A group of Crumbl Cookie resellers in Bondi Beach, Australia, went viral after customers complained about stale cookies and sky-high prices.
The mega-popular cookie chain, which has over a thousand stores in the United States, doesn’t currently have any branches outside of the country.
And given its online popularity and lack of an international footprint, entrepreneurs started hawking the cookies outside of the U.S.
The Daily Dot previously documented resellers offloading cookies at high prices in Mexico.
The resales were happening often enough for one store in the Rio Grande Valley to put in place a two pack per-family limit to cut down on profiteers.
This time though, the cookies made it further afield.
Bondi Beach is a balmy suburb outside Sydney, Australia. But Crumbl fans weren’t anywhere near the waves while they waited for a chance to try the viral cookies. Instead, they lined up around the block on Old South Head Road right outside of an Ampol gas station to wait for their chance to get the cookies.
Once customers made it past the line, some were shocked by the prices—TikToker @elle_easternsuburbsmum spent AUD 150 on just ten cookies.
Another TikTok reviewer, @sofiaqistinee, called seeing a single cookie going for AUD 17.50 a “jump scare.” She decided to get two cookies instead of three.
AUD 17.50 is about $12 as of Tuesday afternoon. In the U.S., Crumbl Cookies go for about $5 a pop.
But were the cookies worth it?
Most TikTokers who bothered to post a video are saying no.
@sofiaqistinee gave it a 6/10, but said it would be a nine if it was fresh.
“In terms of freshness, 0 out of 5,” they said, adding that the moral of the story is that “Crumbl Cookie isn’t all that.”
@elle_easternsuburbsmum also was less than impressed, saying that she was “really underwhelmed.”
“They were definitely stale, and I’m going to be honest, legit half of them were … falling apart. It was just low key disappointing … they tasted very dry,” added @jassy_.lifestyle1 in a video. “They were definitely stale.”
The user explained how they thought it was an official Crumbl popup, but when they arrived they got “sketch energy.”
“$17 for a five day old cookie? You’ve got to be joking.”
Crumbl founder Sawyer Hemsley commented on @elle_easternsuburbsmum’s video yesterday clarifying that the pop-up was not affiliated with the company. He’s also put out TikToks making that clear since the story went viral.
A TikTok account going by the name crumblsydney, who organized the event, scrubbed all their videos and linked a Google Doc explaining its side of the story.
“We never claimed to be an official Crumbl store. This was clearly stated in bio and our comments. Our goal was to bring the authentic Crumbl cookies to Australia by importing the cookies directly from the USA,” they wrote.
Crumblsydney went on to explain how they spent AUD 6,000 on cookies and packaging, as well as AUD 4,000 on flights and luggage, AUD 2,000 on taxes and customs fees, and AUD 1,000 on staffing the event. The group shared receipts showing they spent a total of $3,666.52 on the cookies, approximately AUD 5,300.
“This event was never about profit. We aimed to bring the cookies to Crumbl fans.”
“With all these expenses, We set the prices without an intention of making a large profit,” the account explained. They also posted Australian customs forms to back up their case.
The account said that they followed Crumbl’s guidelines to keep the cookies at “room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or refrigerated for up to 7 days.”
“We hope this clears up any confusion,” crumblsydney added. “Thank you to those who supported us and gave us valuable feedback.”
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The post ‘$17 for a five-day-old cookie?’: Black market Crumbl pop-up blows up over stale cookies, sky-high prices appeared first on The Daily Dot.
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