If you’re a Sydney-sider on TikTok, you may have come across some drama involving a pop-up stall for the coveted and viral Crumbl Cookies. And let me just say, this whole thing feels like a surrealist episode of Nathan For You. But why has a niche one-day cookie pop-up captivated our For You Page? Let’s find out.
Crumbl Cookies is a chain of cookie stores in the United States known for their rotating flavours of deluxe, top-notch cookies. And, thanks to its A+ social media marketing game and new flavours each week, the company has managed to make its product quite the hot-ticket item.
On September 20, a company called Crumbl Cookie Sydney (@CrumblSydney on TikTok) began advertising a pop-up stall selling Crumbl Cookies in Sydney’s North Bondi. Originally, it was scheduled for Wednesday, September 25 but delivery delays resulted in the pop-up being rescheduled for September 29.
The pop-up gained traction on social media with hundreds of fans keen to finally taste a Crumbl Cookie despite the exorbitant price tag of $17.50 per cookie for five for $75 — that’s significantly higher than the US retail price of around $7.20 AUD ($5 USD).
Shortly after the event — which saw huge lines and two-hour-long waits — the pop-up found itself in the centre of some controversy.
So, let’s find out how the Crumbl cookie crumbles.
Why are people talking about the Crumbl Cookie pop-up in Sydney?
All hell broke loose when punters discovered that Crumbl Cookies Sydney had no connection with the real Crumbl Cookies in the States. Instead, the team behind the Sydney event literally flew to Hawaii, bought a heap of the cookies and brought them back to Australia to sell.
This was even noted in the team’s TikTok bio which reads, “Not endorsed by Crumbl, just fans importing!”
As the word spread, TikTokers began questioning how this was even legally possible, and whether Crumbl Cookies Sydney was about to face a hefty lawsuit for trademark infringement and misleading advertising.
What did the team behind the Crumbl Cookie pop-up have to say?
After all the backlash, Crumbl Cookies Sydney released a Google doc outlining how they managed to avoid trademark issues, the logistics of bringing the cookies to Sydney from the States and a breakdown of the costs involved.
In the statement, the team asserted that they “never claimed to be an official Crumbl store”. Rather, their goal was “to bring the authentic Crumbl cookies to Australia by importing the cookies directly from the USA.”
To prove that the cookies sold at the pop-up were genuine, the team shared two purchase orders along with the corresponding bank statements.
They also claimed that they were able to use the name ‘Crumbl Cookie’ due to the trademark being available in Australia. The team did note that they did not use the trademarks on TikTok and said they were able to import them for sale in the country as “parallel imports”. According to the ACCC, this is when a business sells a product that has been bought into Australia without the specific permission of the manufacturer to do so.
However, Australian lawyer and TikToker Roxanne Hart (@roxannehart.lawyer) claims that they did breach copyright laws by including the company’s successfully trademarked symbol — a little guy with a chef’s hat alongside the word “crumbl” — in their on-site marketing during the pop-up. Although Crumbl Cookies hasn’t been able to trademark the word “crumbl”, Hart says that having the branding would be an infringement of Crumbl Cookie’s trademark rights.
Hart also believes that there is a breach of Crumbl Cookies’ terms and conditions.
“The online terms and conditions for Crumbl Cookies explicitly say you can’t use their products for commercial purposes to essentially like retail,” Hart says.
“So they’ve reached their terms and conditions by reselling those products.”
The pop-up also copped backlash over the freshness of the cookies with cookie enthusiasts wondering how they could still be fresh for customers when they’d been imported from the States days prior.
Some TikTokers even questioned how on earth they managed to import the cookies into the country with Australia’s stringent food import laws which state that imported food must be for “personal consumption”.
However, according to the team behind Crumbl Cookies Sydney, the import was all above board.
“We followed all legal procedures, declaring the cookies as commercial goods and obtaining the necessary approvals from Australian customs,” they shared in their statement, alongside a customs entry to confirm the products were cleared by Biosecurity.
They also stated that they followed the instructions on how to keep the cookies fresh before they sold them.
“Crumbl cookies should be kept at room temperature in an airtight container for up to three days, or refrigerated for up to seven days. We kept them to these requirements. Some were warmed to enhance their texture, which is what Crumbl does as well,” they wrote.
“While most customers enjoyed the cookies, a couple of influencers felt they didn’t meet expectations. We apologise that they don’t live up to expectations; however, they are just cookies at the end of the day.”
Naturally, the whole thing is very dramatic. With all the twists and turns, it’s no wonder the scandal has found its way to TikTok where scandals, deep dives and investigations go to thrive.
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