The Biggest Crumbl Controversies Over The Years

When it comes to sweet treats, it doesn't get much better than cookies. And while everyone likely has a favorite brown butter chocolate chip cookie recipe or old-fashioned butter cookie recipe, there's just something divine about the ones made by a professional — a fact that's well-known by the founders of Crumbl. After all, when Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley opened the cookie company back in 2017, they set up a perfect storm of delicious and beautiful cookies combined with equally share-worthy branding. But it hasn't all been smooth sailing since then, and a surprising amount of controversies have followed Crumbl.

While plenty of customers give Crumbl's bright pink boxes and oversized cookies their unconditional love, if you do some digging? You'll find plenty of controversy has been served up alongside the chain's delectable desserts. Even Crumbl's free birthday reward has proved confusing for many customers, who've found themselves missing out after not signing up within the proper time frame or just not getting their vouchers. Perhaps that's merely a mild inconvenience, but let's face it: Life is rough, and when you don't get the free cookie you've been looking forward to, that's a major bummer.

Unfortunately, the birthday cookie problem is just the start of the chain's controversies, but who knew cookies could come with so much unpleasantness? Without further ado, here are the biggest controversies Crumbl has faced over the years.

Crumbl might be a massive phenomenon, but as of 2024, no stores had opened in Australia. It's not surprising, then, that when word got out that a Crumbl pop-up location was going to be selling the legendary cookies in Sydney in October 2024, people got in line. Yet would-be fans weren't impressed, largely because it was an unauthorized Crumbl vendor, who charged people $17 (or about $12 dollars in U.S. currency) per cookie.

Now, it eventually came out that the cookies had been bought days prior at Crumbl stores in Hawaii, before being imported and resold on the country continent. However, the organizers said that anyone who had read all the information on their social media platforms would have understood that they weren't actually from Crumbl. Either way, there were a ton of complaints about nasty cookies, which makes sense. If you're paying that kind of cash for a single cookie, you expect it to be among the best you've ever had.

Interestingly, Crumbl itself issued an official statement that didn't exactly distance itself from the whole fiasco. Rather, Crumbl told People, "While the pop-up in Australia was not sponsored by Crumbl, we love seeing excitement for Crumbl around the world." This was followed by an acknowledgement that international locations may be coming in the future, reminding current (and future) customers to follow its official channels for legitimate news.

Humans like things that make sense. Consequently, you might think it's logical that if you buy a giant cookie, the nutritional information you'll see is for the entire cookie. But it turns out there are some serving size guidelines you might want to know about before eating at Crumbl – and in a nutshell, a single serving size doesn't usually equal one cookie.

Crumbl's decision regarding nutritional guidelines has received quite a bit of attention on Reddit, where customers have condemned practices such as a single cookie being broken down into nearly 7 servings. Different cookies have different serving sizes, as well, which makes things both more confusing and controversial. The serving size for its chocolate peanut butter pie cookie is roughly ⅘ of the entire cookie, for example, leaving folks unconditionally baffled.

Additionally, on the menu board in stores, the per-serving caloric value is what's indicated to customers. This has also gotten Crumbl called out, as it makes it more difficult to see at a glance what's in a whole cookie. As for sugar content, nutritionists have stepped forward to condemn the cookies as containing so much sugar that it could lead to spikes in blood glucose (among other unhealthy aspects).

Back in 2022, Amazon Fresh made a big commitment to sell only cage-free eggs. That's a huge number of eggs, and it's not the only company that's established policies developed in order to improve animal welfare in the supply chain. With Crumbl being a relatively new company (only opening in 2017), it might make sense that it had already committed to solely using cage-free eggs. But that wasn't the case, resulting in another controversy for the chain. In fact, animal advocates were still protesting Crumbl store openings in 2024 in an attempt to raise awareness of the chain's sourcing policies, hoping to convince the company to change them.

Protesters at a Portland, Oregon store opening in November 2024 handed out their own free cookies, while stressing that Crumbl still had no company-wide policy in place to exclusively source cage-free eggs. Advocates noted that this actually put it in the minority, as many other companies had already made the switch. The demonstration in Portland was one of a number of planned protests, and the prior month, petitions circulated by The Humane League had already surpassed 50,000 signatures in support of the thousands of hens whose eggs go into Crumbl cookies.

In December 2022, Crumbl was handed a fine of nearly $60,000 for the actions of 11 franchised stores in six different states. After the U.S. Department of Labor conducted an investigation into those Crumbl stores' employment of minors, it was determined that a number of labor laws had been broken. This included employees as young as 14-years-old working too many hours, as well as allowing younger workers to use equipment they weren't technically old enough to operate (including ovens).

