Crumbl Social Media

There's a fast food chain, I'm gonna call it fast food, but it's not fast food. It's called Crumbl, if you're not familiar with it. They now have over 700 locations in the US. They are relying on social media to get the word out, and I love their whole strategy and their whole approach. What Crumbl produces are cookies. And what they do is they only have weekly drops of four cookies. So when you go into a Crumbl shop, there's only four cookies that are there. Truth be told, I have not been to a Crumbl. There isn't one here in Southern California at least yet. But you look at what they're doing on social media, specifically on TikTok and Instagram. They are the ninth most downloaded app on the Apple Store, not just for food, just anything ninth most downloaded app. That's way ahead of Dunkin Donuts and Pizza Hut. They have 3.4 million followers on Instagram. McDonald's has 4.5 million just to give you an idea and you know, I I really think that Crumbl has hit on something really smart because every time you go in there, there's a special cookie and it makes you feel special. And it's almost like going to a dollar store and not knowing what you're gonna find and then finding these cool things. What do you think about Crumbl? 

Sally: I think this company is brilliant, and I think they are really leveraging the popularity of TikTok and video content. They have 6.4 million followers on TikTok, and, you know, Starbucks has 1.9 million, so that is incredible that they have gained that many followers, but it's not surprising because when they drop these cookies, they put out a really cool, exciting video. One that I watched had electronic dance music along with it which made it even more popular, I'm sure on TikTok using that music. But it's something fresh each week. So it's exciting for people who are scrolling TikTok, to watch those videos, to share those videos with their friends to go in the store because they know it's an event that is only for one week and then the cookie's going to be gone the next week. I really love what this company is doing. 

Phil: And also operationally, it's much easier to produce four unique recipes for cookies a week, versus having probably 30 or 40 different cookies. It amazes me and I''m gonna equate it to growing up in Newark, where you had a bagel place and you had a plain bagel, you had salt bagel, I want to say you had Sesame Bagel and Poppy Bagels, and that was it. You now go into a bagel place and there's probably, I don't know, 20 or 30 different kinds of bagels. I still like plain bagels best.

Sally: Well, and also think how exciting it's for the employees too, like that the cookies change every week. 

Phil: Great point.

Sally: That you know, it's not the same thing that they're serving up every week. So it could make the work environment a lot more fun.

Phil: Yeah, great point. And hopefully they get free cookies as well. 

Sally: Yes.

Phil: At least, at least those for the week