For a while, Crumbl Cookies turned dessert into a ritual. Sunday nights came with a familiar reflex: phones in hand, feeds refreshed, eyes scanning for the weekly reveal. Six new cookie flavors would flash onto screens, bold and oversized, daring customers to plan their week around sugar and curiosity.
Crumbl’s pink boxes and oversized cookies made a sensation. Now, the question is: Is the cookie crumbling? Photo credit: ID 379628310 © Joe Hendrickson | Dreamstime.com
That ritual has lost some of its allure. After years of rapid expansion, Crumbl has started to slow its pace. Some locations have closed, and profits have become uneven. And the company that once thrived on constant novelty now faces the challenge that often follows fast growth: sustaining interest once the excitement fades.
History
Crumbl began in 2017 in Logan, Utah, where cousins Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley opened a modest bakery with a single goal: to make a better cookie. They focused on size, warmth and indulgence, but an early insight shaped the company’s direction. Cookies alone would not drive quick growth; visibility would.
From the start, Crumbl baked performance into the brand. Open kitchens invited cameras, pink boxes popped against neutral backgrounds and weekly flavor drops created urgency and chatter. Eating a Crumbl cookie became only half the experience; posting about it was the rest.
The company began franchising in 2018, and growth accelerated almost immediately. Stores multiplied across suburbs and cities, then filled in the gaps between them. By early 2024, Crumbl had crossed the 1,000-location mark. It looked unstoppable, but financial disclosures and a rising number of closures now tell a more complicated story.
Built for social media
Crumbl’s rotating weekly menu became its engine. Each lineup lasted only seven days, nudging customers to come back before flavors vanished. The menu featured familiar staples, with Milk Chocolate Chip positioned as the brand’s signature, while more elaborate, limited flavors did the heavy lifting online.
Crumbl designed its visuals to stand out on feeds. Oversized cookies topped with glossy frosting and pink boxes needed no caption to be recognizable. For years, the company relied heavily on organic social engagement rather than paid advertising, letting customers carry much of the marketing through posts and shares.
That energy has cooled. Flavor announcements still circulate, but they no longer dominate timelines the way they once did. Critical posts travel just as quickly now, and the brand depends more on steady foot traffic than viral bursts to keep stores humming.
Franchising at a blistering pace
Franchising powered Crumbl’s expansion, but it also raised the stakes. New owners paid a $50,000 franchise fee and faced startup costs that could exceed $1 million. The company tightly controlled the model, from ingredients and packaging to store layout.
Between 2021 and 2023, Crumbl opened locations at a dizzying rate, sometimes nearly one per day. In many towns, stores appeared within minutes of each other. The brand felt omnipresent, but that density came at a cost.
Leadership later acknowledged what franchisees had begun to feel. Smaller markets could not support multiple high-volume dessert shops. Instead of expanding demand, new stores often divided it.
What the financial data shows
The strain appears clearly in Crumbl’s franchise disclosure documents. Average store revenue slid sharply from 2022 to 2023, falling from about $1.84 million to roughly $1.16 million. Profits followed the same downward path, with some locations posting substantial losses.
By 2024, the numbers told a split story. Average revenue rebounded to about $1.35 million, and top-performing stores recovered some ground.
However, median net profit dropped roughly 32%, exposing how uneven the system had become. Fewer than half of the locations exceeded the average profit, meaning strong stores were quietly carrying weaker ones. Growth had not disappeared; it had simply become more concentrated.
Oversaturation and cannibalization
Crumbl’s biggest threat came from within. As stores multiplied, customers who once treated a Crumbl visit as a destination suddenly had choices. Instead of longer lines, foot traffic thinned and spread out.
In small and mid-size communities, the numbers no longer worked. Only so many customers bought specialty cookies. As the weekly excitement faded, stores began competing for the same cookie buyers, pulling sales downward across entire regions.
High costs leave little margin for error
Early Crumbl locations operated with relatively lean models; newer ones do not. Larger footprints, upgraded equipment and expanded dessert menus drove costs higher. Labor demands increased, capital spending rose and fixed expenses accumulated.
Franchisees also pay ongoing royalty and marketing fees and must purchase proprietary ingredients and packaging. When sales soften, those costs stay put.
Unlike simpler dessert concepts that can scale down, Crumbl stores need consistent volume just to stay afloat. A slow week is not a blip; it is a stress test.
Changing consumer habits
Price has reshaped how customers engage with the brand. By 2024, a single cookie could approach $5, with a dozen nearing $50. For many, Crumbl shifted from a casual stop to a planned indulgence.
Eating habits are also changing. Consumers are more attentive to sugar, calories and portion size. Oversized, frosting-heavy cookies feel excessive in a moment that favors restraint. Some longtime fans have also questioned consistency and value, weakening the loyalty that once fueled repeat visits.
Store closures mark a new phase
Crumbl recorded its first permanent closures in 2023, when seven franchised locations shut their doors. Another dozen followed in 2024. Several of the closed stores had operated for years, suggesting that the challenges extend beyond site selection.
Expansion has slowed sharply. The company has become more selective, acknowledging that some earlier openings were mistakes rather than momentum.
The road ahead
Crumbl is still a powerful brand. Its boxes are recognizable and its cookies still draw crowds in the right markets. But the era of effortless growth is over.
The next chapter will hinge on discipline rather than hype, with stronger site selection, tighter cost control and a menu that balances indulgence with changing tastes. Crumbl has shown how quickly a food brand could rise on social media energy. Now it has to prove it can stand once the noise fades and the math takes over.
Jennifer Allen is a retired professional chef and long-time writer. Her work appears in dozens of publications, including MSN, Yahoo, The Washington Post and The Seattle Times. These days, she’s busy in the kitchen developing recipes and traveling the world, and you can find all her best creations at Cook What You Love.
The post How the cookie crumbles: The rise and fall of Crumbl Cookies appeared first on Food Drink Life.
