Who Actually Owns Crumbl Cookies?

For a company with nearly 1,100 stores and an estimated value of $2 billion including debt, you'd imagine Crumbl Cookies as a slick corporation with multiple investors and high-powered marketing wizards. While things are leaning slightly closer to that in 2025, it's certainly not what's defined the Utah-based company since launching in 2017. In fact, the two cofounders, cousins Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley, still run the company much as they did from the beginning, now splitting chores as CEO and Chief Brand Officer, respectively. They remain majority owners of the privately held cookie empire, running the day-to-day business and maintaining control of how it operates, along with Chief Technology Officer Bryce Redd.

They've come a long way since dreaming big with a hands-on idea of making something tangible rather than digital or conceptual, per McGowan's then-career in technology. That tangible commodity happened to be cookies. Now, a mere eight years later, the Crumbl-cousin entrepreneurs are inching into potential new partnerships and investment opportunities. 

In May 2025, Crumbl announced an investment from TSG Consumer Partners, a private equity firm known for helping brands scale to the next level, including now-popular brands like Dutch Bros. When it comes to Crumbl, TSG takes only a minority stock in the company, using what's known as preferred equity. This means the group doesn't take control of the company but still gets first dibs on profits. Another arm of the financial move reportedly includes about $500 million in a private credit loan with Blackstone and Golub Capital.

It's true that Crumble is making some partnership moves. But fear not, devotees of cookie-fame favorites like pumpkin roll, pink doughnut, and maple glaze — those alliances are not a takeover. The company still holds firm roots in its home state of Utah, where the cousins initially worked from Hemsley's parents' kitchen. After create what they deemed the world's best chocolate chip cookie, the duo jumped deep and wide into what McGowan once called a fun side hustle.

After self-funding an operation doling out cookies from a wooden hut, growth happened on a monumental scale. The original oversized, pioneering, chocolate chip cookie is lonely no more, with Crumbl currently maintaining a rumored 200 cookie flavors. They rotate through stores in six featured flavors per week, revealed to fans on Sunday nights via social media. The company now has a solid presence in all 50 U.S. states, plus Canada and Puerto Rico — but its cookie crumbs may someday scatter across continents.

International plans have quietly rumbled for several years now, though no solid plans have yet been announced. Regardless, the original owners, who are still firmly in control, have come a long way since roaming grocery store and gas station parking lots, soliciting opinions on whether the ideal chocolate chip cookie should feature milk or semi-sweet chocolate. A few people spoke then, now joined by millions of voices clamoring for weekly menu flavors — over and over again.