Editor’s note: This story was updated from a previous version to reflect the pushed-back opening date.
Crumbl, a nationwide chain of cookie stores that changes the flavor offerings every week, is opening its first location in Connecticut — in Manchester.
Franchise owners Troy van Belle of Southington and Tucker Bartone of Hamden say they aim to open Dec. 17.
The pair also plan to open Crumbls next year in Westfarms Mall and in Milford. Corporate spokeswoman Anna Tibbitts said locations also are planned in North Haven and Danbury in 2022.
Crumbl was founded in 2017 in Logan, Utah, with an unusual business model: Six cookie flavors are offered each week. Two — milk chocolate chip and sugar — are sold every week. The other four change weekly. The week’s flavors are announced on the Crumbl app Sunday. Starting Monday, for that week, those flavors are offered. Then those flavors disappear the following week and are replaced by others.
The scheme has proven popular. Today, there are 308 locations in 40 states.
Bartone started his restaurant career as a busser at Yellowfins in Cheshire, and more recently worked at Shell & Bones in New Haven. He left the industry for a while but was lured back by a visit to the Crumbl in Methuen, Massachusetts.
“It was a full spectrum experience. I felt like I was in the epicenter of cookies. The door opened and the smell was overwhelming,” he said. “The size and weight of the cookies took me by surprise.”
He chose the blueberry crumb cake, waffle and Oreo frosted flavors, but passed on the Circus Animal flavor. After eating the cookies, it was only a matter of time before he opened his own Crumbl franchise.
He teamed up with van Belle. A graduate of Brigham Young University, van Belle had school and family ties to Utah and already was a fan of Crumbl.
In Manchester, the general manager has the bakery-friendly name of Derek Sweetapple. The Windsor Locks resident is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America.
Cookies are sold in singles, a four-pack box, a six-pack box and a party box with 12. “The cookies are huge, so if you buy 12, that’s really enough for about 20 people,” Sweetapple said. “The cookies that are flavored like pies are actually little pies, but the crust is a cookie.”
He added, “we use only the best ingredients, cinnamon from Saigon, vanilla from Madagascar.”
Four-inch cookies cost around $4.50 each, but the price per cookie goes down when multiple cookies are ordered. The store also will sell ice cream, with flavors that are offered for longer periods of time than the cookie flavors. Catering orders feature smaller cookies, about half the size.
Sweetapple said the crew at the store strives for a 4-minute window between the in-store ordering of the cookie and the handing over of the order. The store also does on-app ordering, curbside service and delivery through DoorDash and UberEats.
The shop is at 1540 Pleasant Valley Road, in The Plaza at Buckland Hills, on the far eastern end of the mall next door to Fresh Monkee and across from Starbucks. When it opens, hours will be Monday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 8 a.m. to midnight, closed Sundays. crumbl.com.
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.
