A Crumbl cookie isn’t just any $5 cookie—it’s a $5 cookie you line up for. The company, founded in 2017 by cousins Sawyer Hemsley and Jason McGowan, was recently deemed the fastest-growing chain of dessert shops in the US byThe New York Times. The big contradiction of the cookie empire, which has more than 750 locations nationwide: The cookies are, by many accounts, spectacularly bad.
Crumbl is popular on social media for its rotating cookie menu, which changes weekly and featuresflavors like cotton candy, snickerdoodle cupcake, and (somehow) cookie dough. These cookies fall squarely under that title of “viral sensation.” They are often dragged for theirdoughy, cakey texture, their sometimes questionable flavors, and,most often, for being far too sweet—they are topped with frosting after all. Still, the company continues to flourish thanks to its clout across social media, even as it faces growing pains in the form of lawsuits and labor violation claims.
Crumbl is not the first viral food chain to be criticized (Crumbs, anyone?), and it certainly won't be the last. But it is a prime example of the way the internet’s hype machine is pushing food culture towards a dark, underbaked, over-sweetened road—here’s why.
Crumbl Is Popular Because of Social Media
As McGowan told theTimes, neither he nor Hemsley had any baking experience when they set out to develop and test recipes for Crumbl in 2017. “We thought, ‘How hard could this be?” he said.Instead of relying on recipe knowhow, the two leaned into social media as the vehicle that could make the company successful. They bet big on TikTok, where the company now has six million followers (more than Taco Bell and Starbucks combined). In 2018, it began announcing new flavors every week inreality competition promo-style videos using tight closeups, quick cuts, dramatic EDM soundtracks, and slow motion.
This model of weekly menu refreshes not only built anticipation, but it also gave content creators new fodder each week to engage with the brand. These videos, featuring the particularly telegenic cookies in slow break-in-half closeups andquick-fire reviews the internet loves, put Crumbl’s hype machine into overdrive. The #CrumblCookies tag currently has 3.4 billion views, and social media accounts built solely to review Crumbl flavors have sprung up onInstagram andTikTok.
But the Cookies, as They Turn Out, Often Do Not Deliver on Taste
The thing about cookies is that it’s actually pretty difficult to make one that’s downright bad. If you’re throwing together sugar, eggs, butter, and chocolate, it probably won’t taste completely terrible. That’s how I would frame Crumbl’s success: The company has created cookies that photograph well, and that are highly anticipated. But, in the end, it’s quite widely acknowledged that the cookies are not amazing. Not even great—good is generous, and okay is a stretch!
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