The Rise and Fall of Food Fads: From Frozen Yogurt and Krispy Kreme to Crumbl Cookies: Why America Keeps Eating the Same Business Cycle
The Rise and Fall of Food Fads: From Frozen Yogurt and Krispy Kreme to Crumbl Cookies: Why America Keeps Eating the Same Business Cycle
Remember when frozen yogurt was going to replace ice cream? When people lined up around buildings for Krispy Kreme doughnuts? When cupcakes became luxury goods, sushi burritos were suddenly everywhere, and every shopping center needed a bubble tea shop?
Now it’s Crumbl Cookies. Oversized cookies, pink boxes, rotating flavors, and social media taste tests transformed a familiar dessert into a national obsession. But the conversation is shifting from how fast Crumbl can expand to whether expansion has outrun demand.
America doesn't just fall in love with food. We fall in love with food businesses, franchise them into oblivion, and then act surprised when everybody gets tired of the same thing. The food isn't necessarily the problem. The business model might be.
Crumbl Cookies: The latest case study
Founded in Utah in 2017, Crumbl used rotating weekly flavors, recognizable packaging and viral taste tests to create anticipation. It sold participation in a weekly cultural ritual, not merely cookies.
The chain expanded beyond 1,000 U.S. locations. But a large footprint is not the same as sustainable unit economics. Reported average annual store sales were approximately $1.84 million in 2022, $1.16 million in 2023, $1.35 million in 2024 and $1.14 million in 2025. Reporting-store populations can change, so these figures should not be interpreted as same-store sales.
Recent reporting has described closures, weaker visits and franchisee concerns. That does not mean the chain is bankrupt or that every location is unprofitable. It means the initial growth story is meeting the difficult economics of a maturing market.
Frozen yogurt: The great froyo gold rush
Frozen yogurt had two major waves: TCBY and other chains in the 1980s and early 1990s, followed by Pinkberry, Red Mango, Menchie’s and Yogurtland in the 2000s. Tart flavors, colorful toppings, bright stores and self-serve machines made dessert feel new.
Then the copycats arrived. New stores did not necessarily create new demand; they divided the same customers among more storefronts. Frozen yogurt survived, but the ability of every strip mall to support another shop did not.
A Washington Post account of Washington-area frozen yogurt described one early operator whose strong opening revenue eventually deteriorated under competitive pressure. The product was still popular; the local market had simply become crowded.
Krispy Kreme: When a hot doughnut became an expansion strategy
Founded in 1937, Krispy Kreme was not a new food fad. Its late-1990s and early-2000s national expansion, however, turned the Hot Now sign into a destination and new openings into events.
Aggressive growth and financial controversies later demonstrated the risks of assuming early excitement would last forever. The company survived and reinvented itself.
Decades later, a planned national distribution expansion through McDonald’s was discontinued in 2025. This was a distribution-economics issue rather than an exact repeat of the earlier boom, but it illustrates the same strategic question: does greater availability always produce greater profit?
The food-fad graveyard: Cupcakes, sushi burritos and more
Gourmet cupcakes
Sprinkles, Magnolia and Crumbs helped turn cupcakes into premium treats. Crumbs’ 2014 bankruptcy became a warning about narrow specialization and rapid expansion; other operators survived.
Sushi burritos
The oversized handheld sushi roll was portable, colorful and photogenic. The format persists, but never became the everyday staple early excitement seemed to promise.
Cronuts and hybrid pastries
Dominique Ansel’s 2013 Cronut inspired queues and imitators. The original endured, but the frenzy surrounding every new hybrid eventually cooled.
Rainbow bagels and unicorn foods
Highly visual novelty foods could generate enormous attention without guaranteeing frequent repeat purchases.
Rolled ice cream
The cold-plate preparation was ideal for video, but theatrical production could mean slower service and more labor.
Bubble tea
An important counterexample: boba developed durable repeat demand, even though individual neighborhoods can become saturated.
Other waves
Gourmet popcorn, frozen custard, poke bowls, acai bowls, juice cleanses, charcoal foods, Korean corn dogs, elaborate milkshakes and premium cookies have all experienced different versions of hype and normalization.
