When you hear COOKIES, you are likely W transported to a cold Christmas morning, huddled around the fire snacking on freshly-baked cookies and sipping on milk. Crumbl is on a mission to reimagine and recreate those moments from childhood ’round the world. Jason McGowan, CEO and Co-Founder at Crumbl Cookies has developed an exciting twist to the timeless cookie bakery, featuring a weekly rotating menu and tech-driven kitchen. We have no reason to complain!
Innovating something as basic as a cookie can be daunting, but with Jason’s background in tech, A/B testing, his unique vision, Crumbl now has 100+ operating stores in the U.S in just three-years!
What was the objective behind setting up Crumbl?
From the beginning, Crumbl’s mission has been to bring friends and family together over a box of the best cookies in the world — that mission still drives us today. Neither of Crumbl’s Co-Founders were experts in the food and beverage industry, but the pair had extensive experience in branding, technology and business, and became passionate cookie experts along the way!
What are some values and initiatives that have helped in the expansion of Crumbl?
Expansion and innovation are key components of Crumbl’s brand identity, and have been since the beginning. On a marketing and branding front, Crumbl has continued to remain energized — implementing new campaigns and initiatives to keep the brand top-of-mind, relevant and exciting to Crumbl’s wide-reaching customer base.
This has proven critical amidst the pandemic when services like pick-up, delivery, self-ordering kiosks have become more relevant to customers.
When it comes down to purpose, how well do Crumbl employees know their role in contributing to the organization’s success?
As a franchise-model business, there are many layers that play a crucial role in the brand’s success. The corporate team leads the brand development, establishes longstanding policies, and supports franchise partner fulfillment on brand standards. On the partner side, quality and consistent fulfillment on the Crumbl experience at each location is critical to ensuring that the Crumbl brand identity remains strong. This relationship should be a partnership, with effective communication at the forefront.
How did Crumbl establish quality standards for its franchisees?
Quality-related processes and policies have been in place since Crumbl’s conception and are critical to maintaining quality — especially since the brand’s entire offering changes on a weekly basis!
Once a new cookie flavor is released, all bakers are required to perfect their role in the cookie’s creation, before serving customers. As an additional layer of assurance, corporate’s establishment of a quality team ensures that cookie, brand and operational standards are adhered to and measured every few days via internal passoffs, customer reviews and in-store feedback.
What are the reasons behind Crumbl’s growth as an organization?
Crumbl’s Co-Founders have always been doers. The pair often describes Crumbl as a rocket with insane amounts of upward trajectory, in need of being built, fine-tuned and repaired while in orbit.
Data analysis and pure intuition have helped guide these growth and launch decisions for the company at a rapid pace thus far. Without this mentality, the brand could never have grown so quickly. Crumbl also credits its rapid success to Franchise Partners and customers who are willing to grow and learn alongside them.
“ONE BIG DREAM, TWO CRAZY COUSINS”
What are some principles that have helped Crumbl grow thus far?
The “3 C’s of Crumbl” are central to Crumbl’s brand identity. These C’s include: Cookie Quality, Customer Experience & Cleanliness. Whether Crumbl is posting on social media, releasing new cookie profiles or launching technology enhancements, these key points should be rooted at the heart of each initiative.
How does Crumbl come up with new flavors?
Crumbl’s cookie and calendar development process is a complex and critical element of the business. Before a cookie is ever released to the public, it must pass a series of “cookie commandments,” ensuring that the offering is both feasible for the franchise partner and desired by Crumbl fans!
What is Crumbl’s development process?
Once a cookie is vetted in the Corporate kitchen, Crumbl invites customers to their headquarters for a monthly public taste testing. Only cookies that score above a certain threshold in areas like taste, texture and appearance are considered.Crumbl’s founders are incredibly passionate about the brand’s weekly cookie lineup. They handpick each and every flavor three-months ahead of the release!
What are some factors that are taken into account when Crumbl develops cookie flavors?
Considerations like flavor inclusivity, seasonality, customer demands, product accessibility and price are all taken into consideration before a cookie is developed, tested and added to Crumbl’s weekly flavor lineup. Crumbl’s ultimate goal each week, is to serve cookies that are exciting and inclusive — whether you’re a chocolatelover, peanut- butter-hater or a fruity-fanatic, Crumbl will have a flavor for you!
How did Crumbl get its unique name?
Only the best cookies are soft and Crumbly — Crumbl’s name and offering go together perfectly! Crumbl dropped the “E” to align with current verbiage trends.
What do the next 5-years look like for Crumbl?
Crumbl has achieved mind-numbingly-impressive growth since its inception only 3 years ago. The franchise-model business now has 100+ stores operating in 23 states, with dozens more in the pipeline. Those metrics, along with positive and consistent sales stats are proving steadfast despite the social and economic challenges that have presented themselves recently. What’s next for Crumbl? The #pinkbox’s global expansion, of course!
What are some exclusive offers for Crumbl customers?
Crumbl’s Loyalty Program ensures that cookie-crazed fans are rewarded for their support! Loyalty Crumbs are earned and tracked using a customer’s phone number. For every dollar spent in-store, on the Crumbl app or website, customers earn one Loyalty Crumb. Once a customer accumulates 100 Loyalty Crumbs, they get 10 dollars in Crumbl Cash. This can be used to purchase a majority of Crumbl products. Loyalty Crumbs can be earned and Crumbl Cash can be redeemed at any of the brand’s 100+ locations. Crumbl has big plans to continue optimizing this offering in the coming months and years.
What are some social causes that Crumbl is passionate about?
Crumbl aims to bring family and friends together over a box of the best cookies in the world, through its Crumbl Cares Initiative, Crumbl facilitates impactful giving-back campaigns across all Crumbl communities on a quarterly basis, focused on making the world a sweeter place. Localized efforts like cookie donations, sponsorships and community engagement ensure that all Crumbl locations have the opportunity to positively impact their respective customers.
Does Crumbl have any new products ready to go to market?
Without giving too many trade secrets away, know that features customers have been screaming for, (in addition to those they haven’t even thought of yet), are already in motion.
About Jason McGowan
Jason McGowan — Crumbl’s CoFounder and CEO — came from the tech industry, so A/B testing their way to the perfect cookie felt like the right approach! The cousins continued testing ingredients and baking methods until they came up with, (what they believe is), the world’s best chocolate chip cookie. The very first Crumbl bakery opened in 2017 in Logan, UT while Sawyer, (the other cousin), was attending Utah State University. Since then, the bakery franchise has expanded to over 100 locations in 17 states, each continuing to spread fast, fresh & warm cookies to Crumblrs everywhere!
About Crumbl Cookies
At Crumbl, warm milk chocolate chip and chilled sugar cookies are always on the menu, along with 120+ specialty flavors that rotate weekly! Visit us instore at any location nationwide for an unique open-kitchen experience where you actually see your Crumbl crew mix, bake, and prepare fresh cookies. Don’t have time to visit the store? Don’t worry, we offer local delivery, curbside pick-up and nationwide shipping, all of which can be easily accessed on our app or website. Make your next catering or gifting need SWEET, with Crumbl.
The very first Crumbl opened in Logan, UT while Sawyer, Crumbl’s COO and Co-founder, attended Utah State University (go Aggies). Since then, the franchise has expanded to over 75 locations in 11 states, nationwide. Each one, growing our Crumbl family and spreading fast, fresh, & gourmet cookies to Crumblrs everywhere!
