EXCLUSIVE
A baby-faced schoolboy from Sydney’s eastern suburbs may be unmasked as the mastermind behind the Crumbl biscuit pop-up that sparked outrage this week.
Westbourne College Year 12 student Toby Joshua, 18, and his older brother Noah, 21, are the entrepreneurs who caused hour-long queues for fans of the cult American sweet.
Hundreds of people queued outside her makeshift shop in North Bondi on Sunday to buy the famous cookies, but were shocked by the price of $17.50 per cookie.
That shock turned to anger when customers alleged that the cookies were imported cookies that the brothers had brought in in bulk from Hawaii and not freshly baked.
The young duo of aspiring entrepreneurs later deleted their social media page and defended their actions, stating that they had not broken any laws.
On Wednesday, Daily Mail Australia tracked down Toby, registered owner of the company Sugar Party AU behind the business, to his family home in the city’s east.
But the brothers’ mother, Lauren Joshua, refused to answer questions about the backlash at their $4 million Bellevue Hill mansion and slammed the door on reporters.
Toby Joshua (pictured in 2019, aged 13) and his brother Noah are behind Sugar Party AU and organized the sale.
Crumbl cookies brought by the brothers from Hawaii sold for $17.50 each.
The couple had previously taken to social media on Tuesday to address “the drama surrounding the event” and claimed they had sold “genuine Crumbl cookies.”
‘We traveled to the United States to buy the cookies and imported them with our original packaging,’ they stated.
“We don’t bake them ourselves.”
They argued that they had maintained the quality of the cookies during the trip.
“Crushed cookies should be kept at room temperature in an airtight container for up to three days or refrigerated for up to seven days,” they said.
‘We kept them complying with these requirements.
‘Some were heated to enhance their texture, which is what Crumbl also does.
The children’s mother, Lauren Joshua, refused to answer questions about the backlash at her $4 million Bellevue Hill mansion in Sydney’s east.
Toby and his older brother Noah, 21 (pictured), are the entrepreneurs who caused hour-long queues for fans of the cult American sweet.
‘While most customers enjoyed the cookies, a couple of influencers felt they didn’t meet expectations.
‘We apologize that they did not live up to expectations; However, at the end of the day they are just cookies.”
The brothers’ Sugar Party AU is an online confectionery shop selling hard-to-find lollies from around the world, operating from the North Bondi trophy shop where the Crumbl sale took place.
The couple said the event was “never about making a profit” and claimed they had spent $4,000 on flights and luggage, $6,000 on cookies and packaging, $2,000 on duties, taxes and customs paperwork and more than $1,000 on staff.
The luxurious family home of Toby Joshua, a year 12 student at Westbourne College.
The brothers’ Sugar Party logo could be seen inside the makeshift cookie shop in North Bondi.
The Crumbl cookie packaging could be seen throughout the store used by Sugar Party AU.
It is understood they sold 700 of the imported cookies for $17.50 each time, for a total possible income of $12,250.
The couple denied using any of Crumbl’s trademarks in their TikTok videos and never “claimed to be an official Crumbl store.”
‘This was clearly stated in (our) bio and in our comments. “Our goal was to bring authentic Crumbl cookies to Australia by importing them directly from the USA,” they wrote.
The US company founded in 2017 did not back the Sydney pop-up.
Founder Sawyer Hemsley broke his silence on TikTok saying the pop-up was “not affiliated” with Crumbl, but seeing how many people turned out showed him that “we need to accelerate our visit to Australia.”