Overview

About Crumbl

Crumbl is a tech-driven dessert company known for its rotating weekly cookie menu, bold marketing, industry-leading app, and rapid national growth. With everything from quality control to logistics built in-house, Crumbl relies on hundreds of corporate employees to support franchise partners and deliver consistent exceptional customer experiences.

The Challenge

Scaling culture, connection, and recognition in a fast-paced, distributed environment

Crumbl operates at an intense pace. Every week, menus change. Systems update. Teams move fast to support franchise partners across North America.

That environment demands extra effort, and leadership knew that effort needed to be acknowledged in a way that felt authentic. It was important that such efforts scaled with the business and kept everything true to Crumbl's culture.

"The product that we're putting out is a lot of fun, but it is not easy to do what we do every single week."
Alejandra Caceres, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Crumbl

"It is a constant effort every day by hundreds of individuals."
Bryce Redd, CTO, Crumbl

Before Awardco, Crumbl faced several challenges:

• Recognition didn’t scale with growth and speed. As headcount increased, recognition risked becoming inconsistent or top-down only. They didn’t want to leave anyone behind.
  
• Values lacked day-to-day reinforcement. Like many companies, Crumbl talked often about its mission and values, but employees needed a more tangible way to experience them.
  
• Remote employees were harder to reach. Without regular in-person interaction, important work went unseen, especially as the company grew. ‍
• Manual processes created unnecessary administrative burden. Birthdays, anniversaries, and onboarding milestones required time-consuming coordination, increasing the risk that employees would be missed as the company scaled.

"We're very deliberate in the culture that we built. We value integrity, innovation, and we have an awesome culture because of who we hire. We've got a huge team of really talented individuals."
Bryce Redd, CTO, Crumbl

The Solution

A values-based recognition platform built for visibility, scale, and ease

Crumbl partnered with Awardco to launch Glaze the Bar, a recognition experience designed to reinforce company values while empowering every employee to participate.

The program consisted of:

• Values-based recognition: Every recognition is tied to a specific Crumbl value, turning abstract ideas into observable actions.
• Peer-driven participation: Employees receive a quarterly allotment of points to recognize others, enabling recognition to flow in every direction, not just from leadership.
• Executive amplification: Leaders have expanded budgets and unlimited recognition ability, making appreciation from the C-suite both visible and frequent.‍
• Slack integration: Recognition lives where employees already communicate, with 95% of recognition activity happening in Slack. This drives visibility, engagement, and better connects employees in every location.

"The beauty of Awardco is that it empowers everybody to make sure good work doesn’t go unnoticed."
Josh Olofson, Vice President of Employee Experience, Crumbl

Recognition that reinforces values every single day

Before Awardco, Crumbl’s values were well-defined, but harder to keep top of mind during busy days.

With Glaze the Bar, recognition became the reminder and the action mechanism. 

Each time an employee recognizes a peer, they select the value being demonstrated, prompting employees to actively look for values in action across the organization. Over time, recognition shifted from isolated moments of appreciation to a culture-building activity.

The executive team is especially active in recognition, reinforcing that appreciation is a leadership priority and demonstrating how much the C-suite values contributions at every level of the organization.

"For most companies, purpose, mission, and values can end up feeling like just words on paper. That’s why we were so interested in Awardco. It gives us an authentic way to bring our values to life. Every time someone recognizes a teammate, our purpose and values are right there, reinforcing what they look like in action every single day."
Josh Olofson, Vice President of Employee Experience, Crumbl

Appreciation that fuels connection, creativity, and resilience

Beyond day-to-day recognition, Crumbl uses Awardco to power creative, impactful programs that bring people together and reward employees for going above and beyond, especially during demanding moments. 

One example is Crumbl Quest, a scavenger hunt that brings together cross-functional teams from different departments. Teams complete a series of challenges, ranging from outdoor adventures to service-based activities, that encourage collaboration, relationship-building, and living Crumbl’s values in real-world ways. 

Awardco serves as the incentive engine behind Crumbl Quest, with winning teams earning points. This incentive drives high participation and sustained engagement.

Awardco also supports recognition during high-pressure, all-hands-on-deck moments through programs like the Dumpster Fire Award. When unexpected tech issues arise, whether it’s a system emergency, operational disruption, or late-night problem that needs immediate attention, leaders use Awardco to recognize employees who step in and do the hard work to keep things running. 

Each Dumpster Fire Award includes points and a visible callout, turning stressful situations into moments of appreciation and reinforcing a culture that recognizes effort, not just outcomes.

