How Did Crumbl Cookies Get So Popular?

How can one possibly explain the meteoric ascent of Crumbl into an American dessert institution? Between 2021 and the end of 2024, the number of Crumbl locations grew by 600%, with the company boasting an estimated valuation of $2 billion. Not bad for a chain that isn't even 10 years old. What gets the public so jazzed about these oversized, slightly underbaked cookies? Considering the criticisms that Crumbl's cookies have faced — namely, that they're overpriced, they're aggressively sweet, and that there are much better and more widely available options — it's probably not the quality of the cookies themselves.

No, Crumbl's hype has to do with two interconnected factors: the novelty of its rotating menu and the picturesque, social media-friendly presentation of its cookies. Crumbl's decision to present only six cookies every week taps perfectly into cultural FOMO, or the need to try them all (like collecting Pokémon) and participate in the internet culture of rating them ... which, by the way, we also did with our list of the best and worst Crumbl cookie flavors.

Currently, you can't buy Crumbl cookies at the grocery store, so you have to travel to one of Crumbl's pink, deliciously scented bakeries to get them. You walk in the door, sniff that perfume of sugar and vanilla, and fall under the spell. Your cookie, when it is ready, is also presented in an aesthetically pleasing box. How could you not get a little excited about the vibes? The Crumbl experience is designed to suck you in and bring you back again and again.

Crumbl was founded with one location in Logan, Utah, in 2017, when Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley hit upon what they considered to be the ideal chocolate chip cookie after countless failed attempts. McGowan, who was born in Canada, had always dreamed of owning his own business, and he recruited his wife's cousin to make it happen. 

In many ways, Crumbl is a classic bootstraps story, an aspirational tale of two hard-working young people living the American dream. The duo didn't just set out to make cookies that tasted great, but they had to look amazing, too ... Hemsley and McGowan were familiar with viral marketing and knew that photogenic cookies could basically sell themselves. Thus, all the frills that make Crumbl unique — the splashy, oversized cookies laden with candy chunks and colored icing, the ceremonial presentation of the cookies at the counter, the pink boxes — were created with one purpose: to make you look twice.

Today, we obsess over Crumbl cookies that need a comeback (Chocolate Sprinkle, our beloved!) and follow social media accounts dedicated to "Crumbl spoilers," or previews of what flavors will be out in coming weeks and months. Will Crumbl end up being just a fad, which spikes high and fizzles out like fro-yo shops Pinkberry and Menchie's did in the 2010s? Or is the chain's popularity here to stay? Only time will tell. In the meantime, we'll keep snapping pics of our cookies.