Crumbl’s $1.99 Value Deal: Cookie Chain Slashes Prices as 65 Stores Close

Crumbl is rolling out a $1.99 value deal that pairs a 24-ounce zero-sugar Dirty Soda with a large Chocolate Chip Thin cookie. CEO Jason McGowan announced the deal to franchisees this week, and it is the chain’s latest attempt to win customers back as sales slide and store closures keep piling up.

Honestly, if you’ve followed Crumbl at all, this feels like a turning point. From a Logan, Utah storefront in 2017, it became the biggest cookie chain in America in six years, pink boxes and all, with a $2 billion valuation when TSG Consumer Partners bought in. Now it’s pushing a $1.99 drink-and-cookie combo to get people through the door. The numbers behind that slide are brutal, and the drama inside the franchise system is somehow wilder.

🍪 What’s in Crumbl’s $1.99 Value Deal?

The deal is simple, and that’s the point. For $1.99, customers get a 24-ounce zero-sugar Dirty Soda plus a large Chocolate Chip Thin cookie, rolling out this past Friday per CEO Jason McGowan’s franchisee announcement, reported by Restaurant Business on October 19, 2026.

The marketing leans hard on the health angle, which tells you exactly who this deal is aimed at. Crumbl’s ad for the combo highlights that the zero-sugar soda and thin cookie together have just 170 calories. McGowan told franchisees the offer “gives customers a compelling new reason to stop at Crumbl.” It’s aimed at a real problem: customers on social media have been complaining that Crumbl’s prices have gotten out of hand, and the dirty soda rollout earlier this year ran into a buzzsaw over sugar content.

One catch: not every store can sell it. About 300 Crumbl locations never installed the beverage machines, so those stores can’t participate at all.

📉 Why Is Crumbl Betting on a Value Deal Right Now?

Because sales have fallen off a cliff. Company documents seen by Restaurant Business show August sales were down 70% versus two years earlier. September improved slightly on Minecraft and Little Debbie cookie weeks but was still down 50%, with median per-store profit of just $1,832, under $22,000 annualized. One franchisee summed up October in a single word: “miserable.” When your own operators talk like that, a value menu isn’t a strategy, it’s a lifeline.

The deal also tackles Crumbl’s other big mess: the dirty soda rollout. The company ordered franchisees to install up to $50,000 in drink equipment per store, but August’s “Soda Week” produced the weakest sales week in Crumbl history, and the “Crazy Cousins” drink got roasted online for packing 186 grams of sugar. Now HQ is shipping franchisees free-soda mailers and radio ad copy to move the drinks. Pairing the soda with a cheap cookie is Crumbl’s way of paying customers to give the beverage program a second chance.

🏚️ How Many Crumbl Stores Have Closed?

The number that should worry anyone watching this brand: Crumbl has closed 65 locations since April 30, based on a count of the company’s own website against a master location list. The chain opened 15 in the same stretch, for a net loss of 50 stores. Crumbl started 2026 with 1,101 locations.

The closures aren’t concentrated in one market either. Shops have gone dark recently in Melbourne, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Montgomery, Alabama, among others. A six-store franchisee in New England filed for bankruptcy last month and is selling its locations. Another two-store operator sent a message to franchisees offering to sell at a “substantially discounted” asking price.

We covered the earlier wave of Crumbl closures here back in October, and the bleeding hasn’t stopped since. When operators are dumping stores at fire-sale prices and filing Chapter 11, that’s not normal churn. That’s a system under real stress.

😬 The Apology, the Cameras, and the “Yes, We Are Watching” Email

Here’s where it gets strange. On October 9, CEO Jason McGowan posted on LinkedIn acknowledging the brand’s struggles, and to his credit, he owned it: “The restaurant industry is facing real headwinds right now, and Crumbl is no exception… I should have anticipated them sooner and adjusted our course. That is on me.” That same day, “brand excellence specialist” DeeDee Caley emailed franchisees about stepped-up in-store camera monitoring, with $250 to $1,000 fines pulled from their bank accounts. Subject line: “Yes, we are watching.”

SVP Taylor Ransom later apologized for the email, calling it “not an official Crumbl HQ communication” and denying any new review or fine plans. The damage stuck: “There is something fundamentally wrong when a company’s approach to brand protection is to remind franchisees that they are being watched and threaten them with fines,” one franchisee said. Behind it all, Crumbl ended 2025 with $6 million in cash, laid off more than 120 people across August and September, and franchisees are now asking to open at 10 a.m. instead of 8 to save labor, plus more pricing flexibility.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

So where does this leave Crumbl? A $1.99 value deal is a Hail Mary from a brand that once commanded premium prices and hour-long Friday lines. The soda program needs traffic, stores need customers, franchisees need a reason to believe. Whether Crumbl’s $1.99 value deal moves the needle or just papers over a broken rollout shows up in November’s sales numbers. I’ll be watching those.

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