There has been a major expansion push recently with regards to cookie shops. The national yearning for the comforting, feel-good sensation that fresh baked cookies represent is spurring demand for these retailers. Customers are drawn to impulse treat purchases that will sweeten their moods in these increasingly stressful pandemic-era times. Cookie brands tend to seek inline or end cap units that can accommodate all types of demographic areas, including college towns, downtown urban metropolitan districts, as well as family-focused neighborhoods. Shopping centers, grocery-anchored centers, street-front mixed-use spaces and strip mall sites are all equally appealing to these brands.
Customers want easy access to warm gourmet cookies without having to put in the time, mess and hassle of baking the treats themselves. At a lower price point than other guilty pleasure food items, many of these cookie chains offer late night delivery services, allowing customers to satisfy their sweet tooth indulgences in a socially distanced manner. With many of the cookie chains also providing national shipping services, gourmet cookies are proving to be popular celebratory gifts for birthdays, graduations and holidays. A majority of these cookie chains are not only providing popular classic cookie flavors, but also creating unique limited-run rotating flavors that keep customers coming back. Look for Great American Cookies, Crumbl Cookies, Insomnia Cookies, Nestlé Toll House Café by Chip, Whimsy Cookie Company and newcomer to national expansion, Levain Bakery, to take advantage of the national need for sweet comfort delights.
Great American Cookies expects to open up to 80 new units per year over the next three years, primarily in the South and Southeast for the remainder of 2020 and early 2021. Upcoming growth will focus on Virginia, Texas and the Carolinas. Expect Northeast markets to be targeted by late 2021, including Maryland, Massachusetts and Michigan. As its batter production facilities expand, Great American Cookies hopes to open new units in the West, especially Colorado, Arizona and California.
The cookie chain, which has been popular in mall food court spaces, is now also focusing on inline and end cap spaces outside of traditional malls, preferably with patio space, particularly in power centers and lifestyle centers in trade areas with heavy foot traffic near family-oriented residential communities. Its retail space sweet spot is in the 1,700- to 2,200-s.f. range, expanded from its previous 600- to 1,100-s.f. range as Great American Cookies realized its customers prefer having extra elbow room in the age of social distancing. Preferred co-tenants are Target, Marshalls and restaurants, as Great American Cookies looks for weekend and nighttime traffic. The franchise has developed an end cap drive-thru prototype for potential upcoming suitable spaces, which is featured in its 1,920-s.f. Baton Rouge, La., unit that opened in the City Square Shopping Center regional mall in October. That mall also houses a F45 fitness center and a Lit Pizza. Great American Cookies, owned and managed by Global Franchise Group, will have the majority of its future units co-branded with Marble Slab Creamery, another Global Franchise Group brand.
Crumbl Cookies expects to open approximately 75 to 100 new units by 2022. The cookie shop/delivery brand continues to be in full expansion mode, after beginning its franchising efforts two years ago. This year alone, Crumbl Cookies opened its first units in California, Maryland, Michigan, South Carolina, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Georgia, Washington, Ohio and Virginia.
Crumbl targets growth in all of these states, in addition to focusing on the new state of New Mexico. Look for new units in Orange County, Calif., the Midlands region in South Carolina, as well as Kansas City and Topeka, Kan. The franchise looks for inline space between 1,000 and 1,300 s.f. within regional malls, street-front mixed-use and big-box anchored centers, in the suburbs on the outskirts of major metropolitan areas, with Target and Costco being ideal co-tenants. Close proximity to a university and family-centered traffic is ideal. Crumbl, which stays open until midnight, is known for its five-inch long gourmet cookies, featuring not only six of its standard flavors including chocolate chip and sugar cookies, but also 90 different flavors that rotate weekly such as orange creamsicle and Nutella sea salt. This year Crumbl introduced its contactless kiosk-ordering technology that has proven to be popular in today’s social distance climate.
