The official grand opening of Crumbl Cookies in Ames takes place Friday, and their soft opening is Thursday, where cookies will be ready for purchase. They are located at 414 South Duff Ave. #104.

They will launch the new minion lineup featuring five cookies in celebration of the “Minions” movie release, which will be in addition to their classic milk chocolate chip cookie that remains in the Crumbl Cookies rotation every week. The five new cookies to debut are Banana Cream Pie, Mooncake, Dirt Cake ft. OTTO, Yellow Sugar and Minion Confetti.

The new Crumbl Cookies store will open their doors at 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. during the week and will remain open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

How Crumbl Cookies found its way to Ames

“We’re just super excited to be part of the community,” said Bart Coon, co-owner of the newest Crumbl Cookies and the store in Ankeny.

Coon started as a consumer. His wife brought home a pink box full of the inch-thick cookies, and after the first bite, Coon was hooked.

Coon was first introduced to Crumbl’s red velvet cookie, and when he came back to buy another one, it wasn’t there. He asked what happened to that cookie, and the employees introduced him to Crumbl’s unique rotating lineup that changes every week.

Flash forward to Tuesday, Coon is getting ready to open the first Ames Crumbl Cookies.

As Coon was sharing his story with the Daily, some prospective customers walked in. “Welcome to Crumbl!” employees in the store said in unison.

Coon chatted with the customers and assured them to come back on Thursday when they will have cookies or Friday for their official grand opening. He saw to it that no customer who came in left without a coupon for a free cookie.

Coon shared how he and his partner discovered the opportunity after selling their previous business, and they interviewed with Crumbl Cookies about becoming franchise owners.

If the long lines in Ankeny and the pool of people already outside of the Ames store indicate anything, many customers are happy the company took a chance on them. As for the future, Coon stressed the importance of community to their team.

“We do love being involved in the community and being able to give back to the community,” Coon said.

Coon said they plan to donate unsold cookies to good causes, such as charity and community involvement as a whole, where he cited the recent WelcomeFest event as an example. He wants to donate unsold cookies to hospitals, first responders and throughout the community.

“We love to try to find [cookies] a home.”