A new RSO is in town. Its goal is to bring a taste of Crumbl cookies to University students while fostering a tight-knit community.
The Crumbl Club launched its first event at the end of February, enticing students with free Crumbl cookies and Red Bull. After almost a month of coordinating with the Champaign location’s franchise owner, Deborah Platon, the club gave out 48 free Crumbl cookies to students passing by the Main Quad.
“We wanted to do it on the quad to have more exposure,” said Crumbl Club’s president Sam Blaker, junior in ACES. “I figured since this is more of a social thing than a thing you come to learn something, I wanted to get as many people to just see us as possible, even if you’re not going to get something from it.”
Students gave the club positive feedback and expressed relief at finally having an organization that celebrates Crumbl cookies. They also received a lot of attention from their first event, reaching over 45,000 views on an Instagram reel they posted.
“I had a bunch of random people come up to me just on the street … they were like, ‘Oh, you’re the Crumbl guy. You’re the guy from the reel,’” Blaker said.
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Blaker, an energetic and passionate leader, organized the RSO as a way to give back to the University.
“I transferred here last year and the school’s given me so much, so being able to give back just free cookies, something a lot of people like, has been really cool for me,” Blaker said.
Blaker first got the idea for a Crumbl Club from a friend and ran with it. However, starting an organization of this kind is not for the faint of heart. He turned to “two of his best friends” for help with developing the idea.
Iva Scekic, sophomore in ACES, and Paul Klapperich, junior in Engineering, were both hesitant about the idea at first. After all, giving out free cookies to students is no easy feat. However, the two eventually came on board.
“Worst thing that happens, our club flops and no one ever talks about it again,” Scekic, Crumbl Club’s treasurer, said. “Best thing that happens is a lot of people come and people have a great time, people really enjoy it. So we had nothing to lose.”
While a large part of the club’s purpose is to promote Crumbl cookies to University students, the organization has a bigger goal in mind.
“It’s important for people to know that they’re super welcome here and that we’re not trying to use them as a product,” Klapperich, the RSO’s secretary, said.
The three friends expressed that, to them, Crumbl Club has the potential to create a network of like-minded University students who can bond over their shared love for cookies.
“We’re creating this more to build your network instead of just get a cookie,” Klapperich said. “The cookies are the path to meeting more people.”
Despite having boundless ambition and dedication, the club ran into several issues while planning its first event.
One of the most difficult challenges was communicating with Crumbl in the first place. The club was unable to get sponsorship from the brand. Instead, they settled for working with Champaignʼs local Crumbl location.
“We really had to scrape together every single possible advantage that we had because we came from a place with no funding, no credibility and no resources,” Klapperich said.
For their first event, they received free cookies in exchange for promotion on social media. However, this may not stay a viable option for much longer. Giving away free cookies from a large corporation is not a sustainable business strategy, so the group needs to get creative.
The club is partnering with Platon to create a membership structure that allows members to pay a fee for discounted Crumbl cookies while enabling the club to buy cookies in bulk for meetings.
“Unfortunately, not everything can be free,” Blaker said. “If it were up to me, everyone gets a free cookie.”
Despite these challenges, the club produced an event that generated buzz for both the club and Crumbl itself.
The club’s future remains unclear. However, Blaker, Scekic and Klapperich are working around the clock to establish a tight-knit community of Crumbl cookie lovers.
“I think Crumbl Club would be a great place for you to just come together from all different walks of life, all different majors, and bond over one common thing, which is cookies,” Scekic said.
