Let the baking begin! Crumbl Cookies opens June 9 in Montgomery

Christopher Arias is ready to make a lot of dough in Montgomery, now that a grand opening for Crumbl Cookies in Zelda Place is set for June 9. Come inside and you can watch it happen.

"They’ll see us mixing the dough, shaping the dough, and baking it, obviously," said Arias. "And putting the finishing touches on the product before the guest gets it."

That's thanks to the cookie giant's open bakery concept, which lets customers watch as a weekly rotating menu of six gourmet cookies are prepared and put into signature pink boxes.

Crumbl has more than 275 cookie flavors, including their award-winning milk chocolate chip. Among the other favorite flavors are cornbread, cookies & cream, s'mores, key lime pie, peppermint bark, caramel popcorn, buttermilk pancake, galaxy brownie, and many more. The upcoming week's flavors are announced Sunday nights on Crumbl's social media.

"Guests can see the processes that are going into making the varieties," Arias said.

He and wife Vanessa are the franchise owners of Montgomery's first Crumbl. As they've prepared to open over the past few months, would-be customers have stopped by the store at 3012 Zelda Road — it's to the right of Publix between Born Children's Boutique and Ice King — tempted by a "coming soon" banner.

"People are really anxious to get in here and start trying the different varieties," he said. "There's quite the buzz around town."

It's taken a lot of work to get the bakery ready. Before renovations, the location was basically a "vanilla box" of a storefront, Arias said.

"It was just a shell," he said. "Everything in here from the walls to the counters to the floors, that's all the way Crumbl Cookies designed it and wanted it... We really care so much to have it be as good as is possibly could be. If we could have built it faster, we would have."

When it opens, guests will use self-ordering stations to select and pay for their cookie cravings. But that's not all. Along with cookies, they’ll sell Crumbl Cream ice cream and, of course, milk and Crumbl water to wash it down.

Store hours are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday-Thursday, and 8 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday. Crumbl will be closed on Sundays.

The Arias family lives in Birmingham. Christopher and Vanessa have two children, Kobe and Makenly, who are active in school and sports there.

"We really want to continue that journey (in Birmingham) now, because it's great," he said.

That's why they plan to commute to Montgomery to run the store.

"The drive isn't too bad," he said.

They were drawn to Crumbl after Christopher Arias’ brother opened a franchise in Massachusetts.

"I had the pleasure of going to his grand opening… We loved what we saw," he said. "At that point in time, we contacted the brand and started exploring our options."

Crumbl has more than 800 bakeries in 49 states and is growing internationally.

The Arias family selected Montgomery because it had just the right recipe for a Crumbl — a rich history and a territory that was open for a franchise and close enough to home.

"We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to come to Montgomery and share our love for the best cookies in the world," he said.

Anyone who's dreamed of working with cookies can apply. Arias said they hope to hire more than 60 people.

"Not really an exact number, but we do want to have plenty of support," Arias said.

Resumes can be emailed to [email protected].

Learn more about Crumbl and it's cookie offerings online at crumblcookies.com.

Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel covers things to do in the River Region. Contact him at [email protected].