ThIs Hunky Ex-MasterChef Has Decided Melbourne Deserves Better Cookies

If you’ve been sensing a distinct lack of excitement in Melbourne’s cookie scene, you’re not alone. While our city boasts an enviable lineup of pastry maestros and artisanal ice cream, the humble cookie has often been left as an afterthought on the cafe counter.

For more of Melbourne's best cookies, head this way.

But that’s all about to change, thanks to Crumb Club, the brilliant new venture from ex-MasterChef Australia favourites Darrsh Clarke and David Tan. They’ve identified the gap and are on a mission to make Melbourne care about cookies again.

Finding Their Recipe

For many MasterChef alumni, the pressure to launch a food venture is immense. For Darrsh and David, the idea for Crumb Club was born out of a shared living situation with Nat (Thaipun) and a clear-eyed view of the market.

“There’s so much pressure after MasterChef to do something,” they admit. That pressure found its release when they spotted a clear unmet need in their own city. “We kept seeing these incredible cookie companies everywhere else,” David explains. “Get Chunky in Perth, Good Brookie in Queensland, Butterboy in Sydney. But here? We couldn’t find a single cookie in Melbourne that people were actually excited about, so we pulled the trigger.” 

You’re In The Club

The name itself, a moment of pure inspiration, sets the tone. “We wanted the vibe of a club cause in Melbourne, there’s a group for everyone,” they explain. “We were tinkering with that and Darrsh went ‘what about Crumb Club?’ We checked online and it wasn’t registered so…” The rest, as they say, is history.

And true to the name, they’ve found their first members in the most supportive of places: the MasterChef family. “I know it sounds lame but actually having so many people in the industry who genuinely care about what we’re doing,” they share, reflecting on the overwhelming support.

"I remember for our first pop-up, so many people rocked up—Sue Bazely, Theo Loizou from the season before, Snezana Calic... What a lot of people didn't see was how under the pump we were. They'd come down to buy cookies, and next thing you know they're helping in the kitchen for hours on end."

Image Credit: Crumb Club | Supplied

So, what can you expect from a Crumb Club cookie? Fantasise far beyond your standard choc-chip. The duo has a framework where each release features three cookies, with one being a headline-grabbing main event. Their current lineup is a perfect example of this ethos in action, featuring an Ube Mango creation (with nuggets of Kensington Pride), a rich Black Sesame White Choc and a bright green Pandan Coconut. 

They’re tapping into a distinctly Melbourne sense of culinary adventure.“Melbourne is such a place of experimentation with food,” they say, “and cookies are a great canvas for that.” Everyone loves a classic choc chip, but where do you find a sweet-savoury cookie? This is the city to push those boundaries.

Gear up for their future nostalgic Australian breakfast series, which includes a bold idea we’re already salivating over: a Vegemite white-chocolate cookie. "This is where our training shines," they note. "Incorporating new, unexpected flavours is where we get to use our MasterChef prowess."

Accessibility is key to their philosophy. They aim to keep their staples around $7, with more decadent, loaded specials hitting the $10 mark. “We wanna have the balance of creating a popular product and having a sustainable model so we can’t be charging $12 a cookie,” they note. “We have to give people what they want.”

Their Pop-Up Journey

For now, Crumb Club is a nimble, passion-driven operation. Their commercial kitchen home is Palay Kitchen, which becomes their nightly workshop after the day's regular service ends. This flexible setup allows them to fuel their pop-up model, bringing the cookies directly to the people. “Doing pop-ups in different locations, each one leads to new experiences and relationships that wouldn’t have formed were we stuck to one spot,” they say. This nomadic approach has been key to building their community, one neighbourhood at a time.

They love the idea of a "travelling pop-up," hitting different suburbs as seasonal wildcards. “Being able to come to the people rather than force them to come to us was a drawcard.” This model is already paying off, with wholesale supply to cafes growing to form the majority of their sales, though a brick-and-mortar shop remains a future dream. 

This demanding hustle feels familiar, like a MasterChef challenge that never ends. “The pressure from that kitchen absolutely translates,” they say. But they quickly learned a hard truth: “On TV, we had unlimited, top-quality produce for free. Now, we have to balance it all—the food, the service, the experience and the marketing. Every single layer affects the moment someone finally tastes your cookie.”

One thing's for certain: with their talent, a supportive food family and a city hungry for innovation, Crumb Club is set to become Melbourne’s next great culinary obsession. Consider your membership application well and truly submitted. 

Keep up with Crumb Club and find their next pop-up via their Instagram.

Main Image Credit: Crumb Club | Supplied