Crumbl — Restaurant in Chesapeake

Yikes, yikes, yikes. This was an hour-long nightmare. Understaffed, under trained, and chaos. Cookies are good. I can't overstate how dramatically disappointing the experience was.

I placed an online order ay 7:39pm on Saturday, January 6th for a 4 box of specialty cookies. I placed the order online assuming the flavors I ALREADY PAID FOR would be prioritized over walk-in customers. Heads up: that doesn't happen here. Door Dash orders are the highest priority, walk-ins, THEN pay ahead and pick-up.

I followed the instructions and texted when I arrived. The storefront was busy, so I wasn't expecting to just walk in and walk out. There were six people ahead of me in the online queue. They were visibly overwhelmed. One frantic employee was pacing around saying "Oh my gosh, we don't have enough skillets, we don't have enough skillets, oh my gosh, oh my gosh." One employee was trying to pack orders but somehow took 7-8 minutes per 4 pack. Another was in the back hustling with back of house stuff. They kept saying "Someone call Charlotte!"

Walk-ins were given their order with a short wait and the folks who ordered ahead watched as each flavor slowly but surely got ticked off with "SOLD OUT" with a sticky note. However, those updates weren't being made on the website. So, any online order that came in still had full run of the menu. Which then created more bottleneck chaos. Every single order ahead had to have substitutions.

After 30 minutes I asked an employee if they could confirm my order was received. They said yes and that they didn't have the flavors I order. I asked to be refunded and if I could just have 2 cookies of whatever they had. She refunded me, but I was forgotten about. Another 5-10 minutes pass. I physically had to step to the counter in front of other customers who has been there for much less time being assisted and ask the person at the mixer to please check on my order. They said to each other "We only have one cookie left."

So, here we are. 40 minutes in, chaos. Should I have just given up? Probably. But the sunk cost of time, y'know? I ask again if someone could check on my order. I re-emphasized that I would take literally ANY 2 cookies at this point. They found a chocolate chip cookie and a brownie glaze cookie that just came out of the oven and asked me to not touch it for 15 minutes on the drive home while it cooled.

I don't blame the people who were working. They were nice and truly trying their best. I implore management to re-evaluate their approach to staffing, offer training on setting priorities, teaching how to manage production workflow and rhythm, and empower one employee to serve as shift lead.

I left around 8:40pm. A full hour experience to get two singular...

It’s time to tell my story regarding my recent order from Crumbl at the Greenbrier location. First off, let me say, I love cookies as much as the next person and so do my kids but normally, I don’t spend 50 dollars on 6 cookies, that is unheard of. I’m not here to dispute the pricing, because my kids love Crumbl and I would do anything to make them happy. I placed an order for my children this weekend because they wanted to try the new Carlota De Limon icebox cake along with their favorite, the semi sweet chocolate chip cookie. I placed the order from the Crumbl app at around 8:50 PM for delivery as it was listed as an option. About 2 hours go by after being quoted 45 minutes for delivery. I called the Crumbl location and explained it was now almost 11 PM and had not received my order… at this point, I was annoyed because whoever I spoke to kept laughing and I called around 6 times and each time I either got put on hold or hung up on while hearing them laugh in the background. I didn’t find this funny, especially when I waited over two hours with no order in sight. I finally spoke to someone on my last call and asked her to cancel the order and write my name down and I would come to the location tomorrow and get a replacement. She said that was fine and she wrote my name down or atleast that’s what she said. They didn’t seem eager to make it right by any means. I wake up the next morning and see I have a text from the delivery driver who is partnered through Crumbl and they stated they were scared to drop the order off and left it on my TRASHCAN. The cookies sat on the trashcan all night long after I was assured it was canceled. Of course at this point I am FURIOUS. I opened the warped box and not only are they ruined because they sat outside all night, the strawberry cookie didn’t even have the toppings it was blank. I am in so much disbelief at this point that this even happened. I called Crumbl that morning and spoke to Kai, who make it right and had my order redelivered this morning. I still feel as though I shouldn’t have had to pay for anything with the service I received from Crumbl and this will be my LAST order with this company because of the way I was treated by their night shift. My kids were ultimately disappointed, and you DO NOT mess with my kids. Crumbl, please screen your employees better and hire people who have empathy and care about your customers to prevent things like this from happening. Attached are the pictures...

Just find another location. I am pretty frustrated, so I decided to put in my experience right away before even leaving the parking lot. If I spend my money, especially after a long day, I would appreciate good service. Here's the complete play by play:

Placed a curbside order 1 hour before arriving and paid in the app. I checked in when I arrived. When I got there, I see it was a little busy as I watched some small groups of people inside and a couple people outside. I plan to be patient. The app tells me that I'm in line, then tells me they will be out shortly indicating they acknowledged my order and were preparing (I frequently buy Crumbl, so im familiar). I watched multiple groups of people come in after that acknowledgment on the app, place their order and get their cookies, and leave in the span of over 15 minutes after the app said they were coming out.

So after I realized they weren't coming by the time the store was EMPTY as I literally observed from outside in my car, I went inside and patiently waited at the counter. Finally a few minutes later after one of the bakers asked if I had a pickup order, I told her my curbside order was placed and I already checked in 15 minutes prior but no one came out. She motions to a girl with braids in the other side of the wall that it was curbside. She comes around the corner chewing and heads to put my cookies in the box. So not only was I not getting my order curbside, but I still had to wait for my order to be put together when I walked in.

Hampton, Pembroke, and Red Mill are just as busy and honor their curbside and pre-paid orders. They do so without an attitude, or dismissing the customer. When I questioned the girl with the braids why the curbside order was acknowledged, but never brought out, I was dismissed with attitude because they were "busy." Reality? The girl who was supposed to be on task was "busy" eating in the work area to deliver my curbside order as requested or even have it ready. She had no apology about the delay, no smile, and all attitude with quick avoidance as I'm asking my questions. Again, find another location. The cookies are good, but I'd rather have better service elsewhere with...