&Cookies
New Concept Creation | Culinary, Brand, Experience
Designing a premium, rotating cookie concept built for scale, spectacle, and social currency.
Background.
Kuwait’s dessert market is crowded, fast-moving, and heavily influenced by social media and mall culture. While concepts inspired by brands like Crumbl have proven demand for rotating, highly visual desserts, many have struggled to sustain momentum due to inconsistent quality and execution. This project set out to address that gap — creating a premium dessert concept designed to deliver bold, ever-changing flavors alongside operational rigor, consistency, and scalability from the outset.
What were the aims of the assignment?
Kuwait’s dessert landscape is saturated with on-trend, visually-appealing dessert concepts, many inspired by U.S. brands, yet few are meaningfully rooted in local flavor preferences and regional dessert traditions. Through market analysis and cultural immersion, we identified an opportunity to create a concept that pairs the proven appeal of a rotating cookie model with flavors, ingredients, and combinations that feel familiar, nostalgic, and distinctly Kuwaiti. The whitespace was not in inventing something entirely new, but in elevating a recognizable format through locally relevant flavor storytelling, higher quality execution, and consistency — creating a brand that feels both globally inspired and deeply local.
The &Cookies team partnered with The Culinary Edge to enter the foodservice market with a high-growth, premium dessert concept capable of scaling rapidly across Kuwait — and beyond. Inspired by the global success of Crumbl but identifying a clear quality gap, the team sought to create a concept anchored in a singular dessert platform that could deliver exceptional flavor, visual appeal, and consistency, while remaining operationally disciplined and profitable from day one.
How did you identify the right marketplace?
Why did &Cookies concept resonate with customers?
Dessert in Kuwait is deeply social and visual — something to share, photograph, and experience together. The concept was designed to meet those behaviors head-on through bold flavors, decorated finishes, and “phone-eats-first” visuals, paired with an engaging in-store experience. A rotating menu model creates urgency and repeat visitation, while mall-based flagship locations position the brand as both a destination and a cultural touchpoint for trend-setting younger Kuwaitis.
How did you create the menu to achieve the business’ objectives?
We focused the menu around a single hero platform — cookies — supported by a tightly edited beverage lineup. A small number of core dough bases enable operational simplicity, while a rotating roster of flavors delivers continuous excitement and variety. Complementary beverages were developed to reinforce the dessert occasion without distracting from it, allowing the concept to nail execution, protect margins, and scale with confidence before expanding into ancillary dessert formats.
What did the brand identity need to achieve?
How does the interior design impact the customer experience?
The brand needed to immediately communicate freshness, creativity, and indulgence, while feeling native to Kuwait’s highly digital, influencer-driven culture. It had to be just as compelling on a phone screen as it was in person — signaling novelty, limited-time appeal, and premium quality at a glance, while supporting rapid brand recognition across multiple future locations.
How did the brand identity tell the story of the food?
The identity borrows directly from the cookies themselves: bold color, texture, and playfulness. Each flavor is treated as a moment worth noticing — and sharing. From packaging to digital menus, the visual system reinforces the idea that these cookies are not everyday staples, but collectible, craveable drops designed to spark excitement and social engagement.
What did the architecture and interior design have to achieve?
The physical environment was designed to balance efficiency and theater. Open kitchens put baking and finishing on display, reinforcing freshness and quality while entertaining guests as they wait. Flagship locations invite guests to linger, socialize, and be seen, while smaller footprints emphasize speed and convenience — allowing the concept to flex across real estate formats without compromising the experience.
Multi-sensory cues — the smell of baking cookies, upbeat music, and a visually dynamic space — create anticipation before the first bite. Technology-enabled ordering through kiosks and mobile apps reduces friction, allowing staff to focus on finishing and presentation. The result is an experience that feels fast, fun, and premium, whether guests are staying or grabbing a box to go.
What were the major operational challenges to overcome?
The core challenge was balancing frequent flavor rotation with ironclad consistency. By designing a system of shared dough bases, standardized assembly steps, and limited customization, the concept preserves creativity without sacrificing execution. This approach ensures that the brand can sustain hype without the operational instability that has derailed many dessert concepts in the market.
How did you build consistency and reliability into the recipes?
Recipes were developed to be craveable yet repeatable — bold enough to excite, but streamlined through core recipes able to be repeated across teams and locations. Strategic menu design minimizes complexity while maintaining visual and flavor impact, allowing the concept to scale confidently and deliver the same experience with every visit.
What were the business outcomes?
The resulting concept gives the founding team a scalable, differentiated platform built for rapid growth. With a flagship location planned in The Avenues Mall and additional units targeted within the first year, the brand is positioned for strong unit-level performance in the short term — and international expansion over the long term. By designing for quality, consistency, and cultural relevance from the outset, the concept is built not just to launch, but to last.
