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Crumbl has come screaming out of the gate as a national food chain, and its explosive growth is heavily tied to its unique business model of mixing up itscookie flavorsconstantly. Since launching in 2017, the company's constantly changing menu of cookies has become one of the hallmarks of its businessand has been directly credited for jump-starting the social-media-focused strategy that drove Crumbl's rise from upstart to over 900 locations nationwide in just five years.
Constantly changing the flavors encourages fans to follow the brand diligently and drives engagement on social media, further growing digital reach and popularity. The practice of rotating flavors through social media announcements is compounded by the speed with which Crumbl rotates through flavors. The chain unveils a new lineup of cookies every single week.
The clockwork Crumbl schedule is to announce a new weekly cookie lineup every Sunday, which then becomes available for sale the next day. The original schedule, which began in 2018, would have four weekly flavors alongside two stalwarts that were available every week:a chocolate chip cookie and a classic pink sugar cookie. That changed earlier this yearwhen Crumbl folded the pink sugar cookie into its rotating menu due to negative feedback from fans. The weekly menu now includes five limited-time flavors, with the milk chocolate chip alternating weeks with a semi-sweet chocolate chunk.
Crumbl's massive menu changes weekly and only occasionally repeats flavors
Crumbl does not provide an official list of every flavor it has ever offered. By most counts, the brandhas well over 250 different cookies in its rotation,plus one-off flavors that will likely never return. In addition to existing recipes, Crumbl also launches new flavors on a near-weekly basis, with at least one of the five rotating choices almost always being something that fans have never seen before. Having so many flavors means that even the cookies that do reappear on the menu — like confetti cake or red velvet cupcake — stillonly show up once every few months or so. Crumbl is definitely a chain that values experimentation and novelty over loyalty to one or two showstoppers.
To drive home how the rapid release schedule and the constant drumbeat of new flavors are tied to social media, Crumbl even rolled out a Cookie Journal as part of its app.The Cookie Journal allows customers to rate and provide feedback on each cookie, and the reviews clearly have an impact on how flavors are treated.For example, the journal was at least partially responsible for the brand's decision to drop the pink sugar cookie as an every-week option. With such a massive list of cookies to cycle through, there is no way to plan for your favorite Crumbl flavors. The only option you have is to check the new menu every Sunday, and that is clearly by design.
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