WEST LEBANON — Crumbl Cookies, the new dessert franchise tucked into a storefront next to Jersey Mike’s in West Lebanon, drew crowds on Friday morning as patrons stopped by to experience the latest food option on Route 12A.
Shortly after the store opened its doors at 8 a.m., a line of some 30 people had already begun to snake down the sidewalk.
“There’s no place around here like it,” said 17-year-old Cayden Decato, of Newport, while waiting for his North Carolina lemon pie and caramel shortbread with Twix crumbles to be boxed up inside the store.
Behind the counter, 10 or so employees in matching black caps and T-shirts scooped balls of batter onto silver baking trays in the store’s open-plan kitchen, while another staff member cracked flats of eggs into two silver bowls on a workspace next to the registers.
The air smelled of sugary-sweet frosting, and the room reverberated with the din of customers’ voices pinging off the tiled floor. A flat-screen TV that hung on the wall by the entrance displayed the flavors du jour, which rotate weekly.
In addition to caramel shortbread and North Carolina lemon pie, Friday’s assortment of bakes, which included cookies and cream, milk chocolate chip, vanilla bean, cinnamon crunch, and chocolate peanut butter cup cheesecake, were set up on display at the store’s counter.
Single cookies go for $4.49, while three-packs of mini cookies cost $8.69.
Established in Utah in 2017, Crumbl Cookies has grown to include more than 1,000 stores worldwide. Crumbl Corporate distributes recipes to the individual locations, where the cookies are made onsite, said regional manager Amber Hall of Merrimack, N.H., in an interview at the West Lebanon store.
Left: Baby, a Maltese, sniffs a box of Crumbl cookies ordered by Kayla, who declined to give her last name, at the grand opening. Right: Assistant Manager Rosanna Boule, of South Royalton, scrapes out a mixing bowl from her seventh batch of cookies made in three hours. (Valley News – James M. Patterson)
Outside, Jeff Maguire, who manages eight Crumbl Cookies franchises with his brother, James, through their New Hampshire-based company, waved a sign reading “Free Cookie Day” to drivers rumbling up and down the 12A.
Roughly 40 people are employed at West Lebanon location. The store is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays, and closed on Sundays.
In honor of the grand opening, employees were handing out free chocolate chip cookies to customers at the counter, as long as they’d downloaded the Crumbl Cookies app on their smartphone.
“This is a good cookie,” said Kaelyn Blodgett, 17, after taking a bite of her chocolate chip. She added that “any cookie is good,” in her book, especially if it’s served warm, like the ones at Crumbl.
The revolving menu means there’s “a story in every box,” said Molly Murray, 24, of Cornish, while she and her twin sister, Jess, waited in line to pick up cookies for their co-workers at Kennedy Pond in Windsor.
Molly and her sister decided to stop by the store after learning about its opening on social media. She doesn’t follow Crumbl’s account, but the franchise’s posts still appear on her feed.
“I guess they got what they wanted,” she said.
Social media plays a big part in Crumbl’s marketing strategy, said John Bourgeois, who handles marketing for the Maguires’ locations, which are spread across Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Crumbl Cookies’ Instagram account has 6.3 million followers, while the regional franchise’s account has about 2,300.
Generation Z is among Crumbl’s biggest customer base, Bourgeois said, though he added that its product is for people of all ages.
“Everyone loves cookies,” he said.
Crumbl joins other dessert purveyors in the Upper Valley such as locally owned Katie’s Cookies, located in downtown Lebanon.
“We heard Crumbl opened nearby … and we totally get it. New places are exciting, and cookies are always worth celebrating!” the bakery wrote in a social media post on Thursday.
“But when the sprinkles settle and the sugar rush wears off, we hope you’ll come back home to Katie’s Cookies,” the post added.
As patrons waited on the hot sidewalk for their turn to enter the new store, Bourgeois set up a roulette wheel customers could spin to win free Crumbl merchandise.
Josie Dennis, 18, of Hanover, walked away with a pink tote bag bearing the company’s logo. Like Murray, she learned about the opening through social media.
Around 10 a.m., Marty Miserandino started setting up a DJ booth under a pink tent outside the store. Half an hour or so later, he began playing 2000s pop tracks for the roughly 10 people standing in line. “Try Everything,” by Shakira blared from black speakers.
“Shakira said it, ‘Try everything,’ ” Miserandino called to the crowd.
