$140 for a box of a dozen cookies? Well, what if they were packaged and presented and prepared like no other cookies you’ve ever had before? What if the cachet was equal to the cookie, and the cookie by itself was already memorable?
Owing equally to social media and the talent of its baking team, Last Crumb, a hip, upstart online cookie company now located in Pasadena, is banking on its once-in-a-lifetime cookies, and hoping their dazzling packaging and subscription membership clientele will help them maintain their quick rise to cookie stardom.
Co-founder, cookie lover, and self-described “serial entrepreneur,” Derek Jaeger, described the company and product thusly in an interview last week: “Last Crumb is an amalgamation of my life’s work. I’ve spent the last decade in marketing, building and selling direct-to-consumer products and companies. But in my spare time I’ve always loved food, the science behind food and what makes things taste good. That has been a hobby and a passion of mine since school.
“Cookies became one of the many obsessions along the way,” he continued. “I knew I wanted to get back into the food industry, and during one holiday party I was chatting with my good friend, Alana Arnold, who is also Last Crumb’s co-founder and she convinced me to take the leap and she would be on board. That’s how Last Crumb was born.”
By way of history, Arnold is co-founder and the director of operations for Last Crumb, where she is responsible for developing sales and marketing partnerships as well as developing the Last Crumb Corporate sales program. Before Last Crumb, Alana served as the marketing manager for Ivera Medical Corporation, where she led marketing efforts for both product and collateral.
Matt Jung is the CEO of Last Crumb, with more than 15 years of experience as a brand founder, business consultant, and strategist to Last Crumb to help develop everything from the brand’s go-to-market strategy to team development, and their marketing initiatives.
Meanwhile, the company also manifests its love for flour, sugar, butter, cream, eggs, chocolate, and more chocolate, in a package that may be equal to the product it holds. The eight-pound box is a packaging wonder, with layers and levels of packaging that creates as much of an experience as the cookies themselves.
Well, almost.
As CEO Jaeger told us, “Everything you see was planned from inception. Our packaging is no less a part of the experience than the cookies themselves.”
The oversized and over-everything cookies are locked up tight in a unique sealed package that a company official assured us would keep them fresh for at least a week. To describe the packaging in any more detail would really spoil the surprise. And I am so not doing that.
As for the cookies themselves, says Jaeger, “Thousands of hours have gone into perfecting the flavors, and we know they are the peak of what a perfect cookie should be. I don’t modify anything.
“However,” he adds, “not all flavors have been released. We will be releasing new flavors, exclusively available to our Last Crumb members first, and then they will be revealed to the rest of the consumers come late 2022 and more in 2023.”
Here’s how that works: Cookie peeps sign up to become exclusive members who are notified about the arrival of a newly cooked and limited batch of cookies available—the “Core Collection.” Cookies are then “dropped” like hit records, and subscribers jump to grab the next batch.
The Core Collection is a range of traditional and familiar cookie flavors amped up to another level, like the “James Dean,” their brand of Oreo milkshake cookies, or the “Madonna,” their peanut butter cookies. Or maybe one might prefer the “Better Than Sex” chocolate chip cookies?
Getting the idea?
As Jaeger concluded, “The Core Collection was conceptualized to make sure the variety was so well rounded, that favorites would be equal almost across the board, something I am extremely proud of. My personal favorite is the Donkey Kong.”
And they do get around. Said Jaeger, “Elon got his hands on a box, so we will get back to you and check if he sent those to space.”
Last Crumb cookies are available at www.lastcrumb.com
