Crumbl Cookies installs soda machines using self-contained drain pumps, avoiding costly nationwide store-floor modifications

Problem

OREM, UTAH — When Crumbl Cookies began exploring a soda program, the idea made perfect sense for the brand and its customers. Crumbl is based in Utah, a market Brian Thompson, Equipment Technician Specialist at Crumbl Cookies, described as “kind of the mecca for dirty soda,” where customers are familiar with fountain drinks customized with flavorings.

The company had already approved soda in Canada, where it opened 24 stores in 2024. That made Canada a strong test market for the concept. The operational challenge came quickly: Many Crumbl stores lacked floor drains in the front-of-house area where soda equipment would need to be installed.

“In the front of the store, we have a small area we call the cubby, where we used to have a freezer for ice cream,” Thompson explains. “We discontinued that product and thought the space might work well for soda. The problem was that many of those cubbies did not have any type of floor drain or drainage.”

Adding floor drains across a large store base would have required cutting into existing floors. For a brand with more than 1,000 U.S. stores in need of drainage for soda machines, that approach was difficult to justify at scale. The work would be expensive, disruptive, and messy. It would also require store downtime.

Crumbl researched the cost of cutting in floor drains and found the approach too expensive to repeat across a national rollout.

“It was way too cost-prohibitive to do that on a national scale,” Thompson says. “Just the buildout cost could cost upwards of $10,000 per store, and that does not include the expense of closing the store for a week. It could easily be in the tens of thousands of dollars.”

The team considered a simpler workaround, such as a five-gallon bucket with a sump pump. Thompson quickly ruled that out. The concern was overflow, especially during busy periods or on weekends, when no one might notice the issue in time to prevent a mess.

“I did not like that idea. It could overflow, and no one might see it on the weekend. Who is going to keep track of it?” he questions.

That led Thompson to look for a self-contained drain pump.

“I was searching for self-contained sump pumps and came across Saniflo,” he says. “I looked at a couple of their units online and was excited by what I saw.”

Product Profile: Sanicom 1
 

The 1.3-horsepower Sanicom 1 simplex drain pump is designed to drain high-temperature gray water in demanding residential and commercial applications. Its ability to handle temperatures up to 194°F makes it especially ideal for commercial kitchen dishwashers that must meet exacting health and sanitation standards. In addition, the unit can handle highly acidic liquids.

The heavy-duty pump can provide drainage for two water fixtures simultaneously. Gray water enters through one of two side inlets before being discharged up to 25 feet vertically or a maximum of 250 feet horizontally to the sewer or septic tank.

Other key features:

Four-year limited warranty

2-inch low inlets

Capability of handling water up to 194°F

Certified by CSA and listed by IAPMO for nationwide compliance

Solution

Crumbl selected the Sanicom 1 Commercial Gray Water Drain Pump for installation in its over 1,000 stores. Using a phased approach, the pumps have already been installed in more than 200 stores, with several hundred more installations expected over the next few months.

The Sanicom 1 is designed for commercial gray-water applications and capable of moving wastewater up to 25 feet vertically and 250 feet horizontally. As we will see, those distances were a critical factor in the purchasing decision.

The pump housing includes a pair of 2-inch inlets, positioned low on the unit to maximize installation flexibility. In addition, the housing is equipped with a 1-inch discharge outlet through which the product can move up to 50 gallons per minute, using small-diameter plastic piping. Finally, the top of the enclosure has a built-in vent connection to comply with the universal venting requirement of plumbing codes.

For Crumbl, the Sanicom 1 offered a way to install soda equipment without adding floor drains in stores that did not already have drainage in the right location.

Thompson first connected with Saniflo through Bargreen Ellingson, one of Crumbl’s vendors. After meeting with Saniflo, the team ordered a unit to test at Crumbl headquarters in Orem.

“We installed it, and it worked great. We were extremely happy with it and felt confident that it was the right product for any store that would require some kind of pump drain.”

Several features influenced the decision. The Sanicom 1 was not selected because it needed to be visible or decorative, but rather because it could be tucked away and handle the job. Thompson says the team valued the motor’s durability and felt the pump was more than capable for the application.

“We really liked the robustness of the motor,” he explains. “For our application, the motor is more than we need, and that made us comfortable. We were not worried that the motor was going to fail based on what we were putting into it.”

The unit’s dual inlets also mattered. Crumbl needed to place the pump beneath the soda equipment where space was limited. The layout had to be clear enough for plumbers across different regions to understand and install consistently. As noted, wastewater enters the unit through inlets on either side of the housing. A straight-upward discharge fitting equipped with a check valve provides a direct connection to the discharge line.

“We had a specific way the pump needed to be installed underneath the soda machine, and there was not a lot of space,” Thompson says. “We really liked the dual input on both sides. It was also self-explanatory for installers.”

The gray water entering the pump comes from two main sources: the soda machine and the ice machine. Soda, flavored syrups, and occasional discarded drinks drain into the soda machine basin. Meltwater from the ice machine also constantly drains into the pump.

While the pump can handle thicker liquids and small particles, Crumbl does not recommend that teams intentionally pour those materials down the drain. Because the discharge is mixed with a large amount of water from ice melt, the waste stream is lighter than concentrated soda syrup. However, because Sanicom pumps activate using air pressure, the pump can handle this type of gray water solution.

From there, the pump discharges the liquid to an existing drainage point. Every Crumbl store is different, but the team typically recommends tying into existing drainage where possible. In other cases, drainage could be routed to a floor drain near the three-compartment sink or to a mop sink in the bathroom.

“Those spans can extend up to 100 feet, but we have had no problems at all,” Thompson says. “The pump can handle 25 feet vertically and 250 feet horizontally, so we felt comfortable that 80, 90, or even 100 feet in some of our stores would be manageable.”

Installation coordination varied by market. Crumbl signed a contract with Coca-Cola to install the ice machines, but Coca-Cola did not have installers in every region. In markets where Coca-Cola could not perform the installation, Crumbl franchise partners contracted with local plumbers. At the same time, Crumbl coordinated plumbers with the Coca-Cola teams so both parties could be on site together.

Wherever Coca-Cola handled the ice machine installation, Crumbl transferred the pump-installation information to the local Coca-Cola team at the national level. In such instances, notes Thompson, “The process was pretty seamless.”

Saniflo product documentation also helped make installations easier across the national rollout. Thompson says Crumbl sent materials to franchise partners so they could share them with local contractors and plumbers. He notes that the instructions are simple, visual, and easy for experienced plumbers to understand.

Results

As the rollout expands, the Sanicom 1 is proving easy for plumbing teams to understand and install across different store locations. Crumbl has installed the pumps in more than 200 stores, with a smooth installation process that helped support a broader rollout.

“The installation has been very straightforward for plumbers,” Thompson says. “Even if they are seeing the pump for the first time, the setup makes sense. From a plumber’s point of view, they understand it when they see it.

The Sanicom 1 enabled Crumbl to support the soda program without cutting into floor space across its store network. That avoided the cost, mess, and business disruption associated with adding new floor drains. It also gave the team a repeatable approach that could be shared with franchise partners, plumbers, and Coca-Cola installers.

For Thompson, the value came from matching the right product to a specific operational challenge. Crumbl did not need a complex remodel. It needed a self-contained gray water pump that could fit under soda equipment, connect to existing drainage, and be installed consistently by different plumbing teams across many stores.

“We have had success with the pumps, and we are happy with how the rollout is going,” Thompson adds. “They are a lot less expensive than cutting in floor drains, and they create a lot less mess.”