In 2017, two cousins with no baking experience sat thousands of dollars down with what they believed was the best chocolate chip cookie. Just seven years later this cookie is making them over a billion dollars a year, and has created an entirely new lifestyle.
Crumbl Cookie has taken the nation by storm in the past couple of years, developing a diehard fan base nationwide. It all started with two cousins named Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley opening a shop for their cookies in Logan, Utah. To innovate, they decided to have the bakery as an open structure, allowing customers to watch as their cookie is mixed, balled and baked.
The store exploded and the cousins quickly went from just selling their perfect chocolate chip cookies to a rotating menu of six different flavors, all in their iconic pink box. After opening multiple other bakeries in Utah they decided to franchise the concept, aiming to spread the cookie craze to as many people as possible and create a Crumbl family. Today, they have multiplied to 862 locations worldwide, employing over 29,000 workers.
For Crumbl’s fans, the beauty is in the variety. With a rotating menu of over 250 flavors, fans wait eagerly for seven o’clock on Sunday evenings, when the new cookie lineup for the week releases. All of the flavors of cookies are sold either warm or chilled and are on the menu based on how well they sell and their fan reviews on the Crumbl app. The most popular flavor to date is “Chocolate Crumb Cake ft. Oreo,” with the least popular flavor being “Almost Everything Bagel.”
While fans love the cookies, others say they are overpriced and credit Crumbl’s success to good marketing. Using commercials and ads on social media they entice viewers to go in and try the unique and delicious-looking cookies. Whether due to good quality or good marketing, Crumbl manages to sell over a million cookies every single day, with locations often selling out.
Here at school, mixed opinions run rampant. Certain students like senior Elan Lurie go to Crumbl often to try the weekly flavors, while others like freshman Reed Gottesman said it just “isn’t that good.” Sophomore Keon Gray is a fan, going “once every couple of weeks” to try his favorite cookies served warm at what has become his “favorite cookie place.”
With all their success, Crumbl continues creating new cookies and evolving. Starting in 2023, they have been slowly adding other desserts to their menu including cakes, cheesecakes, brownies and more. Multiple of these such as the tres leches cake and brownie sundae have quickly become beloved, getting high ratings on the app.
In addition to rating cookies on the app, fans are able to control what cookies appear at their local bakery. Through Crumbl’s new “Fan Favorites” initiative, rewards members receive a certain number of votes based on their status that they can use to choose what specialty cookie is available at their home store on the third Wednesday of each month. The highest voted-on cookie is available for a day, allowing even more variety and control for the customer.
Whether you love it or hate it, Crumbl is thriving in the post-covid world. $5 might be costly for what could be seen as a mediocre cookie, but Crumbl’s fans see that as a reasonable price for their favorite dessert. Is it worth it? Stop by Crumbl in Rockville and you can be the judge of that.
