Business Roundup: Crumbl cookie lovers can now buy the sweet … – The San Diego Union-Tribune
Trending
Fans of Crumbl cookies in the Poway area don’t have to go far — a shop has opened in Creekside Plaza.
Owners Cody and Adrianne Fowkes held a grand opening celebration Friday morning.
“Poway has a really cool community family environment vibe,” Cody Fowkes said about the couple’s decision to expand the franchise to the area.
The cookie company is known for offering just six flavors among its more than 275 options each week. The coming week’s flavors for all stores nationwide are announced on social media on Sundays at 5 p.m. Pacific time.
While owners and shop managers know the flavors because they have to order ingredients, the coming week’s cookie options are a closely guarded secret to everyone else — even the employees who bake the cookies.
“The community and our family and friends ask, but we can’t say,” Adrianne Fowkes said.
Crumble also has a mystery cookie every month.
When they see which flavors are popular with Poway customers, they will likely choose among those for the mystery cookie, she said.
This is the third Crumbl shop the couple has opened in San Diego County. They learned about the company from Cody’s sister, who started working in the Utah-based company’s business side four years ago.
Crumbl was founded in Utah in 2017. Since then the company has expanded to more than 800 franchise locations across the United States.
The Fowkes’ first store was in Point Loma, which they opened in July 2020 and recently sold. It was the first Crumbl to open in San Diego County and the second in California, Cody Fowkes said. When they decided last year to open another shop, this time in Santee, the couple decided to move their family of five children, now ages 5 to 15, from Utah to California.
They will be dividing their time between their Santee and Poway stores.
Getting into the cookie business required a career shift for the couple. Adrianne is a registered nurse who worked in a neonatal intensive care unit for 16 years. Cody was a high school social studies teacher for 12 years.
“Crumbl kept calling to us,” Cody Fowkes said. “We wanted something we could do together, that was family friendly. It is not an 8-to-5 job, but a 24/7 job.”
His wife said they didn’t have much time together in their other careers, just handing off their kids as one was headed to work and the other getting off. Now they are together all the time and have become known as the “cookie family” in their new hometown of Santee.
“For me this is a family-friendly, kid-friendly environment,” Cody Fowkes said. “It is welcoming. Being able to give someone a cookie to make their day better is a positive thing. I liked that aspect.”
Adrianne Fowkes said she loves baking.
“I love the cookies and it is a fun (career) change,” she said.
At Crumbl, employees start baking at 5 a.m. and continue all day because the cookies are guaranteed to be freshly baked within two hours. Shops are open long hours, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 8 a.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Crumbl is closed on Sundays.
Because of their late hours, they often attract those looking for a late-night snack, and are often the only shop open at times, Cody Fowkes said. Being near the AMC movie theater in Poway means they will likely get movie-goers to stop by after a show.
As for their favorite flavors, Adrianne Fowkes said hers is called Mom’s Recipe because it includes oats, semi-sweet chocolate, toffee, peanut butter chips and a sprinkling of salt.
“It has a little bit of everything, but really there is not one cookie that I have hated,” she said.
Cody Fowkes said his favorite cookie to eat — the Mallow Sandwich Cookie — is also his least favorite to make.
“It is two cookies in one,” he said. “It has two Oreo-based cookies with marshmallow mousse and brownie bits. It is a sandwich and chilled. … It is labor intensive because you have to bake two times as much, but is the same price. So you get two for one.”
Crumbl is also known for releasing unusual flavors. Offered this past week was the fruit pizza cookie, a soft cookie with a cream cheese base covered with raspberries, grapes, blueberries and mandarin oranges. It is typically offered only once per year, the couple said.
First-time Crumbl customer Erin Brown stopped by the Poway shop with her 5-year-old daughter, Olivia, on Friday afternoon. They purchased a variety of flavors, including the fruit pizza cookie.
“We wanted to try a new dessert place,” said Brown, who heard of Crumbl before. “The fruit pizza looks interesting because it has a little bit of everything.”
Baking so many cookies requires a large staff. Crumbl has 37 employees at the Poway store and might go up to 40, Cody Fowkes said.
The Poway shop is at 13521 Poway Road, Suite 504. Cookies are $5 for one, $16.25 for a four-pack box, $25 for a 6-pack box and $42.50 for a party box of 12. Mini cookies are available as part of its catering options. Flavor requests are also available through catering with at least three days notice.
Customers can purchase cookies in-store, through its app for curbside pick-up and for delivery through services such as Grubhub, Uber Eats and DoorDash. Cookie subscribers can get discounts and earn $10 in cookie dollars for every $100 spent in purchases.
Get the Pomerado News in your inbox weekly
Top headlines from Poway, Rancho Bernardo and 4S Ranch, every Thursday for free.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Pomerado News.
Follow Us
At a time when local news is more important than ever, support from our readers is essential. If you are able to, please support the Pomerado News today.
News
Sept. 27, 2023
Entertainment
Sept. 25, 2023
News
Sept. 20, 2023
News
Sept. 18, 2023
Choose any amount, cancel any time
April 27, 2021
Business Spotlight
Sept. 18, 2023
Business Spotlight
Aug. 2, 2023
Business Spotlight
April 12, 2023
Business Spotlight
April 5, 2023
Business Spotlight
March 29, 2023
Business Spotlight
March 22, 2023
Privacy Policy
Editorial Policy
Terms of Service
Sign Up For Our Newsletter
Follow Us
