North Carolina customer sees Crumbl Cookies employees turning kitchen into ‘beauty salon’: ‘Why did either one of them think this is okay?’

A viral TikTok has spread beyond social media to mainstream television news after Charlotte WCCB anchor Kaci Jones, who posts on TikTok as KacionTV (@kaciontv_), highlighted an unusual scene inside a North Carolina Crumbl Cookies location. The video prompted a response from the company, which temporarily closed the store, discarded its dough, and hired a professional cleaning crew.

According to Jones’ report, a regular customer visited the Crumbl Cookies store on South Kings Drive in Charlotte on Saturday night, July 18, 2026, and recorded what appeared to be one employee applying oil to another employee’s scalp as the employee sat on a ladder. Another employee stood nearby frosting cookies during the interaction, according to the customer and the video Jones shared.

The customer told Jones he entered the store to tell employees the behavior seemed unsanitary. According to Jones’ report, one of the employees responded, “Does it look like I’m cooking?” The customer also said the location did not have fresh chocolate chip cookies available when he visited.

Viral video elicits corporate response

As the clip spread online, viewers questioned whether personal grooming should take place in an area where food is prepared. Jones ended her report by asking viewers, “So I wanna know, do you still want cookies there after that?” Jones’ TikTok text overlay read, “Bakery or beauty salon?”

Crumbl confirmed it took immediate action after learning about the incident. In a statement provided to local media, the company said: “The conduct shown is unacceptable and does not reflect Crumbl’s standards.”

According to Crumbl Cookie, “Upon learning of the incident, we immediately closed the store.” They discarded “all dough on site, brought in a professional cleaning crew, and took appropriate action with the employees involved.” The store reopened after the cleanup, according to local reporting.

The viral footage sparked widespread discussion across TikTok and other social media platforms, with many users debating food safety standards and workplace professionalism. Comments on Jones’ post included, “They need to be wearing hair nets at all their locations…. tbh,” “People are getting too comfortable treating their jobs as hangouts,” and, “Why did either one of them think this is okay?!”

The incident also drew the attention of North Carolina regulators. According to reports from local television stations, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which oversees food inspections for the store, said it became aware of the video after it circulated online and planned an unannounced follow-up inspection.

According to WBTV, inspectors last visited the store in May 2025 and noted “uncovered product found sitting around,” but took no action to address the issue.