New Crumbl Cookies Owners Eager To Open In Homewood

HOMEWOOD, IL — Homewood residents have a little something sweet to look forward to, with the town's own Crumbl Cookies location coming soon.

At Crumbl, the treats are mixed, rolled and baked in-house in an open kitchen and the cookies come as big as your hand. The locally owned chain cookie shop is set to open at 17751 S. Halsted St., with an experienced Crumbl captain at the helm.

Derek Hincks—who owns Crumbl locations in both Tinley Park and Dyer, Indiana— has honed his business and franchisee skills and is ready to get baking in Homewood.

"We are excited to be part of the Village of Homewood community," Hincks told Patch. "When we met with Mayor Richard Hofeld and the Director of Economic Development Angela Mesaros several months back, we knew that this was an involved village that we wanted to be a part of."

"We are excited to bring these fresh, delicious, gourmet cookies to Homewood later this year. We will be working with the local schools on fundraisers and ways we can help support them."

Hincks opened his Indiana Crumbl in July 2022, followed by the Tinley Park sweets spot in January 2023. Hincks, who has a 20-year background in business and experience in supply chain management, always dreamt of owning his own company, and Crumbl seemed like the right fit. An exact opening date is not yet set for the Homewood location, but Hincks is hoping for a late-summer, early-fall debut.

"I’ve always wanted to own my own company," Hincks previously told Patch. "I want to own a franchise. It’s a proven model—as long as you’re running your business well, you have a higher chance of being successful."

Hinck and his wife Michelle were born in and lived most of their lives in Utah. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hincks' employer at the time cut a large percentage of employees, and eventually Hincks himself decided to seek a new opportunity. He moved Michelle and their two children—a daughter, 10, and son, 12—in pursuit of a new position.

“It’s time for a change," Hincks said. "We can move an hour, two hours away, but if we’re going to uproot our family, let’s broaden our horizons, and go anywhere.”

Within a year of the new job based in Chicago, burnout hit Hincks, and he decided it was time to try his hand at franchising.

"My wife loves Crumbl Cookies," he said, of how he landed on Crumbl as the ideal opportunity. "Absolutely loves it."

She once insisted he drive an hour while they were on vacation at the Wisconsin Dells, he said, because she'd heard they opened a Crumbl location in Wisconsin. They opened their first location in July 2022, and even before the opening of their Tinley Park location, had been eyeing the Homewood location.

They've learned a lot of lessons along the way with their first location, many of which will carry over to their new location. As part of Crumbl standards, the treats are mixed, rolled and baked in-house in an open kitchen and the cookies come as big as your hand.

"It was a learning curve for us, we were new to making cookies," he told Patch previously. "We make our cookies from flour, sugar and butter, we make ‘em from scratch, our frosting we make from scratch. There are several made from scratch items for each cookie."

They've also implemented an employee code of conduct, of sorts, at their Dyer location, carrying it over to their Tinley Park location and eventually, Homewood.

"We created an environment where people love to come to work," Hincks said. "We created this code of conduct which is basically, 'Be kind.' There’s no foul language, no inappropriate jokes. When you’re in here, be kind, have fun, enjoy yourself, and don’t worry, because you won’t be judged or picked on."

Each week, Crumbl Cookies customers are greeted with a new menu of six cookies. The rotating menu always features the shop's signature milk chocolate chip and a variation on a chilled sugar cookie. Depending on the day and season, the other cookies on the menu could include flavors such as churro, lemon glaze, birthday cake, candy corn, macadamia nut, pink velvet, sea salt toffee or circus animal cookie.

Customers can place their orders on self-serve kiosks throughout the store or order ahead on the Crumbl Cookies app. The app, which is available on Google Play and in the Apple Store, also unveils each week's cookie menu every Sunday night, offering customers a sneak peek of what's in store.

The Crumbl Cookies app also offers cookies for delivery. Founded in 2017, Crumbl currently have 801 locations in 49 states.