Utah cookie war between Crumbl, Dirty Dough and Crave heats up

There’s a war going on in Utah – not because of politics or drugs – but cookies.

Crackershas over 300 stores in 36 states, has declared war on smaller competitors Dirty powder (six stores in Utah and Florida) and Craving (nine stores in Utah and Florida.) And it’s setting social media on fire.

“Are the cookies really worth suing?” a TikTok user asked. For the founders of Crumbl, the answer is yes.

The lawsuits began to fly in May, when Crumbl sued Dirty Dough and Crave separately, in part claiming that the “packaging, decoration and presentation” of both brands were “confusingly similar” to the labels. its mark. Crumbl filed the lawsuit in Utah, where it is headquartered.

Dirty Dough hit back with an ad mocking Crumbl.

In an advertisement, a large SUV pulled up next to a children’s lemonade stand. A group of men jumped out, asking the kids to “shut down the whole operation.” A young girl replied, “Are you crazy, why?” He replied, “Because you’re selling cookies – that’s our business.”

Dirty Dough also launched an advertising campaign in Utah, including one that read: “Cookies are too good – we’re being sued!”

“It’s a silly situation,” says Bennett Maxwell, founder of Dirty Dough, “and it’s like, OK, we’ll have fun with it.”

He added: “Imagine pizza companies doing each other, right? Like sending a picture of a pepperoni pizza, getting them into a lawsuit and saying ‘Look, your pepperoni pizza has may resemble mine’.”

Crave co-founder Trent English also believes Crumbl’s accusations are half-baked.

“Our brand is black and gold. [Crumbl’s is] pink and black. Their logo is… a chef in a hat. Our English is two overlapping cookies, “I don’t really see any confusion. I think most people can tell us apart just fine.”

Founded in 2017, Crumbl – which has 6 million followers on TikTok and 3 million followers on Instagram – has reviewers who rate the cookie flavors released every week.

In the lawsuits, the company claims two other cookie makers stole their ideas to release new flavors every week.

“They didn’t want us to do alternate flavors,” says Bennett. “I mean, you know, they invented that – the ability to rotate and have it for a limited time – obviously Crumbl invented it 5 years ago.”

The founder of Dirty Dough told CNBC that since the lawsuit was filed, social media surrounding the “cookie wars” has been good for business — with sales doubling. Meanwhile, Crave said the company has seen sales jump 50 percent since Crumbl filed the lawsuit.

CNBC interviewed Crumbl co-founders Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley in 2021 about their booming business. At the time, Hemsley told CNBC: “I have to pinch myself every day, because we talk about sprinkling on conference tables. And – and pink dew.”

After the lawsuits were filed, CNBC reached out to Crumbl for a response. However, the founders declined the request for an interview and instead sent an emailed statement, which read: “Crumbl has taken legal action against the two companies for trademark infringement and trade costumes, one of which stole Crumbl’s recipes and trade secrets.”

Maxwell, the founder of Dirty Dough, denies stealing Crumbl’s recipes. “Just look at our cookies, you can’t get a different product, you can taste it and it’s so different,” he said.

Crumbl could face a high regulatory hurdle.

Dyan Finguerra-Ducharme, trademark attorney and partner at Pryor Cashman in New York, said: “It can be very difficult for Crumbl to show consumers mistakenly believe the respondent’s cookies come from Crumbl. She has nothing to do with the case.

“Crumbl came up with a great idea – a whole business model, [is] Finguerra-Ducharme says, “turn the cookies around each week, distributing them warm in a box that fits the cookies,” says Finguerra-Ducharme. “The problem is that Crumbl’s ideas are not protected by intellectual property law.”

So can the case go to a jury?

Finguerra-Ducharme told CNBC: “It can be refuted by showing the judge that under the law these marks don’t look the same.

“And if the stains don’t look the same,” she added, “that’s where the cookies fall apart.”