The final decision involved 11 franchise owners, some with as many as nine minor employees. One franchisee in California was handed a $15,417 fine — the largest amount issued to any Crumbl store as a result of this investigation. Crumbl locations in Minnesota, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington were also involved, with a total of 46 minor employees impacted by the violations stemming from this controversy.

While most of us can agree that a company has every right to protect its intellectual property, it never looks good when a giant starts picking on the little guy. On that note, Crumbl was in the news for a controversial pair of lawsuits in 2022. These lawsuits targeted cookie startups Dirty Dough and Crave, with Crumbl claiming logos, packaging, and branding were too similar. Crumbl also went after the companies for regularly introducing new, limited-time flavors.

Crave responded by noting it used black and gold colors (as opposed to Crumbl's pink and black) and a different logo. Dirty Dough also responded, of course, with its founders making clear how little they thought of Crumbl's accusations. In fact, Dirty Dough ran a series of ads depicting events like a kids lemonade stand getting bullied out of business. As a result, the lawsuits appeared to have the opposite effect of what Crumbl likely wanted: Increased sales for both Crave and Dirty Dough.

Though Dirty Dough reached a settlement with Crumbl in October 2023, it was eventually acquired by Craveworthy Brands for an undisclosed amount in January 2024. Meanwhile, Crumbl and Crave mutually agreed to dismiss the lawsuit in July 2023. Despite this, many customers took to social media to point out how childish the whole thing made Crumbl seem – with some wondering when Mrs. Fields would make an entrance into the mess and tell Crumbl to sit in the cookie corner.

Love Crumbl but are convinced one of its giant cookies will go stale before you get through the whole thing? Well, it would seem the chain's Mini Mondays were made for you. This great concept revolved around the simple idea that miniature versions of cookies would be for sale on Mondays. It was so great, in fact, that Crumbl was accused of threatening to sue a competitor called Cookie Co. for also using the idea in April 2024. The problem? When Crumbl started its promotion, Cookie Co. had already been running Mini Mondays since the previous year (and yes: it was also called Mini Mondays).

Fast forward to May 2024, when Cookie Co. decided to take to Instagram to condemn Crumbl for its actions. Cookie Co.'s post explained it had been using the term for a long time, while also noting it had filed the necessary paperwork to trademark the phrase and concept. Needless to say, the controversy wasn't a great look for Crumbl, who was widely condemned on social media and Reddit for what was perceived as another attempt to push around smaller businesses.

Know Your Lemons is a breast cancer awareness organization that partnered with Crumbl over the course of several years. The charity even gave the cookie chain a hat-tip after multiple women credited the partnership for their own early detection. And while Crumbl also got a shout-out from the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc., here's where things get tricky.

Now, the initial all-pink lineup of cookies released during Breast Cancer Awareness Month was meant to honor the grandmother of one of Crumbl's founders (a cancer survivor who had recently passed away). However, Crumbl didn't necessarily plan for a portion of these sales to be donated to breast cancer charities. Customers pushed back hard on this, as many folks were displeased by the news. One Reddit user even shared a screenshot in October 2022 of Crumbl's response to questions regarding the donations.

Crumbl wrote that it was "personalizing our approach by serving individuals, friends, and families who have dealt with breast cancer." After this was received with further horror from numerous customers, Crumbl eventually stated it had heard the complaints, and would donate 10% of sales to three organizations. But there appeared to be a massive catch to this that Redditors were quick to point out: The donations only applied to corporate sales, and Crumbl only had one corporate-owned location at that time.

It seems like any comment on social media will attract naysayers, but Crumbl has repeatedly been called out for insincere and strange marketing around Memorial Day. In May 2022, Crumbl's Instagram was "wishing you a warm and Happy Memorial Day," with a similar message appearing on Facebook, as well. Unfortunately for Crumbl, many customers were quick to remind the company (and whoever was running its social media accounts) that it wasn't really a happy kind of holiday.

Countless people noted Memorial Day was about remembering and honoring the sacrifice of U.S. military veterans. Consequently, Crumbl eventually apologized to many comments on Facebook, before changing the caption of the lemon cookie picture that was shared along with it (though the caption stayed the same on Instagram).

Redditors were once again after Crumbl in 2023 for a controversial push message they'd gotten on the holiday. The company stated it was open its regular hours that year on Memorial Day for any customers potentially in need, and it's hard to tell which was louder: The ridicule or the outrage.

