In Utah, cookie companies compete for our calories: Step aside alcohol.

• Author: Alsever, Jennifer

CHRISTIAN MCDANIEL LIKES to think of himself as the true OG of cookies in Utah. The entrepreneur started Smart Cookie Co. back in 2005, selling traditional handrolled sugar cookies and custom ice cream cookie sandwiches to Brigham Young University students for $1.50 apiece. Back then, Mrs. Field's Cookies was his only competition.

Today, inflation has doubled the cost of his cookies' high-end ingredients, and there are hundreds of fast-growing cookie shops in Utah--including half a dozen in American Fork alone--that hawk elaborate $4 cookies.

"Sugar is synonymous with Utah," McDaniel says. "Cookie stores have saturated the market. It's hard to fathom so many cookies being consumed each day."

The state's sugar economy is cutthroat and comprises not only cookie stores but donut and cupcake businesses, bakeries, candy stores, and hundreds of drive-thru soda shops popping up statewide. Entrepreneurs must fight for their turf and put their own twist on sweets--whether it's square bars, specialty ice cream, cream-stuffed cookies, rotating flavors of cinnamon rolls, or custom soda flavors.

Demand in Utah is big thanks to the large population of Church of Jesus Christ of Laffer-day Saints members, who live an otherwise clean lifestyle that prohibits alcohol and coffee. As a result, Utah has the lowest alcohol consumption per capita of any state, and sugar, McDaniel says, "is their alternative vice."

More than 140 bakeries and cookie shops have exploded across the state with names like Chip, Insomnia, Goodly Cookies, and Quirky Cookie. In addition to scores of bakeries, there are cupcake concepts including So Cupcake and Cravings, and donut shops blossoming like Banbury Cross Donuts.

Competition became sticky with the arrival of Utah cookie giant Crumbl, with its oversized cookies in 200+ weekly flavors like peanut butter blossom, fried ice cream, and cotton candy. The company started three years ago and has expanded to more than 26 stores in Utah and another 274 franchised bakeries in 36 states, making it the fastest-growing cookie company in the nation.

Because Crumbl has grown so fast and many of its franchise territories sold out quickly, other entrepreneurs set out to create their own franchised cookie businesses. In May, Crumbl launched a high-profile cookie war when it filed lawsuits against two competitors claiming they copied trademarks and other intellectual property. Dirty Dough, based in St. George, has 100 franchises thaf sell fat...