How Crumbl cooked up a $1B recipe

If you’re on TikTok, you definitely know Crumbl. Or, maybe, if there’s a teenage girl in your life (who is probably on TikTok). 

The cookie brand has swept social media, garnering 9.6m followers on TikTok and a cult-like following of dedicated fans looking to sample the newest flavor, per The Wall Street Journal. 

What started as a single Utah store in 2017 has ballooned into 1k+ franchise-owned Crumbl stores in the US and 18 in Canada — 96% of which have opened since 2020. 

• Crumbl’s franchisees generate $1B+ in annual sales.
• In 2022, it sold 300m+ cookies.  
• The average Crumbl shop earned ~$1.2m in revenue in 2023, with profits of ~$123k.
• Crumbl itself posted a net income of nearly $31m on $122m+ in revenue last year. 

The chain opened 300+ new stores in 2023, and is on track to add ~100 more in 2024. It also plans to expand to Australia and the UK; plus, there’s merch.

Crazy for cookies 

Crumbl is a hit with women — 65% of its customers are female — especially teens and tweens. 

Young girls are particularly spellbound by the brand’s sugared-up marketing strategies:

• The brand releases weekly menu changes and limited-edition cookie drops that supercharge its power on social media. 
• The pale-pink cookie boxes were developed in partnership with the Pantone Color Institute. 
• With 15%-16% of teens using YouTube or TikTok “almost constantly,” Crumbl’s picture-perfect branding drives big business.

Developing new cookie flavors is also a careful process that can take three months to a year. Each new flavor goes through five or six iterations and is tested in ~50 stores before it’s launched.

What some might not enjoy? Crumbl’s classic milk chocolate chip cookie has 730 calories and 47 grams of sugar.