SALT LAKE CITY — It seems the Utah cookie wars are nearly fully baked as Crumbl and Dirty Dough have tentatively agreed to settle the case.
On Friday, Crumbl and Dirty Dough "agreed to terms of settlement," but are working on finalizing the agreement, meaning there's no guarantee the war is over.
The companies have paused everything for the next 30 days to work on the terms, however, documents state that, "in the event Crumbl and Dirty Dough are unable to finalize the settlement for any reason, they will file a request to reset the case deadlines."
In a joint statement from both companies, it admits that an early owner of Dirty Dough, Bradley Maxwell, downloaded recipes and operational information when he was an employee of Crumbl.
Although not all terms of the settlement were disclosed, the statement explains Dirty Dough returned information and agreed to change certain cookie boxes, "in order to eliminate any potential confusion for customers."
"Crumbl and Dirty Dough are pleased that they have been able to work together to resolve this dispute and each remains dedicated to serving its customers with excellence," the statement reads. "Crumbl and Dirty Dough wish each other success in their future endeavors."
The war between the cookie companies began in July 2022, when Crumbl filed a lawsuit claiming infringement against two of its competitors.
In the original lawsuit, Crumbl claimed Dirty Dough and Crave copied packaging, recipes, and the overall reputation of the cookie company.
Then, Crumbl seemed to double down on Dirty Dough, saying that theystole trade secrets and copied their overall concept. Dirty Dough leaders denied stealing documents and said they would fight the lawsuit "aggressively."
In May 2023, the lawsuit between Dirty Dough and Crumbl hit court, with a federal judge deciding the fate of the cookie wars.
Crumbl initially asked the judge to order a pause on Dirty Dough's franchising, which attorneys argued would essentially put the company out of business.
A month later, the judge came back and refused to issue the injunction, allowing Dirty Dough to continue to open franchises.
In the hearing, the judge hinted, "it appears that Crumbl probably has shown a likelihood of success on the merits of its claims for misappropriation of trade secrets."
As Cumbl and Dirty Dough battled in court, Crave and Crumbl filed a joint motion to dismiss the claims against each other and the lawsuit was dismissed.