Why food fads follow the same predictable life cycle
1. Discovery
A novel food or experience attracts early adopters.
2. Viral growth
Lines, reviews and social media turn a product into a must-try event.
3. Expansion
Franchisees, investors and imitators multiply locations.
4. Saturation
More operators compete for finite demand; novelty declines.
5. Correction
Weak locations close, margins tighten and expansion slows.
6. Maturity or reinvention
The strongest businesses adapt and become habits rather than events.
The most dangerous moment may be when new stores are still opening even as demand at existing stores is weakening. A brand can look like it is expanding and contracting at the same time.
The psychology: Why customers get bored
Consumer satiation is real. Repeated exposure to the same experience can diminish excitement, even when the original product remains enjoyable.
Social media accelerates this process. By the time customers visit a viral restaurant, they may have already watched hundreds of videos of the product. They know the packaging, the flavor rankings and the reveal. The first visit can feel oddly familiar.
Trial demand brings customers in once. Habitual demand keeps the lights on. A food concept needs both, but they are not interchangeable.
When market saturation becomes a math problem
Imagine 10,000 potential customers each buying a specialty dessert twice per month. That creates 20,000 monthly purchases. Two equally competitive shops could theoretically split 10,000 purchases each; eight shops would split just 2,500 each. Opening new shops does not automatically create more demand.
Real markets are more complicated: stores have unequal shares, purchases can grow or shrink, and competitors have different costs. The illustration nonetheless explains why saturation can hurt an otherwise popular product.
Why franchising can make the problem worse
Franchising lets a brand grow using independent operators’ capital. The franchisor may benefit from a large royalty-paying network while each owner must still pay rent, labor, ingredients, debt service and fees.
Consider a hypothetical shop with $1 million in sales and a 15% operating margin. A 20% revenue decline may wipe out much more than 20% of its profit because fixed costs do not fall proportionally.
That is why average unit volumes and individual-store economics matter more than the excitement surrounding a national brand.
Why some trends survive while others disappear
Resilient concepts tend to have frequent repeat purchases, broad demand, compelling everyday value, adaptable menus and reliable execution.
Fad-dependent concepts often rely on occasional novelty purchases, premium pricing justified by hype, first-time visitors and a narrow product line.
A successful food concept eventually graduates from being a trend to being a habit. It does not need to remain exciting forever; it needs to remain useful, enjoyable or valuable.
What happens next for Crumbl Cookies?
Crumbl could stabilize as a more disciplined premium dessert chain, broaden its menu, close weaker locations or find new ways to generate repeat demand. It could also face continued pressure if traffic and unit economics do not recover. Its brand recognition and digital marketing strengths are meaningful, but its central challenge is the same one faced by every novelty-led food business: how do you get people to return after the surprise is gone?
The next food fad is probably already opening near you
Dubai-style chocolate, specialty matcha drinks, Korean corn dogs, premium acai bowls and limited-edition desserts show how fast distinctive foods can capture attention. None is destined to fail. The right questions are how often people will buy again, at what price, and how many competitors the local market can support.
F’nAround’s final bite: The food isn’t dead. The hype just got full.
Americans did not stop liking doughnuts when Krispy Kreme ran into trouble. Frozen yogurt did not suddenly become terrible. Cupcakes did not become inedible. And people are not about to stop eating cookies.
What changes is our willingness to pay a premium, wait in line, drive across town or post about something that no longer feels special.
The first frozen yogurt shop was exciting. The fifth was convenient. The tenth was probably competing for customers who were already satisfied.
Maybe the next empty storefront will sell cookies. Maybe frozen yogurt. Maybe a $14 croissant stuffed with a doughnut, rolled in pistachios, covered in Dubai chocolate and served with matcha. Give it six months. Somebody will probably franchise it.
Editorial image and research notes
Research starting points: Crumbl franchise disclosure documents and trade reporting (QSR Magazine, Restaurant Business); Washington Post reporting on frozen yogurt competition; Krispy Kreme investor releases and McDonald’s partnership announcement; research on consumer satiation and restaurant revisit behavior. Verify current closure counts and financial figures against the latest available sources before publication.