Cookie Chain Dirty Dough Cookies Opening First Greater Cincinnati Location This Month

Reverse With Reese’s Photo: Dirty Dough Cookies media asset

The war of the cookie chains will soon make its way to Cincinnati as Utah-based Dirty Dough Cookies prepares to open its first franchise in Anderson Township at the end of the month.

According to Dirty Dough’s website, the chain started in a dorm room kitchen in Tempe, Arizona, and is now rapidly expanding across the country. Including the Anderson Township location, stores in CUF, Blue Ash and Oakley are also slated to open soon.

Dirty Dough offers special weekly cookie flavors, experimenting with flavors like orange creamsicle and Cinnamon Toast crunch, as well as the classics, like their stuffed chocolate chip cookie, the brookie (a brownie-like outside stuffed with cookie dough and drizzled with caramel) and the Reverse With Reese’s — filled with fudge that’s wrapped in a chocolate cookie and triple wrapped with a peanut butter cookie before being drizzled with chocolate and topped with crushed Reese’s.

With the tagline, “Life gets messy. It’s better with cookies,” Dirty Dough’s cookies feature some combination of layers, mix-ins and fillings, creating a gooey cookie they say sets them apart from the competition.

“The other guys can focus on making cutesy, clean cookies that look better than they taste. Dirty Dough sells cookies for real life, which can get a little messy. But, it sure is sweet!” the brand writes on its website.

That competition may very well come from other mega cookie chain, Crumbl, which is also based in Utah and franchises stores in Anderson Township, Oakley and West Chester. They’re also very much involved in a lawsuit with Dirty Dough.

Crumbl filed federal lawsuits against Dirty Dough and Crave Cookie Co. in May 2022, claiming the brands were using similar logos, websites and other marketing materials as them. They also accused Dirty Dough of copying recipes, saying the founder was a former Crumbl employee, and copying Crumbl’s idea to rotate weekly flavors.

In April of this year, Dirty Dough filed a countersuit against Crumbl seeking financial recompense, claiming the initial lawsuit caused them to lose money. According to KSL.com, a jury trial is scheduled for early 2024.

Will Anderson Township (and later Oakley) become the site of warring cookie factions, with us in the Queen City having to take sides in this saga of sweet, sweet revenge? Probably not, as we’re already incredibly busy with our own Cincinnati chili rivalry, but it’s fun to have options.

Dirty Dough Cookies, 440 Ohio Pike Road, #B, Anderson Township. More info: dirtydoughcookies.com.

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