Crumbl Cookies went from a single Utah bakery to one of the biggest cookie chains in the country in less than a decade. Now, the company is facing a very different reality.
At least 57 Crumbl locations have closed in 2026, according to Restaurant Business, while at least 55 additional franchises are reportedly listed for sale. The closures come as the chain deals with declining sales, falling customer traffic, and growing financial pressure on franchisees.
Crumbl Cookies Has Closed at Least 57 Stores
Crumbl’s rapid expansion helped make it one of the biggest restaurant success stories of the past decade. The company opened its first location in Logan, Utah, in 2017 and grew to more than 1,000 locations by 2024.
But the chain’s store count has started moving in the opposite direction.
Restaurant Business identified at least 57 locations that have closed this year, before accounting for any new openings. At least 55 other Crumbl franchises have been listed for sale on broker websites, raising the possibility of additional closures.
Crumbl still has more than 1,000 locations, so the closures don’t signal the end of the chain. They do, however, represent a significant change for a company that spent years aggressively adding new stores.
Crumbl’s Sales Have Fallen Sharply
The closures come as sales at Crumbl locations have declined considerably.
According to an internal company document obtained by Restaurant Business, sales in August were 70% lower than they were two years earlier. Several franchisees reportedly described August as the worst month in the company’s history.
Customer traffic has also dropped. Placer.ai data showed visits to Crumbl’s more than 1,000 locations were down 32% year over year in August.
Average sales per location have fallen, too. Crumbl’s average annual sales per store peaked at approximately $1.84 million in 2022 before falling to about $1.14 million in 2025.
Crumbl Grew Rapidly After Going Viral
Crumbl’s struggles are particularly notable because of how quickly the company expanded.
The chain became a social media phenomenon during the pandemic, building its brand around oversized cookies, weekly rotating flavors, pink boxes, and highly shareable product launches.
Crumbl grew from just 55 locations in 2019 to 327 in 2021 and more than 1,000 by 2024. Restaurant Business reported that the company generated more than $1 billion in system sales in 2023.
The growth also attracted franchisees. But the economics of individual stores have changed considerably as sales have declined and the cost of opening a location has increased.
Restaurant Business reported that the estimated initial investment for a Crumbl franchise now ranges from roughly $849,000 to $1.47 million, more than five times the listed investment in 2019.
More Crumbl Locations Could Close
For now, Crumbl remains a major national chain with more than 1,000 locations. But the combination of store closures, falling traffic, declining sales, and franchises being put up for sale suggests the company’s rapid-growth era has come to an end.
The 55 franchises currently listed for sale could provide another indication of where the chain is headed. If those locations can’t find buyers or become profitable again, additional stores could ultimately disappear.