Insomnia Cookies expects to open 20 to 25 new units per year over the next three years nationwide. Though the brand had been focused on positioning its units in college towns and mid-sized cities, Insomnia Cookies is now also targeting tourist destinations, as well as downtown financial districts. The brand opened its first San Franciso unit in the city’s Financial District in February of this year. Urban areas near entertainment venues, restaurants, bars and nightclubs will also be desired as its stores stay open until 3 a.m. The chain looks for inline or end cap space, between 500 and 2,000 s.f., in high-visibility areas with a lot of pedestrian traffic. Insomnia is benefitting from its purchase by JAB Holding Company two years ago — the same investment company that also owns the Krispy Kreme and Panera Bread brands. The cookie company just opened its 180th unit this month, a 1,000-s.f. unit in a regional shopping center in Mobile, Ala., across the street from the University of South Alabama, with Chicken Salad Chick as a co-tenant. Insomnia Cookies sell traditional cookie flavors, such as chocolate chunk and peanut butter chip, in addition to “deluxe” flavors, such as salted caramel. Its claim to fame is its late-night warm cookie delivery services.
Nestlé Toll House Café by Chip expects to open about 15 new units per year over the next three years, targeting its growth primarily in Texas, Florida, California, Oklahoma, North Carolina and South Carolina. The retailer also signed a franchise deal for up to five new units in Louisiana through 2021. The franchise opened its first unit in South Dakota last December, an 870-s.f. inline space at The Empire mall in Sioux Falls. Nestlé Toll House Café by Chip space can be built to suit, and the franchise also seeks space between 600 and 800 s.f. for inline units and 1,800 to 2,200 s.f. for either end cap or standalone larger dine-in units, preferably with patio space. The bakery franchise can also accommodate kiosk space that can be as small as 350 s.f. (with 20 s.f. of storage) for its non-traditional mall units. The chain is currently developing drive-thru capacities for its upcoming end cap and standalone units. Nestlé Toll House Café by Chip seeks sites in traditional, regional and strip malls in both smaller bedroom communities with a high concentration of families, as well as urban central business districts. Ideal space should have co-tenancy with fitness centers and family-focused anchors, such as Costco, Marshalls and Sports Authority, and be close to a high school or a college. In addition to its fresh baked cookies, select Nestlé Toll House Café by Chip units also sell ice cream, crepes, wraps, paninis and grilled flatbreads.
Tennessee-brand Whimsy Cookie Company, with nine units throughout the South, looks to open 10 to 15 new units per year over the next three years, with immediate growth centered in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Alabama and Texas. Expect further expansion into more Southeast and Southwest markets. The brand seeks out 2,000 and 3,000 s.f. of space, either standalone units or end cap, in outdoor grocery-anchored mall spaces, lifestyle centers or street-front retail districts. Whimsy Cookie Company is slated to open a 1,336-s.f. standalone unit before the end of the year at a former Batteries Plus Bulbs in the Bearden Village retail district in Knoxville, Tenn. The franchisee is considering opening more potential units near the area, including in Pigeon Forge. The brand is known for its decorative and customized soft sugar cookies, as well as its decadent specialties, such as gooey butter cookies and Oreo-stuffed cookies.
Levain Bakery, a popular New York City-based cookie brand for the past 25 years, just expanded outside of its home state in September when it opened a 2,250-s.f. end cap on a street-front unit in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. A private equity company, Stripes Group, acquired a majority interest in Levain Bakery two years ago and hired a new CEO to accelerate the brand’s growth. Levain Bakery expects its national expansion to be at a more modest pace of about three to five new units per year at least until 2022, when a more aggressive expansion launch is a strong possibility. New markets considered include upstate New York, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Miami and other units in the Washington, D.C., area, including Bethesda, Md. The cookie company had planned to target the Los Angeles market before the pandemic hit, and now growth into the city has been shelved at least until late 2021.
Levain Bakery units tend to be approximately 2,400- to 3,000-s.f. inline street front in urban areas, including the ground floor of mixed-use spaces and lifestyle centers in suburban neighborhoods. Over the summer Levain Bakery began increasing its brand awareness by selling its cookies in a pre-baked packaged form in the frozen foods section of select grocery stores, such as Whole Foods Market in the Northeast, Harris Teeter in the South Atlantic and Central Market in the Texas region. It is likely that the success or failure of its sales at these grocery stores may determine future store sites. Levain Bakery, which can ship its cookies to all 50 states, is known for its generous-sized six-ounce cookies that are crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside.
