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Going viral has always been a risky marketing strategy.

In many ways, the bump a company gets from becoming a social media sensation works like the sales impact of appearing on “Shark Tank.” Even companies that don’t make a deal to a piece of their brand, usually see a short-term spike in interest and orders because of the television exposure.

That can help with exposure and acquiring customers, but it does not last forever.

The same happens when something goes viral on social media. That can create a surge of interest, but maintaining that interest is a big challenge.

Generally, this is a positive for an already successful brand. Starbucks, for example, brought back lapsed customers and added new ones with its Unicorn Frappuccino. McDonald’s experienced the same thing when it launched ita Grimace Shake.

Those products blew up on socials, but that was icing on the cake for both brands, not a marketing strategy.

Crumbl, the popular cookie brand, built much of its marketing around people sharing its weekly menu of new cookies on social media. That was once a huge driver for the brand, but as Americans have cut back on luxury spending, and in some cases, calories, sharing cookie menus has dipped in popularity.

Crumbl sees its sales and social media presence shrink

“Social media trends come and go, which is why it isn’t always the smartest idea to go all-in at the height of your 15 minutes of fame, which is arguably what Crumbl Cookies has done. The chain expanded massively throughout 2022 in an effort to meet the soaring market demand generated by videos tagged #crumbl on TikTok,” Mashed shared.

Expanding took something that used to be treat worth traveling for and arguably made it too accessible for consumers, and thereby less special.

My son and I used to stop if we saw a Crumbl while traveling, and now that we have one about a mile and a half from our house, we have never been in.

As it has become more accessible, its social media reach has dropped.

“For example, in June 2021, one of Crumbl’s weekly TikToks announcing the new flavor lineup received over 153,000 likes. As of June 2024, new flavor announcements have pulled in significantly less with 37,200 likes, 45,300 likes, and 22,700 likes,” Mashed added.

That’s fewer shares driving people to way more stores.

Crumbl has seen a decline in sales.

TheStreet

Crumbl has seen sales, well, crumble

As a non-public company, it can be challenging to paint a full financial picture for Cumbl, but some data has been released or reported by media outlets.

  • Crumbl closed 7 stores in 2023: These were the first permanent closures in company history. These included four in California, and one each in Florida, Georgia, and Utah, according to QSR Magazine.
  • 2024: Further Closures: At least 12 locations were reported closed during 2024 according to the company’s Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD). These closures were excluded from the annual performance reporting, indicating they occurred at various points in 2024.
  • Public closure lists compiled from local reporting include stores such as Norwalk, CT and others in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Florida, and Utah and that does not likely account for every closed stores.
    Individual closures reported locally: For example, a Norwalk, CT Crumbl Cookies store closed after only about one year in business, underscoring uneven performance among locations, Patch reported.
  • More locations have closed in 2025, although the company has not confirmed that.

No, Crumbl isn’t closing

Crumbl CEO Sawyer Helmsley responded on TikTok to a Bloomberg article from Nov. 12 that alleged that the chain was laying off corporate staff amidst revenue problems.

“I’m here to clear up the rumors that people think Crumbl is closing. That is absolutely not true,” Hemsley shared on TikTok. “We’re actually moving offices for reasons such as updating our Crumbl Test Kitchen. This space was simply too small, and we have big ideas in the future.”

The CEO concluded, “We also do all marketing in-house and it’s time to expand and push everything to the next level. We’re excited for what’s ahead, and, honestly, we’re just getting started. So stay tuned and follow our journey as we move into our new office.”

Crumbl growth has slowed

  • Expansion has slowed sharply after years of rapid growth: Crumbl once opened stores so fast they sometimes appeared minutes apart in the same town. This density contributed to customers spreading thin and internal competition, according to FOX 28 Spokane.
  • Revenue and profit metrics show mixed trends: From 2022 to 2023, average store revenue dropped from roughly $1.84M to about $1.16M, though sales rebounded later to around $1.35M in 2024, according to Food Drink Life.
  • Median net profit declined: Even as some top stores performed well, median net profit across Crumbl locations dropped around 32%, revealing uneven profitability and dependency on stronger units to offset weaker ones.
  • Franchise economics challenged: Franchise disclosure documents and industry analysis suggest the model’s rapid expansion created oversaturation and thin margins in some markets, shared Food Drink Life.
  • Layoffs and restructuring happened historically (e.g., corporate layoffs and scaling back expansion plans in 2023), Bloomberg reported.
  • Mixed signals on performance: Some reports note sales per restaurant increased by ~17% after slowing expansion, a sign Crumbl is refocusing on profitability over unit count. Restaurant Business Online

Crumbl faces a backlash

While restaurant prices have climber pretty much everywhere, you need to eat, but you don’t need to eat cookies.

“In the last 5 years, the chain restaurant menu item prices we reviewed went up an average of 39%. This is nearly double the rate of national inflation during the time period (22%),” FinanceBuzz reported.

When people spend more money on lunch and dinner, they may be as willing to pay for dessert.

I”t’s a tale as old as time. You find your new go-to treat. Thousands of other people also find their new go-to treat. As demand soars, the company quietly starts increasing the prices of said treat, until eventually it becomes so expensive that it’s more of a special occasion kind of indulgence than something you can justify purchasing on a regular basis — and said company then needs to maintain these extortionate prices because less people are buying these treats, and they desperately need to maintain profits,” Mashed shared.

Crumbl has also faced a backlash now that it’s not the “it” product.

“The hate is less about the actual taste and more about expectations versus reality. Many people enjoy the cookies but resent the premium price and aggressive marketing. The backlash reflects broader frustration with trend-driven consumerism, not universal disdain for the product,” Alibaba shared.

Crumbl still has over 1,000 U.S. locations and that may simply be too many, according to Apex Consulting, a group which advises people buying and selling businesses.

“When a franchise starts to grow at such a rate, it can tend to outgrow the market demand. Being a young franchise, it is understandable that this could be a misstep by the founders,” the consultants shared on their website.

They noted that Crumbl may simply have diluted its brand too much.

“Perhaps the recent surplus of Crumbl stores for sale on sites such as BizBuySell is a simple case of the marketplace regulating itself,” they wrote, but they do see hope fir a comeback. “Any business growing as much as Crumbl has in such a short time has captured an audience willing to support and promote the brand.”

Related: 75-year-old fast food chain closing 200 restaurants, fights to survive