Unauthorised Crumbl Cookie pop-up in Sydney goes viral. Here's what happened.

A Crumbl Cookie pop-up in Sydney, Australia has gone viral after customers discovered that it had no actual affiliation with the TikTok famous U.S. bakery.

Crumbl Sydney's organisers literally just flew to the U.S., bought hundreds of Crumbl Cookies, then returned to Australia to sell them at $AU17.50 apiece. For those in the U.S., that's around $12 per cookie.

Crumbl Cookies have gained notable popularity on TikTok, many users sharing videos of themselves digging into the viral treats and extolling their virtues. As such, hundreds of Australians were eager to try the famous baked goods when news spread that there would be a one-day Crumbl Cookie pop-up in Sydney on Sept. 29.

Crumbl Sydney had been promoting the event on TikTok for weeks, and hype had been effectively built by the time the pop-up opened in North Bondi on Sunday. Unfortunately, reports of an hours-long queue for stale, horrendously overpriced cookies quickly began to spread.

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Then it got even worse. It was quickly revealed that Crumbl Sydney had not been officially authorised by Crumbl Cookie, and in fact had no connection to the U.S. store. Instead, some aspiring entrepreneur had travelled to the U.S. to buy a ridiculous number of Crumbl Cookies and resell them to Australians at a significant markup.

The backlash was swift and furious. Some were upset they'd been duped, labelling the pop-up a scam, while others were incredulous that anyone fell for Crumbl Sydney's ploy in the first place. Australian TikTok is currently awash with takes on the Crumbl Cookie drama, with many predicting an incoming lawsuit.

Crumbl Sydney responds to anger at unauthorised Crumbl Cookie pop-up

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In response to the furore, Crumbl Sydney published a Google Doc addressing the allegations against them, linking to the statement on TikTok.

"[W]e never claimed to be an official Crumbl store," wrote Crumbl Sydney, stating that they had not used Crumbl Cookies' trademarks in their TikTok content. "This was clearly stated in [our] bio and our comments. Our goal was to bring the authentic Crumbl cookies to Australia by importing the cookies directly from the USA."

This defence is somewhat undermined by the fact that the boxes and signage used at the Crumbl Sydney pop-up clearly displayed Crumbl Cookie's trademarked name and logo, using the same font and recognisable shade of Millennial pink. Users have also noted that Crumbl Cookie's TikTok page initially didn't include any such disclaimer, only adding it after the backlash. 

Then there's the videos. Though Crumbl Sydney has now wiped all of the videos from its TikTok account, copies remain online via other users reacting to the clips. Some of Crumbl Sydney's deleted videos are also available on the CrumblCookieAus YouTube account, which appears to belong to the pop-up judging by the matching video content and the dates of its uploads.

CrumblCookieAus clearly uses Crumbl Cookies' trademarked name and logo in these YouTube videos, and even writes as though it is an officially authorised account. On Sept. 11, CrumblCookieAus uploaded a video consisting of clips and audio taken from Crumbl Cookies' official YouTube account, specifically its one and two year celebration videos.

"Just a small peek of our studio," CrumblCookieAus wrote in the description.

CrumblCookieAus also appeared to encourage commenter's misconceptions that they were an official Crumbl Cookies outlet.

"Yoo ive seen these everywhere online and now getting them here? Thats pretty good," @likebutton1233 commented on a Sept. 10 Short.

"Yup! I can’t wait for all you guys to come and try our cookies!" CrumblCookieAus wrote. "We love our Australian 🇦🇺 fans we gotta let them have some Crumbl cookies!"

Mashable has reached out to Crumbl Cookie for comment.

'This event was never about profit': Crumbl Sydney on its $17.50 cookies

Though Crumbl Sydney seemed happy to take credit for Crumbl Cookies' cookies not long ago, it's now singing a much different tune.

"We traveled to the US to purchase the cookies and imported them with their original packaging," Crumbl Sydney wrote in its Google Doc. "We did not bake them ourselves." 

According to a cost breakdown supplied in Crumbl Sydney s Google Doc, the organisers spent $AU6,000 to purchase the Crumbl Cookies and their packaging. On top of this, $AU4,000 was budgeted for flights and luggage; $AU2,000 for duties, taxes, and customs; around $AU1,000 for staffing; plus additional costs for the pop-up setup such as tables, the venue, microwaves, and marketing. 

"This event was never about profit," the organisers continued. "We aimed to bring the cookies to Crumbl fans…. We set the prices without an intention of making a large profit."

This may be true. Videos uploaded by CrumblCookieAus weeks ago promised further Crumbl Cookie locations in other Australian states, which would have no doubt gotten significant publicity and many more customers had the Sydney pop-up gone well. Considering how it actually went down, it seems safe to say that they won't be going ahead any time soon.

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Regardless of whether or not Crumbl Sydney hoped to make a profit from Sunday's event, many have noted that $AU17.50 is an exorbitant amount to ask for a single cookie, no matter how viral it is. TikTok user sofiaqistinee noted that she only found out the price once already at the pop-up.

Though Crumbl Sydney claimed that most of the pop-up's customers were satisfied, it did at least acknowledge that not everybody was happy. Unfortunately, they appeared dismissive of such concerns, attributing complaints to customers' personal distaste for the flavours they'd chosen.

"While most customers enjoyed the cookies, a couple of influencers felt they didn’t meet expectations," they wrote. "We apologise that they don't live up to expectations however they are just cookies at the end of the day. While there may be a small difference in quality, some flavours may not appeal to some people."

"Crumbl cookies should be kept at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or refrigerated for up to 7 days. We kept them to these requirements. Some were warmed to enhance their texture, which is what crumbl does as well."

Can Crumbl Cookie sue Crumbl Sydney?

Crumbl Sydney has claimed that its pop-up was perfectly legal as it was selling Crumbl Cookies as parallel imports. Also known as grey or direct imports, a parallel import is when a product is brought into a country and sold without the specific permission of the manufacturer to do so. Such imports are sometimes the only way people can get their hands on region-exclusive products.

Parallel imports aren't against Australian law. However, trademark infringement is. 

As noted above, Crumbl Sydney clearly used Crumbl Cookies' logo and branding during their pop-up. Under Australia's Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) Section 122A, parallel importers must make "reasonable inquiries" regarding a trademark before using it. They can then only proceed if a "reasonable person" would conclude that they'd been given permission to use the trademark by someone with the authority to do so.

Unfortunately for Crumbl Sydney, there's no indication that the pop-up ever sought or received such permission. This was made even more apparent by Crumbl Cookie founder Sawyer Hemsley's response to the drama.

"It appears we need to expedite our visit to Australia," Hemsley wrote in a comment on TikTok. "Please note, this pop-up is in no way affiliated with @CrumblCookies."

If Crumbl Sydney has any sense, they're probably steeling themselves for a lawsuit. On the face of it, it seems as though Crumbl Cookie would have a pretty solid case. Their best hope now is for Crumbl Cookie to show some mercy and decide that going after such a sorry pop-up simply isn't worth their time.