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Dirty Dough continues growing with 14 new locations in Utah; 5 in Utah County

By Sarah Hunt - | Feb 11, 2023
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One of the two new Dirty Dough stores in Provo opening March 1, 2023, located at 3153 N. Canyon Road, is pictured Friday, Feb. 10, 2023.
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Dirty Dough's logo is displayed in the window of the new location at 3153 N. Canyon Road in Provo on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023.
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One of the two new Dirty Dough locations in Provo opening March 1, 2023, at 165 W. 200 North, pictured Friday, Feb. 10, 2023.

Dirty Dough has been whipping up something big, with 14 new locations coming to Utah and 37 new locations being built nationwide. Five stores will open soon in Utah County  — two in Provo and one apiece in Orem, American Fork and Payson — along with two Weber County locations in Ogden and Roy. 

On Feb. 2, the company posted on Twitter, announcing itself as the official cookie partner of Orem’s Utah Valley University.

The Provo locations are set to open on March 1, with the American Fork store opening on April 30. The Orem location is projected to open in either March or April, with the Ogden store estimated to be opening in April. An opening date has not been set for the Payson or Roy storefronts.

“It is such a moving target with hundreds of factors that go into when a store can open. We are in constant communication with our franchisees to see how their buildout is going, where they’re out, how permitting and inspections are going, etc.,” Dirty Dough communications said in an email.

Their five current stores in Utah — Spanish Fork, Pleasant Grove, Saratoga Springs, Vineyard and St. George — all opened between June 2022 and October 2022.

Founder Bennett Maxwell said there are many aspects that go into choosing locations, including “household cookie spending per month.”

In 2018, Dirty Dough got its start in a little apartment by Arizona State University with a mission of spreading mental health awareness. In March 2020, their first location opened and in December 2021, Dirty Dough sold its first franchise.

Dirty Dough uses a centralized production model, employing professional bakers to mass produce and portion all of their cookie dough in a central location, which is then shipped to every store so it can be baked.

This lets franchisees open a Dirty Dough location, “for half the cost, operate out of half the square feet, use half the labor to run the store and (produces) much less waste. (We offer) … unique stuffed cookies, two layer cookies and the world’s first three layer cookie,” according to the company.

Maxwell told the Daily Herald he supports the franchise model because it “allows us to expand the business quickly and empower more individuals through entrepreneurship.”

The company grew in notability in 2022 when it, along with competitor Crave, were sued by Utah-based Crumbl, alleging the relative newcomers to the cookie world copied multiple elements of their branding.

“A Billion dollar company suing 2 start-ups. Why? Because apparently if you put sprinkles on your cookies, Crumbl thinks they own that,” Maxwell posted on his LinkedIn page in July 2022. “Watch out Grandma, you better throw away those sprinkles or you will be Crumbl’s next victim.”

At the time of the filing, Dirty Dough’s lone Utah County store was in Vineyard. The company also plastered billboards across the county, advertising the #UtahCookieWars and reading “Cookies so good we’re being sued.”

The company’s ultimate vision, over the next five years, includes continuing to sell more than 20 franchises each month with a goal to open 1,000 franchises while funding 1,000 centers for mental health through their nonprofit arm which seeks to renovate old K-12 classrooms into a safe place where children can learn about mental health and be educated about tools like gratitude, breath work, happiness mindset and more.

“I’m excited to see the brand reach more people. Dirty Dough has a giant mental health focus, in all of our stores you will see phrases like ‘we care about your fillings,’ ‘it’s what’s on the inside that matters most,’ ‘perfectly imperfect,’ ‘life gets messy, and that’s ok’ and many other positive mental health messages. I’m excited to spread this positivity to more customers,” Maxwell said.

As for their offerings, the company rotates which cookies are available in a given week, everything from the standard chocolate chip to the Valentines Sugar Cookie or, for this coming week, the “shortie” — a brown sugar vanilla cookie stuffed with golden Oreos, white chocolate chips, strawberry pieces and vanilla cream.

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