The Crumbs Bring Necessities to Your Dorm, Give Back to Community
Situation: You need something, you’ve procrastinated and you’re getting desperate. Maybe you’ve run out of toothpaste, and you just can’t ask your roommate yet again to borrow theirs. Perhaps your bike broke, and you’re dreading the walk from the BVAC to the LSC. Or, maybe you’ve eaten all the breakfast food that you store in your room, and you know you won’t be able to make it through your 9L without something in your stomach. And let’s face it – Topside is so expensive (a 6 oz. container of strawberries for $6.00 – really?!) and CVS is inconvenient (you’re really just too lazy to make that trek down Main Street).
We’ve all found ourselves here at some point.
Thanks to a group of ’15s — Hongyu Chen, Luke Naman, Kevin Nguyen and Emmanuel Blankson — you can now get these items delivered to your dorm room. Their service, The Crumbs, delivers products from both Walmart and CVS, — and if you order before 5:00 p.m., your purchase arrives that same day. The options offered on their website range from snacks to toiletries to electronics.
Lucy Hale ’17, a previous customer, said she was impressed by the “wide variety of products they offer."
Will Romness ’18 was also happy with the service, which delivered him a bike lock and Raisin Bran.
The primary reason for their idea was to make life better for students.
“Dartmouth has given so much to us during our four years here,” Chen said. “The main motivation was to give back to the Dartmouth community.”
I chatted with Chen, one of the founders, about his experience as a Crumbs entrepreneur. When he and three of his freshman floormates were driving back from this past spring break, they decided to go into business together for a senior bonding experience. What’s even more impressive, however, is that they planned to donate all their funds to The Haven from the very start, an intention they kept confidential until just yesterday.
When I asked why they didn’t immediately reveal their plan, Chen explained that he and his friends did not want customers to use their service only because they wished to donate to charity. He wanted to prove that it “was a viable service” on its own, and if it were to be successful, then the founders would donate 100% of the profits.
And what about the name? This too is founded in the charitable aspect of the idea and in the notion that even small donations make a difference.
“Poverty is really heart-wrenching, and it’s such a big problem in the Upper Valley,” Chen said. “At the end of the day, a single donation at the end of the term isn’t going to save everything. It’s crumbs that we’re giving. But the idea is that every little bit matters. We’re helping raise awareness, and hopefully this will be the start of something much greater.”
The Crumbs has indeed been successful, as Chen hoped, and it’s only increasing in popularity as its favorable reputation expands. This past week, the service experienced several firsts, including its first batch of repeat customers and its first Instagram.
To get the full experience, I tested out The Crumbs myself. I bought a box of Special K cereal (I fell into the category of those who have run out of breakfast food) and was very pleased with their easy accessibility and promptness. I returned to my room around 8 p.m. to find a package already waiting for me outside my door, haiku included.