By Maya Bourne
Crumbl Cookies has taken the United States by storm with its weekly flavors and extremely dense, high-calorie creations. Food creators have made a series of “weekly Crumbl reviews,” where they get each flavor featured that week and rate them out of 10, and these series have taken the cookie company to even bigger heights. Crumbl is exclusive to the United States and Canada, and other countries started to notice the influence and trend associated with the company. One such country was Australia, particularly Bondi in Sydney, which saw these reviews and saw an opportunity to make some money. They got a selection of these cookies and created a 1-day pop-up, shipping Crumbl cookies across the world to Bondi.
The pop-up opened at 12 p.m. on September 29 and stayed open until all the cookies sold out. People lined up around the block and down the street to taste these trending cookies. However, some people were taken aback when just one cookie amounted to $17.50 AUD. That’s about $12 U.S. dollars! If that price seems a little too steep, one could pay for a 5-pack of cookies for the low, low price of $75 AUD, or $51 USD. Many people were surprised by the astronomical prices, wondering whether the entire pop-up was a scam. The cookies themselves were sub-par, as they were shipped all the way to Australia from the United States. Many creators exclaimed that the cookies broke apart or crumbled before even taking a bite. The freshness was extremely disappointing and not at all worth the inordinate amount of money spent on these “specialty” cookies.
Many people started to question the integrity of this pop-up and investigated the website, as well as the social media page associated with it. People discovered that the Sydney pop-up was not actually affiliated with Crumbl Cookies in any way; rather, they were infringing on the Crumbl Trademark. The official Crumbl Cookies released a statement, explaining the pop-up was not sponsored or affiliated with them, however, they enjoyed having the opportunity to spread their cookies worldwide. Though the pop-up never amassed any real consequences, the principles and social repercussions proved an important landmark for the cookie industry.