Utah-based Crumbl Cookies rolled out a new bakery in Hazel Dell on April 21. That night, a long line of cookie lovers waited for their one free milk chocolate chip cookie that Crumbl offers on opening day.
Crumbl Cookies began when Sawyer Hemsley, co-founder and COO, focused on making the perfect chocolate chip cookie. He enlisted his cousin, Jason McGowan, Crumbl’s CEO, to help.
The partners spent endless hours, thousands of dollars on dough and tested different cookie recipes by asking people at local gas stations and grocery stores to rate their cookies. After perfecting their milk chocolate chip cookie recipe, they opened the first Crumbl Cookies shop in Logan, Utah, in 2017. Since then, the company has expanded to 200 bakeries in 32 states.
The Hazel Dell shop at 616 N.E. 81st St. is owned by WagsCapital, an investment firm based in Lehi, Utah, with a portfolio that owns other food franchises including The Village Baker, Kokonut Island Grill and Salt Stack. The group owns three other Oregon-based Crumbl Cookie shops and plans on opening another shop in Hillsboro, Ore., in October and a second location in Vancouver in the near future.
“If you think about the occasions you get cookies, it’s always good,” said Tyler Knowlden, regional operations manager at WagsCapital, “Very rarely is someone upset because they got cookies.”
Crumbl Cookies differs from other shops because it has a rotating menu, four different cookies every week, and a total of 200 cookie recipes, said Knowlden.
The weekly cookie menu is announced every Sunday afternoon on Crumbl Cookies’ social media sites with a video that shows each cookie in mouth-watering close-ups. All stores carry the same menu every week, which always includes their signature chocolate chip cookie and chilled frosted sugar cookie.
The locations also sell pints of ice cream with flavors including sea salt toffee and peanut butter chocolate. For Father’s Day week, Crumbl offered a candy bar-themed menu with flavors like M&M, peanut butter Butterfinger, Kit Kat chocolate chip, and Sour Patch sugar cookie.
“The really cool thing about Crumbl is we want to make it as easy as possible,” said Knowlden.
Cookies can be ordered and picked up in the store. Customers can also use the Crumbl Cookies app or website then have their order delivered through Door Dash or picked up curbside.
The company was working on curbside pickup before the pandemic, but rolled it out immediately when the spread of COVID-19 made customers reluctant to enter the shop.
About half of the Hazel Dell shop’s sales are in-store; the other half is split between curbside and delivery. They intend on continuing curbside and delivery after the pandemic is over.
“We want to make it easy. We want to continue to offer curbside pickup for our customers like mothers who don’t want to get all their kids out of the car to get cookies,” said Knowlden.
Since opening in April, the Hazel Dell location has been a top 10 location for the company. Despite its popularity, Knowlden said that the line moves quickly, with a goal of helping every customer in under two minutes.
Cookies are sold individually ($3.98), by four-pack ($13.48), or a party box with 12 cookies ($34.88). The store is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to midnight. It’s closed on Sunday.
