TikTok food trends have become inescapable. The originality on the food side of TikTok has been lost recently, and I feel it is seeping into cafes and restaurant-type places, too. When I go into my favorite Middle Eastern restaurant, I want to be eating falafel, shawarma, and baklava. I don’t enjoy seeing bars of Dubai Chocolate being sold with an obnoxious sign above. It’s a restaurant, not one of those trendy snack shacks that are on every street corner.
It started with the Baked Feta Pasta during the pandemic, then everyone was “severely dehydrated at three in the morning,” so the popular Korean fruit punch, Hwachae, became popular. After that, the chamoy pickles with an insane looking red color became viral, and now we have Dubai Chocolate and Crumbl.
Crumbl cookie is the equivalent of fast fashion. They have a new series of cookies every week that are curated to be eye-catching, and some are controversial. Every week, they have a chance to launch new cookies that will make it onto everyone’s For You page.
As a generation, we have a problem with being consistent. We cycle through everything: food, clothes, music, pretty much everything. Crumbl is the perfect concept for a generation like this current one. We have trouble sticking to one idea, so why not have a new lineup every week?
The Crumbl cookie menu is actually very smart. Even the items that seem peculiar, like the “Almost Everything Bagel” or “Kourtney Kardashian’s Flourless Chocolate Cake,” got a lot of publicity on TikTok. People would film their disgusted reactions to the cake, gaining lots of views, and as a result, people would go buy the item because other people’s reactions made people want to see how bad the item actually is.
It doesn’t make sense to me that people would go buy foods that are so obviously going to be a flop item just so they can see how bad it is. Testing to see if the reactions were genuine is just wasteful of food. It’s painful to see someone on the other side of the screen spit out food that was in perfect condition and just throw it away.
While Crumbl was starting off as a unique store that had a new and original concept, it slowly became mainstream. They have developed flavors and collaborations that are only the most mainstream and with the most trendy people. Their collaborations featured Benson Boone and his popular song, “Mystical Magical,” the Oliva Rodrigo cookie that created a viral TikTok audio, and the Kardashian collab. It just gets boring. I understand how some of these collaborations may seem inventive, but people just don’t seem to realize that just because their favorite artist has their own cookie, it isn’t exactly a creative idea. Crumbl seems to just be making weekly menus solely curated for the TikTok algorithm.
A big brand like Crumbl could do more than just promote the most popular things. They have so many opportunities every week to introduce new ideas and unique flavors, but they just stick to popular ideas like Dubai Chocolate or Sour Patch Kids. They keep on playing it safe for things to go over with the majority and with things people are familiar with, making it easier for them to keep people engaged.
From what I have observed, Crumbl has had an effect on the Parker community, not just the world inside our phones. Every week, I hear how people have been stalking Crumbl’s website and excitedly waiting for their new lineup. It seems like this cookie brand has a chokehold on many people.
The location of the Crumbl on Lincoln is very useful for Crumbl to make lots of money. There are four schools in close proximity to it, making it an enticing option for students after school and a perfect place for Crumbl to reel in the sales.
Crumbl is just one of the many things that are viral on TikTok. Dubai Chocolate is another. I see Dubai chocolate everywhere, and I mean everywhere. From gas stations to full-scale restaurants. I understand that these trendy foods can be good. Just because an item is mainstream doesn’t exactly equate to it being overrated, and I agree that it is a good-tasting item, but I’m so bored.
It was initially created in 2021, but it took two years before it actually went viral. It’s impressive that Dubai Chocolate has had such a long run, and it makes me wonder if it’s an actual item that will stay with us, and it won’t just come and go like the Tao Qi Fruit Ice Creams.
Dubai Chocolate can really reveal how food trends start. Its path to virality began when a popular TikToker, Sarah Hamoudah, posted a video of herself eating the chocolate bar. This reveals how TikTok influencers are so influential. If a lesser-known creator were to have posted a video of themselves showing off this delicious-looking chocolate bar, would the reaction be the same? Most likely, it wouldn’t have. It’s the same way celebrities make brand deals, making their fans eager to buy the product of that brand.
Overall, trends come and go, and whether or not TikTok will remain on the track of repetitiveness is something that the algorithm will have to sort out for itself. Hopefully, it will become a more creative space where more new and original ideas will pop up more frequently.