Just a few years ago, the idea that you would be able to order freshly baked cookies and milk straight to your door would have seemed more like a dream than reality, but now across the U.S., that’s increasingly the reality.
Crumbl is part of the cookie delivery service movement and its franchise model is expanding rapidly across the country.
It started when Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley experimented with baking different cookie recipes. Now, the chain is the fourth fastest-growing food chain in the country, according to The New York Times, and the fastest-growing dessert chain.
The chain has a rotating cookie menu. While the chain’s pink sugar cookie is one of its iconic flavors (and let’s be honest — the unofficial cookie of Utah), the menu offers new cookie flavors like strawberry cheesecake and cookie butter lava with Biscoff.
The cookie menu might be bigger than you think. McGowan and Hemsley said to Mashed, “Typically, cookies only come out on the calendar once or twice a year, because that’s how many flavors we have. We have about 170 plus flavors.”
Some of the cookie flavors are unexpected. Have you ever tried a cornbread cookie? Well, Crumbl has one. What about a cookie topped with gummy worms? Crumbl has you covered there, too. The company’s unique flavors and constantly changing menu may contribute to its success, since it’s created a set of reviewers who anxiously await for the new menu to debut so they can try them.
Crumbl has something of a cult following. Its signature pink boxes flow with the chain’s Instagrammable aesthetic. With a carefully curated social media to boot, the chain posts videos of its cookies, showing them in the best possible light (literally).
The chain’s TikTok is full of videos that showcase the chain’s weekly menu. The cookies are shown at different angles and every detail of the cookie is highlighted. For generations like millennials and Gen Z, Crumbl’s social media aesthetic seems like what one would expect from an influencer.
@crumblcookies 🌀 CINNAMON ROLL | 🥜 CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER FT. OREO® (NEW) | 🍓 STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE (NEW) | 🌋 COOKIE BUTTER LAVA FT. BISCOFF® #CrumblCookies OREO is a trademark of Mondelēz International group, used under license.
♬ original sound - Crumbl Cookies
The chain’s offerings expand beyond cookies. You can stop into Crumbl for some ice cream, which the brand calls Crumbl Cream. On Crumbl’s website, the flavors listed are brownie fudge, cookie dough crunch, peanut butter brittle, raspberry cheesecake, snickerdoodle and vanilla bean. You can place a scoop of the Crumbl Cream on top of a warm cookie similar to a Pizookie.
Crumbl’s rotating menu has launched a genre of social media videos that have more than 700 million views on TikTok — the Crumbl Cookie cookie reviews.
Reviewers like Breanna Brooks will purchase Crumbl’s lineup and then review all the flavors. Last week, Brooks said she liked the strawberry cheesecake cookie a lot and thought “it did not disappoint.” She gave the cookie a 9 out of 10 and said the jam wasn’t too sweet and went well with the other components of the cookie.
What’s the size of a Crumbl cookie?
These aren’t your average cookies in terms of size either. Crumbl’s cookies are pretty big. They’re big enough that the chain also has a signature cookie cutter on the Crumbl website. This cookie cutter can slice the cookie into quarters, which makes them easier to share.
On average, a Crumbl cookie is approximately 4.5 inches, per the Des Moines Register. Most cookies you make at home are likely half the size. Each cookie weighs 5.5 ounces, which means they’re pretty big.
How much do Crumbl cookies cost?
Around $4. The delivery price for a 4-pack of Crumbl cookies in downtown Salt Lake City was $15.57, which means each cookie is just shy of $4. The cookies are pretty big and rich, which is something to keep in mind when considering the price.
How many locations does Crumbl have?
Crumbl said on its website that there are 786 locations across the U.S.
Are Crumbl cookies good?
There’s much dispute on matters of taste, but Crumbl cookies have been a hit. The Deseret News has done a handful of cookie taste tests involving Crumbl. At the height of the Utah Cookie War, the Deseret News trending team tried some of Crumbl’s cookies.
During the taste test, Natalie Issa tried Crumbl’s chocolate chip cookie: “After taking a bite of the chocolate chip cookie, Natalie immediately exclaimed that this was the best one. She commented on the sweetness of the chocolate chips, but also on how balanced she thought the cookie was. She remarked, ‘It just melts in your mouth!’”
Natalie also said she liked the flavors at Crumbl the best.
There are some good cookies at Crumbl. The Chocolate Cookies & Cream is packed with different types of chocolate and takes like a fudge brownie with Oreos in cookie form. Of course, it’s super decadent and a couple bites of it will curb your cravings, but that seems to be the purpose of Crumbl cookies.
These cookies are gourmet in the purest sense of the word — they’re thick, buttery and topped with creamy frostings and unique toppings.
Some people don’t like Crumbl cookies and think that they’re “overhyped.” As one writer for The New York Times said, the discourse over whether or not the cookies are actually good has contributed to the success of the cookies. All publicity is good publicity, it seems.
Why are Crumbl cookies so popular?
It might be due to dessert trends, the popularity of chocolate chip cookies and Crumbl’s minimalist yet polished aesthetic.
Utah locals who are familiar with the dessert scene will know that dessert trends here have cycled throughout the years. For a while, there was a cupcake craze and more recently, restaurants like Simply Cheesecake have been the talk of the Provo dessert scene.
The cupcake phase was also a national moment, according to Tastemade. Gourmet cupcakes were the dessert of choice during the late 2000s and into the early 2010s until the popularity waned.
The Utah dessert scene seems to follow national trends, but is also slightly different. Dessert restaurants are something that do particularly well in Utah because a large portion of the population refrains from alcohol, so it gives them something to do after dinner — it’s part of the reason soda shops are a dime a dozen here.
It makes sense that a company like Crumbl would have a great start in the Beehive State for those (and other) reasons.
But there also might just be something about the cookie.
Nestle Tollhouse is the household name behind the chocolate chip cookie and for good reason — the recipe is fantastic. The New Yorker did an origin story on the chocolate chip cookie and described how this flavor of cookie has been popular throughout the 1900s and is certainly still popular today.
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Chocolate chip cookies are one of the most popular desserts — maybe even the most popular, per CBS News. The popularity of chocolate chip cookies might be a driver behind Crumbl’s popularity. Part of it also may be Crumbl’s aesthetic.
Frosting is piped onto the cookies neatly, the cookies look homemade yet polished, the pink box is easily Instagrammable and the mix up of flavors gives people something new to talk about every day. While this might not fully explain the popularity of Crumbl, it’s possible that these factors have something to do with it.
Crumbl is going international
Crumbl has plans to enter the market in Canada. McGowan is originally from Canada and the franchise said because of this, Canada felt like the best next step. In Canada, they will develop flavors suited to the Canadian palate.
Crumbl is already on track to go where no cookie company has gone before and time will tell what’s next for one of the fastest-growing food chains.
