Insomnia Cookies has long been a favorite of busy college students.
But the company’s famous, 19-year-old business model is nothing short of outdated.
Since opening its first brick-and-mortar store in 2006, Insomnia has made only minimal changes to its menu and interior design.
Enter Crumbl Cookies, which is embracing 21st century cravings and recently opened a store on Niagara Falls Boulevard.
Crumbl was established at the University of Utah with a mission to bring family and friends together over the world’s best box of cookies. Crumbl experiments with new recipes and has a different menu every week.
The company is using its love, trust and family-infused cookies to take its business to new heights.
Since opening its first store in 2017, Crumbl has grown to over 300 locations in 36 states. By contrast, Insomnia added fewer than 100 locations after selling out to JAB Holdings.
Family values aren’t the only thing that makes a great cookie place. Consumers think of three things when they consider a new joint: cost, quality and quantity. Insomnia has Crumbl beat on price and the number of coupons you can use on their app and website.
But if you factor in quality and quantity, Crumbl comes out on top, using only the freshest ingredients and selling cookies five-times the size of Insomnia’s.
Crumbl is all about transparency, and promises their cookies are never frozen. They even allow customers to see the back of the kitchen. Walking into Crumbl, one can see employees decorating the cookies — yes, decorating — which may be a hard word for Insomnia to hear.
Insomnia is terrified for their customers to see how their cookies are made. The company hides them from public view — making customers wonder if they are actually freshly baked..
Insomnia has pretty basic flavors like Classic, Classic with M&M’s and Sugar, and deluxe flavors such as Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup and Triple Chocolate.
Now, because Insomnia sold out to JAB Holdings, which also owns Panera and Au Bon Pain, you can find an identical cookie in a different store.
By contrast, it would be hard to copy Crumbl’s flavors because they didn’t sell out to a large corporation and they change their flavors each week. This means you can have a different cookie or ice cream flavor each time you visit.
This week’s cookie flavors are: Milk Chocolate Chip, Birthday Cake, Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake, Chocolate Caramel, Sugar ft. Mother’s Valentine X’s and O’s and Classic Pink Sugar.
Worth salivating over, right?
Crumbl has been wildly popular since opening in Amherst, but with its mobile ordering, contactless kiosks and a large workforce, you can get in-and-out in a breeze.
In essence, Insomnia and Crumbl sell the same products. But if you’re looking for quality and quantity, consider Crumbl for your next cookie adventure.
If you are unfamiliar with Crumbl and would like to visit, you can take the Mall and Market Shuttle to Target and find it right across the parking lot, nestled between CoreLife Eatery and Panera. Or, you can have it delivered right to your door.
Dan Eastman is the asst. managing editor and can be reached at danielson.eastman@ubspectrum.com
Dan Eastman is the assistant managing editor at The Spectrum. He is a senior geography major who loves Starbucks iced americano. When he isn’t writing and editing he is trying to find the best donut and cookie shops in Buffalo. He can be found on Twitter @TheEastMan2000.
Photo: Ryan Hagen | UB Athletics