"They need to know that they're looked up to, that, you know, what they do is impactful and it means a lot to those around them."
‍Bryce Redd, CTO, Crumbl

Additionally, recognition plays a critical role during periods of change, such as navigating evolving tariffs that impact packaging and supply chain decisions. When these shifts require teams to move quickly, often working late nights to source alternatives, adjust plans, and minimize disruption, leaders use Awardco to recognize that effort in real time. Instead of the work staying behind the scenes, recognition makes those moments visible across the organization, reinforcing appreciation for the people who step up when conditions change and pressure is high.

"People are working really, really hard, and if they feel like just another cog in the machine, that can get disheartening really quickly. Taking that extra time to show appreciation for above-and-beyond effort is really important and reinforces good relationships."
Alejandra Caceres, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Crumbl

Automation that saves time while still feeling personal

Awardco also helped Crumbl streamline quarterly program reminders and milestone recognitions across the employee lifecycle:

• New hires receive points at the 30 and 60 day milestones
• All employees receive points on their yearly anniversary
• Birthdays and anniversaries are fully automated through an integration with Workday and are recognized on the actual date

What once required manual tracking, cash handling, envelope stuffing, and holiday-party distribution is now seamless for admins, and more meaningful for employees.

"I’ve been able to see how much recognition has changed since we started using Awardco. From an admin perspective, it’s become so much more manageable and has saved me countless hours. Birthdays, anniversaries, and new-hire milestones are all automated through Workday, new hires get points at 30 and 60 days, and employees are recognized automatically for birthdays and anniversaries."
Shannon Martell, Employee Experience Specialist, Crumbl

"It’s much more personalized for the person celebrating their anniversary. From an operations standpoint, it’s helped us recognize employees on the actual day it matters most, instead of long after the moment has passed."
Josh Olofson, Vice President of Employee Experience, Crumbl

The Results

A more connected employee experience

Since implementing Awardco, recognition at Crumbl has become visible, frequent, and embedded into daily work.

Engagement and culture impact

• 96% favorable score on: “I believe in our company’s purpose, mission, and values”
• 12% increase in employees who answer yes to “Do you feel that you have ample opportunity to be recognized?” 
• Recognition shifted from top-down to company-wide and peer-driven
• Greater visibility into cross-functional work and contributions
• Participation booster for various holiday and other competitions such as the Halloween costume contest by awarding points for winners

Adoption and usage

• 95% of recognition activity happens in Slack
• Executives average ~10 recognitions per leader per quarter
• Recognition feed reinforces positive behaviors and sparks ongoing participation

"It's really fun to have a tool like Awardco to recognize and thank those people in a much more tangible way that's not only points in their wallet, but also a visible recognition that everybody can interact with."
Alejandra Caceres, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Crumbl

A culture where people feel seen, especially during moments of change

With many team members working remotely, Awardco creates visibility into the work happening across the company, allowing employees to see, celebrate, and learn from each other’s contributions in real time.

That visibility matters even more during important moments. When sudden changes require teams to work late nights solving problems and adapting quickly, Awardco gives leaders an easy way to recognize that effort as it happens. Instead of behind-the-scenes work going unnoticed, recognition makes those moments visible company-wide, reinforcing appreciation for the people who step up when conditions are challenging.

"It's a very fast paced environment. There's a lot of rapport between people and everyone gets along really well and we can joke about the things that are maybe stressful, but we also really celebrate the big wins together."
Alejandra Caceres, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Crumbl

"When people see recognitions coming through, it’s meaningful for the person receiving it, but it also shows everyone else how important recognition is. That’s what Awardco allows us to do—make appreciation visible across the company."
Josh Olofson, Vice President of Employee Experience, Crumbl

Built to scale without losing the personal touch

As Crumbl continues to grow, Awardco provides a recognition foundation that scales with the business, without sacrificing authenticity. By empowering employees at every level, reinforcing values through everyday moments, and making recognition easy, visible, and inclusive, Crumbl has turned appreciation into a shared responsibility and a daily habit that supports connection, morale, and growth.

"Beyond birthdays and anniversaries, Awardco gives us a meaningful way to recognize our values, which is honestly my favorite part of the program. Every company has values and a mission statement, but they can be easy to forget in the day-to-day. Awardco helps keep our values top of mind by tying them directly to recognition."
Shannon Martell, Employee Experience Specialist, Crumbl

Get a demo today and see how Awardco helps growing teams turn values into action with recognition that scales.