The only thing that's easier than picking up a Crumbl cookie is ordering one through its app. However, there have been several lawsuits filed against the company regarding its tech. In August 2023, a class action lawsuit was filed in California, claiming the company added what the lawsuit described as "a carefully concealed 2.95% 'Service Fee'" to every order. The suit further claimed that this practice violated laws requiring businesses to provide a clear explanation of all charges.

Crumbl responded to the allegation by saying the added fee was no longer charged on orders placed through the app. Furthermore, the company claimed, it was clear on the app that fees were added to each order, so it should have been covered. A move to dismiss was rumored to likely fail in 2024, but as of January 2025, it's unclear what's going to happen in the case.

Crumbl was on the receiving end of an additional class action lawsuit in May 2024, which claimed it had partnered with another company, Stripe, to embed tracking technology into its website. That tech was said to collect data such as locations and web browsing information from customers, before (potentially) sharing this personal information with third parties (though this, too, remains open-ended).

America's tipping culture is complicated. Not only are there a number of things you need to keep in mind when tipping at a sit-down restaurant, but there's tipping etiquette regarding fast food restaurants, too. Where do cookies fall into that? Well, some customers who use Crumbl's app have said they found a $2 tip was automatically added to their orders (regardless of their feelings on cookie tipping). 

While some defended the practice — or blamed customers who didn't see that a tip was being added – there are plenty of people on social media who've condemned the idea of tipping a substantial percentage for a cookie. Others have pointed out that the cookies themselves are already expensive, while suggesting workers at Crumbl aren't performing the same level of service as the wait staff in a sit-down restaurant. In one particularly scathing comment thread, Redditors have pointed out that given Crumbl's success, there's no reason why the company can't pay employees a reasonable wage; in other words, employees shouldn't have to rely on tips when they're serving cookies.

Customers have other problems, too, taking to Reddit to complain about tipping that's provided before they even get their order. The default tip seems to vary between $2 and $3, with many saying it made them uncomfortable to have to physically change the tip to $0. In short, numerous customers have decried the entire process, which simply isn't a great look.

Crumbl cookies aren't cheap, so it makes sense that customers would want to receive a high-quality product when paying for one. However, many have found themselves asking: "Are Crumbl cookies supposed to be slightly undercooked?" Of course, the short answer is no, largely because when cookies are underbaked (or even raw), it can cause some serious gastrointestinal discomfort. Yet complaints of undercooked or raw Crumbl cookies have been so extensive over the years that they're impossible to count.

Reddit posts over the course of several years have asked what's going on with the chain's raw-esque cookies, leading some to wonder just what's happening in Crumbl kitchens. Some customers have questioned the chain's cooking processes and procedures, because employees should surely be following recipes (which generally include baking times and temperatures). Even if things like altitude might affect baking cookies, a major company should be able to account for that ... shouldn't it?

Interestingly, there's a lot of debate within the various Reddit threads about this topic, as well. Some insist the cookies are just meant to be that soft, while others say that if you can taste raw flour, there's something seriously wrong.

Finding a job can be tough for an individual, though it's often just as hard for companies to find good workers. The hiring process isn't exactly pleasant for either side, and it's difficult to know whether or not someone's going to be a good fit ahead of time. Still, when one Crumbl franchise in Dartmouth, Massachusetts posted a wanted ad on Facebook in October 2023, it ruffled some serious feathers. After all, included in the ad was a disclaimer that anyone applying would be required to work an unpaid five hour trial shift.

Crumbl very quickly issued a statement saying that this wasn't a company policy — even noting it was, in fact, against Crumbl policy. Redditors were all over that claim, with many calling for the franchise to be reported (while others confirmed it had been reported for the incident). Additional comments noted that requiring potential employees to work for free was almost certainly illegal. Unsurprisingly, this controversy led to a larger conversation about how franchisees treat employees, with none of it favorable towards Crumbl.

Sure, the execs and owners of massive companies are allowed to have nice things. But sometimes, the juxtaposition between their personal lives and how employees are treated just doesn't sit well with the masses — which Crumbl co-founder Sawyer Helmsley discovered in fall 2023. In a September 2023 Instagram video, Helmsley showed the work being done on his sprawling mansion (which included teasing some cookie-inspired details eventually being installed). However, only a week or so after Helmsley's post, a number of people working at Crumbl were handed layoffs.

While it was unclear just how many employees were let go, news reports suggested the sweeping layoffs had impacted at least 100 people. Employees that stepped forward said that they had no warning, with some confirming they had seen the video of Hemsley's mansion-in-progress. Crumbl officially called the layoffs necessary to its operation, but for many, the controversial juxtaposition was simply too tone-deaf and awful to swallow.