Community welcomes new sweet treat to town

By Tristan Leach

On Oct. 14, a new place to get sweet treats opened in Nassau Park Pavilion. The cookie chain known as Crumbl Cookies has taken the United States by storm, and has now found a home in New Jersey.

Crumbl Cookies originally got its start when cousins Jason McGowan and Sawyer Hemsley teamed up to create the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

The cousins spent thousands of dollars on ingredients and wrote recipe after recipe. Finally, the cousins achieved their goal and wanted to share their cookie with the world. The first Crumbl Cookies location opened in Logan, Utah. The shop originally only served the ‘perfected’ chocolate chip cookie, but soon the menu grew. The idea of a rotating menu would set this cookie store apart from others. Slowly, many locations popped up around the U.S. and the once single location became a huge success.

This past Friday marked the opening of the Princeton store. Eager customers were already waiting outside on the sidewalk. A pink ribbon was set up for the ceremony that officially marked the opening of the store. Pink and white balloons framed the door and the pink LED sign that read “open” was just waiting to be turned on.

At precisely 8 a.m. Emily and Jericho Pacho, the owners of the location, and members of the Mercer County Town Council, gathered outside to give a speech and cut the ribbon.

“It’s been a long time in the making but we’re glad that we’re finally open. We wanted to thank the community and the people of West Windsor and Princeton for supporting us,” said Jericho Pacho at the ribbon cutting ceremony.

The Pacho’s, along with the four town council members, grabbed onto the giant pair of scissors and cut into the ribbon, The store was officially open.

Those customers who arrived early were the first ones in, picking from that week’s menu of five or six cookie flavors. The first 15 customers in the shop walked away with a free T-shirt that can also be purchased at the store.

Owners Jericho Pacho and Emily Pacho first heard about Crumbl Cookies while working in Saudi Arabia. Jericho Pacho was told about the Utah-based franchise by a colleague. When the couple moved back to the United States, they made the three hour drive to Rockville, Maryland and Venna, Virginia to try the cookies.

“We loved them [the cookies], then we talked to the franchising person at Crumbl and we decided to move forward with it,” said Jericho Pacho.

Though there would be several delays before the opening of the store, the Pachos were not deterred. They continued on with meetings with their general contractor, finding suppliers and hiring crew members. The crew at the Princeton location consists of 70 people, not including Jericho and Emily, who work in the store.

The inside of the store has an open concept kitchen. White, black and pink walls are decorated adorably and match the sweetness in the air. Crew members can be seen baking, decorating and working the register from the sidewalk. The cookies are made from scratch daily and crew members will make more of each flavor everyday. 

 “The menu is a weekly rotating menu. So we have two staple cookies: the milk chocolate chip and the pink sugar,” said Jericho Pacho. “Then there are four flavors that are rotating.”

The appeal of an ever changing menu and a new sweet shop is what has pulled people in. Andrea Mandel, a member of the Mercer County Town council, purchased her favorites after the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Mandel said, “We feel this is a very sweet introduction into West Windsor and we’re looking forward to them being very successful.”

Crumbl Cookies’ newest location was and is already a success. Students from Rider have already made their way to the store.

Kayla Ailey, a junior psychology major, went to get a box of their favorites later that Friday night.

“I went the first night that Crumbl Cookie opened and I think it was really good and really welcoming,” said Ailey. “To have something this close to Rider University is really cool.”

For Rider students, the newest sweet treat is just down the street, and it is Crumbl Cookies.