Crumbl Cookies: From Side Hustle to $1 Billion Cookie Empire
Hey there,
It’s hard to believe that Crumbl Cookies grew from one store in Logan, Utah to over 600 branches in less than six years, but they did it!
Let’s rewind back to 2017, cousins Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley decided to open a cookie shop as a side hustle, even though they had no experience in the baking industry. So, how did they go from that to over $1 Billion in sales? Grab a cup of coffee and let’s dive in!
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Nailing the Recipe
Jason and Sawyer started with no experience but set out to create the world’s best chocolate chip cookie. To achieve this:
- They asked a local baker to teach them the principles of baking.
- They spent thousands of dollars A/B testing recipes. They would go to gas stations and grocery stores and ask random people to taste two cookies and tell them which one they prefer.
A Social Media First Strategy
Crumbl has 1.7 M followers on Facebook, 1.1 M on Youtube, 3.3 M on Instagram, and a whopping 6.2 M on TikTok. Their social media strategy is built on three principles:
- Creating an Instargammable Product: This includes making picturesque cookies and packaging.
- Joining TikTok early on: Sawyer saw its potential and hopped on it when it was still small. Since many customers were posting review videos, they decided to follow the trend — #crumbl currently has +1.6 billion views.
- Native content for each platform: Crumbl produces long-form videos for Youtube, Amazing looking photos for Instagram, and short videos for TikTok that follow the current trend.
The Tech
Only one year after opening the first store, Crumbl released its own App. Instead of being at the mercy of delivery apps, Crumbl owns the interaction with the customers. Having their own app has several advantages:
- Allows for different types of orders: delivery, pickup, catering, and digital gift cards.
- The App has a points system to incentivize users to follow Crumbl on social media feeding into the brand’s growth
- It is connected to the POS system and allows franchisees to monitor their KPIs.
Lasty, FOMO
After perfecting their first recipe, the team started coming up with new flavors. They now rotate five flavors each week. This encourages customers to buy when their favorite flavors are available, plus, it keeps people engaged and checking social media for updates on what flavors are coming up next.
Now, if all this isn’t impressive enough, just consider that they did it all while being completely bootstrapped!
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