you start to build a community.”
And although Holland said he isn’t entirely sure how Lucas managed to carve a niche for himself as a pickle reviewer, he understands his aspirations as a fellow small business owner.
“(Lucas) is a good guy, so I support him, and it’s good to see him making a small business work.”
According to Lucas, as the page has grown he has gotten the chance to feature more and more small pickle brands, which allows him to give visibility to the work of local pickle-makers who may have otherwise flown under the radar.
“I’ve met a lot of cool people in the process,” Lucas said.
A pickled community
His platform as the preeminent online pickle reviewer has allowed Lucas to attend several local food and specialty-pickled product conventions, oftentimes as a VIP guest, Lucas said.
The Big Dill pickle fest in Baltimore and Philadelphia are two of Lucas’ regular stops, where he gets a chance to network with other food creators and companies, he said.
“Several thousand people attend and it’s very, very crazy, ” Lucas said. “Pickle people are very devoted to pickles, people dress up in pickle costumes and wear all sorts of pickle gear.”
Lucas has also visited the Quad State Pickle Festival in Boonsboro, Maryland, and was the title sponsor in charge of event announcements.
“Pickle festivals are popping up all over the place,” Lucas said.
On Saturday, Lucas will partner with the Blair County Chapter A.B.A.T.E. — Alliance of Bikers Aimed Toward Education — to host the first ever Pickled Palooza at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and includes pickles and pickled food, like Pickle Pizza and Pickled Mac and Cheese. There will be pickle-eating and brine-eating contests for participants of all ages and a battle of the bands with 10 different musicians from the surrounding region. More than 40 food trucks and vendors are signed up for the day, according to an ABATE release.
“ABATE contacted me with the idea, and said ‘hey we’re thinking about throwing this festival, and we don’t know much about pickles, and since you do, would you be willing to help us?’ so I said sure, it would be fun,” Lucas said.
Five different pickle companies are set to attend, bringing a wide variety of pickled items, Lucas said.
Tickets are $10 for adults; children age 12 and younger are admitted free of charge. Tickets will be available at the event or can be purchased in advance through the Altoona Curve website at and click on the Events at PNG Field tab.
Mirror Staff Writer Conner Goetz is at 814-946-7535.
If you go
What: Pickled Palooza
When: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday (Aug. 24)
Where: Peoples Natural Gas Field
With: Ryan Lucas aka The Pickled Guy
Cost: $10 for adults,
free to children 12 and younger
Tickets: Available at the event or in advance on the Altoona Curve website ,
scroll down and click on the Events
at PNG Field tab.
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