At approximately 12 p.m. on September 29, Sydney, Australia saw its first Crumbl Cookie pop-up — except it wasn’t run by the official dessert chain. Unbeknownst to many, the event was organized and hosted by fans, known as @crumblsyndney on TikTok, who weren’t actually affiliated with the franchise Public criticism eventually forced the creators to release a statement after the launch.
Crumbl, known for its rotating cookie flavors, is a United States-based brand (also available in Canada and Puerto Rico), which may be why the pop-up garnered so much attention in Sydney. One TikTok user, @sofiaqistinee, waited in line at the event for 45 minutes, only to conclude, “Crumbl cookie isn’t all that. Spend your $17 somewhere else.”
Cookies at the event cost $17.50 Australian dollars (about $12 USD) a piece and were also offered in a five for $75 (AUD) bundle, according to TikTok user @destiny___g. This is a far cry from the typical $4 to $6 per cookie at U.S. locations.
Despite the clear price increase, the creators claimed that they weren’t focused on making money off the pop up.
“This event was never about profit. We aimed to bring the cookies to Crumbl fans,” the creators wrote in the statement.
To explain the price of the cookies, the creators cited the following costs in their release: $4,000 on flights and luggage; $6,000 on cookies; $2,000 in duties, taxes, and customs; and $1,000 in staffing.
(The release failed to specify whether the estimates were in AUD or USD.) The creators also provided receipts from U.S. Crumbl locations to prove that the cookies were in fact authentic.
So… were the cookies at least worth it?
Reviews of the pop up, such as @destiny___g’s, showed cookies that appear to be melted, broken, and quite literally crumbling — not to mention that the cookies were likely several days old. Some of the cookies offered at the event were peanut butter Snickers, original pink sugar, and the milk chocolate chip, all of which were flavors from the September 23 to 28 sale period.
The event hosts claim that the cookies were stored correctly during transit. In response to criticism on the quality of the cookies, the creators wrote the following in their statement: “We apologise that they don’t live up to expectations however they are just cookies at the end of the day.”
Was the Crumbl pop-up actually a scam?
Despite accusations of being a scam, the event hosts claim to have done nothing wrong.
“No, we never claimed to be an official Crumbl store,” they wrote in the statement. “This was clearly stated in [our] bio and our comments. Our goal was to bring the authentic Crumbl cookies to Australia by importing the cookies directly from the USA.”
In their statement, the creators claimed to have merely been parallel importing — a practice where “a business sells a product that has been brought into Australia, but doesn’t have the specific permission of the product’s manufacturer to do so,” according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission website.
Although parallel imports are completely legal in Australia, trademark infringement absolutely isn’t. Though the Instagram account and TikTok videos associated with @crumblsydney have since been taken down, the event hosts claim to not have used Crumbl’s trademarks in videos, according to their statement.
Content posted by customers at the pop up, however, say otherwise. Videos show that the event hosts used distinct Crumbl branding. Another TikTok from user @sofiaqistinee shows the Crumbl chef icon (a protected, trademarked icon) on posters marketing the “Crumble launch” at the event.
Crumbl, however, doesn’t seem too concerned.
“While the pop-up in Australia was not sponsored by Crumbl, we love seeing excitement for Crumbl around the world,” Crumbl told Spoon University in an email. “Information about new international locations will be shared through our official Crumbl communication channels.