Sawyer and Laken Hemsley fold Boxes at one of their 143 stores across the U.S. including Hawaii.

LOGAN – Crumbl Cookies is scheduled to have the grand opening of their second Logan location at 981 S. Main next to Maymoes on Friday, Jan. 15. This will be the 143rd Crumbl Cookies store nationwide.

Sami Hollingsworth holds a Crumbl chocolate chip cookie at the Logan location next to Costa Vida Monday afternoon.

The monster cookie business was created in a Preston, Idaho kitchen by Utah State University student Sawyer Hemsley in 2017-2018. The Cache Valley original has quickly become the fastest growing gourmet cookie franchise in the U.S. and is the third largest brick-and-mortar cookie company franchise in the country, according to GlobeNewswire. The cookie was created in his mother Laurie’s kitchen.

It started out as an idea for a fun side hustle/project and has since turned into a national brand and household name,” Sawyer Hemsley said. “The name Crumbl was conceived when I was analyzing and pondering the process one takes when eating a delicious cookie.”

He said if it’s a good cookie, there will be crumbs leftover. They dropped the ‘e’ to make it short, edgy, simple and unique. All they needed now was a location.

A counter worker takes an order at Crumbl Cookies in the Logan location at 1309 N. Main Monday afternoon.

“One day, when I was driving past the old Logan Crepery building (which has since been torn down),” Hemsley continued. “I saw a FOR RENT sign out front — I knew this was the spot that we absolutely needed to attempt our cookie baking adventure.”

After he negotiated a rental agreement, it was a done deal.

Many of our own family and friends did not believe in the concept or idea and thought that we were crazy to attempt to open a cookie shop – selling $3 single cookies to patrons,” he said. “Many of those nay-sayers and doubters are now Crumbl franchise owners, my very own dad and brother-in-law being two of those people.”

When Sawyer told his father, Lance, he wanted to make cookies when he was getting ready to graduate from Utah State University with a Marketing Degree, Lance was a little taken aback. Sawyer had just finished an internship and been offered a good job and he hadn’t even graduated yet.

Lance Hemsley works on some display monitors at the new Crumbl Cookies at the South Logan store set to open Friday, Jan. 15, 2020.

“I told him Bull Sh-t, we didn’t support you through four years of college to make cookies,” Lance said. “Now I’m working for him.”

Lance, a former automobile businessman, is spending his days setting up franchises across the country. They recently opened two stores in Hawaii.

“I have about 300 applications to go through for new stores for 2021,” he said. “Between all our kids with Laurie and I, we have 14 stores. It’s crazy.”

Out of state, the cookie company seems to really resonate with people who have connections with Utah. Lance said when the Hemsleys opened their store in San Antonio, Texas people showed up with BYU, Utah State and University of Utah T-shirts.

“When he started the business, Sawyer was trying to finish his classes, run the business and deliver cookies all at the same time,” his mother Laurie said. “He wasn’t getting any sleep.”

Crumbl Cookies second location on the south end of Logan is located at 981 South Main next to Maymoes and will have a Grand Opening on Friday, Jan. 15, 2020.

That is why, in the beginning, it was all hands on deck. The family was making, baking, boxing and delivering cookies. Even Sawyer’s grandmother was in the shop folding boxes.

“No one really believed in his cookie idea except me,” Laurie said. “I think he will tell you while everyone doubted him, I told him I thought it would work.”

Things really took off when he partnered up with Jason McGowan, his cousin, who had experience creating businesses. The two found success in the first store and began to bust out franchises.

“The second store will give customers on the south end of the valley better access to our cookies,” his mother said.  “Honestly, the reason it is going so well is the cookie, but we do have amazing advertising and we are ever changing the technology and our system, but the cookie sells itself.”

While the company grew the family continued to get involved in it. Brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles are all part of the Crumbl family. Some work at the Orem-based headquarters and some have their own franchises in other places.

“We opened the corporate office in Orem because we opened our second store there and it is bigger than the Logan store.”

A crowd gathers at the at the Logan location at 1309 N. Main Monday afternoon.

“We still deliver curb side and we also have national shipping,” Laurie said. “After we open the second store in Logan, we will remodel the other one near Deseret Book and Costa Vieda.

Their goal is to get Crumbl cookies in other countries, but they will have to go through a rigorous process to get their stores approved for international sales.

 



Source link