Customer walks into Crumbl. Then they notice a suspicious plastic grocery bag: ‘They went to Walmart?’

Part of the appeal of a bakery is the illusion that everything is made in-house and from scratch. The word “bakery” summons idyllic visions of fresh ingredients, shipped in straight from some organic countryside.

But that dream is rarely a reality. And one Crumbl Cookies customer's brief glimpse behind the counter put a dent in any illusion of culinary superiority.

‘They went to Walmart?'

TikTok creator (@pov.im.your1) posted footage of their view from their local Crumbl counter. The video has since accumulated more than 137,000 views.

The creator's video started off innocently enough. The creator was standing in front of the cashier's counter at Crumbl, with their camera pointed forward. Viewers saw the counter and an empty kitchen, complete with fridges and a kitchen island.

But then, the creator started zooming in.

The aforementioned island was covered in approximately half a dozen Walmart shopping bags, which appeared to hold cooking ingredients. As the creator continued to zoom, it became clear that one bag contained corn flakes.

“Oh [expletive] no!” the creator wrote in their caption. “Someone explain.”

‘Did you think the corn flakes were made from scratch?'

The creator's viewers flocked to the video's comment section to share their thoughts. Some expressed vindication as skeptical Crumbl customers, while others defended Crumbl.

“I've been telling everyone it's literally premade cookie mix,” one commenter wrote. “It ain't fresh, you're paying for overpriced cookies lolol.”

“Did you think the corn flakes they put on the cookies were made from scratch?” a viewer asked. Another replied, “At five dollars for a single cookie, one would like to assume they aren't using the very cheapest ingredients they can find.”

“You think Burger King got a cow behind the store,” another commenter joked.

Other viewers backed Crumbl up. They offered logical explanations as to why a food establishment might buy from Walmart.

“Sometimes companies that they order from run out of stock on products,” one said. “So they have to go to a local grocery store to get supplies. This happens a lot at our frozen custard store my mom owns … Sometimes we can't get things in for months at a time!”

“Bruhh food is FOOD,” another wrote. “Every store gotta buy there items somewhere when they need it, i do that too if we're out of milk and heavy cream.”

Is buying cereal from Walmart actually suspicious?

Crumbl has run multiple rotating flavors built explicitly around cereal toppings. A “cereal week” lineup included cookies topped with crushed corn flakes. Outlets such as Tasting Table have confirmed the topping on Crumbl's popular Fried Ice Cream Cookie is made specifically from corn flakes and vanilla wafers.

Cereal is a recurring ingredient in several of Crumbl's recipes. The company does not hide this from public knowledge.

Additionally, it's more common than customers might assume for a corporate bakery chain to source from a regular grocery store.

According to restaurant supply chain resource Dining Alliance, “emergency grocery runs” are a part of food service. Many restaurants make them, even when they make products from scratch. There are also no laws requiring restaurants to exclusively use commercial distributors. This means businesses like Crumbl are free to buy ingredients from grocery stores like Walmart as needed.

Buzz News reached out to Crumbl and Walmart via email, as well as the creator via TikTok comment.