Not even Sesame Street’s hungriest puppet could have foreseen cookies getting quite this much attention, with the co-founder of US chain Crumbl Cookies now weighing in on *that* Sydney pop-up fiasco.
ICYMI, organisers of a replica Crumbl pop-up shop were caught with their hands in the cookie jar over the weekend, as news broke that the event, held in North Bondi, was not an official offshoot of the viral US chain.
Instead, it was discovered that the team behind the pop-up had simply travelled to the US, purchased a bucket load of Crumbl Cookies, and transported them back to Australia to onsell for the eye-watering price of $17.50. No cookie, no matter how moist, is worth that.
Naturally, the collective realisation that the Crumbl pop-up was not associated with the actual US chain sparked claims that organisers had scammed customers, particularly given the hours-long queues for the event, complaints of staleness, and the exorbitant price of the cookies — almost ten bucks more than their official US counterparts.
It also raised legal questions around whether organisers had infringed on copyright laws or misled customers with similar branding and advertising.
Now, Sawyer Hemsley — who co-founded the US chain alongside Jason McGowan in 2017 — has addressed the fanfare while responding to a less than complimentary TikTok review of the Sydney pop-up.
After TikTok user @elle_easternsuburbsmum said in a mukbang-style video that she “can’t believe I waited an hour” for the sweet treats (on which she spent $150), Hemsley headed to the comments section.
“You need to try them fresh in the [US]!”, the co-founder wrote, before reiterating that “this pop-up is not affiliated with Crumbl Cookies”.
It marks the first time someone associated with the actual chain has addressed the pop-up debacle, but Hemsley went on to tease that perhaps an official Sydney-based pop-up might be on the horizon.
“It appears we need to expedite our visit to Australia,” the co-founder wrote in a TikTok posted on Tuesday, before asking fans in the comments to “help spread the word”.
While further details of Crumbl’s official Aussie visit were not revealed, the company now knows our sweet tooth is strong enough to fork out nearly 18 bucks, so you should probably start saving now in the event we get a Vegemite-flavoured variant or something whack.
The feverish response from Sydney Crumbl customers — likely at the height of an expensive sugar high — prompted organisers to respond on social media this week.
The team behind the event claimed they had always been forthcoming about not being affiliated with the actual Crumbl chain, and said the idea was born simply out of a desire to “bring the authentic Crumbl cookies to Australia”.
They also provided receipts which apparently proved they weren’t in violation of any laws, and shared a cost breakdown indicating that the “event was never about profit”.
No word yet on what the Cookie Monster has to say about all of this.
Lead image: @elle_easternsuburbsmum/TikTok and @sawyerhemsley/TikTok
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