There are a handful of things in life Seth Berkowitz is passionate about.
He loves his wife, children, the New York Mets, and, of course, Insomnia Cookies, the business he founded as a college student. Roughly 20 years later, Berkowitz is CEO and still very much a part of the brand’s growth strategy.
“My passion for the brand, there’s never been hesitation around it. I love watching the momentum and growth of the business. And the opportunity keeps widening. I could put my thumb on it. I can really impact the business 20 years later. We can revise strategy, innovate around our product, bring new talent. It’s always a puzzle to solve, and it’s incredibly rewarding. So I’ve been finding so much fun and it’s so gratifying, and honestly, it’s the only job I’ve ever had in my whole life. I started in college, so it’s something I know.”
Berkowitz and his team “believe really strongly” that the chain has potential for 1,800 shops in the U.S.
The new goal—which is about 1,000 more shops than the company originally anticipated—comes from a shift in growth strategy. The 350-unit brand has long positioned itself as the go-to late-night snack for college campuses and urban hubs. However, the chain recognizes that its “Insomniacs” have shifted outside of cities into suburban markets.
Berkowitz says there’s “so much opportunity” to follow those customers’ life journey.
“Our intent is to open up locations that still fit our ethos—late night, strong delivery presence, leveraging our real operational edge,” the founder says. “I’m following this new path of multi-format in college, in suburban, city, in transportation hubs, in tourist areas, and sports arenas. So there’s just a lot of opportunity that is widening that’s addressable.”
Insomnia will go after this expansion under new ownership. Krispy Kreme purchased a majority share in 2018. The company went public in 2021 and its priorities began to shift outside of Insomnia, Berkowitz explains. Krispy Kreme confirmed this in July 2024, when it announced the sale of a majority stake to Misral Equity Partners and Verlinvest. Then, on June 10, the doughnut concept revealed that it sold its remaining 34 percent stake to the firms, completely removing itself from Insomnia.
Berkowitz describes Misral Equity Partners and Verlinvest as groups that are “truly partnering with myself and the management team.”
“There’s a real buy-in on our vision, on our goals of 1,800 units and beyond and growing out our international capabilities as well,” Berkowitz says. “We loved the partnership with Krispy Kreme, and it was tremendously successful. And for me personally, it was an opportunity to develop into a real CEO versus just a founder. [Krispy Kreme] really helped me unlock some capabilities—some things that I didn’t even know I can really find after multiple decades. But right now this is about Insomnia and Insomnia’s long-term future.”
The brand doesn’t repeatedly rotate flavors like a lot of its competitors. It’s known for Classic Cookies (Snickerdoodle, Peanut Butter Chip, Double Chocolate Chunk), Deluxe Cookies (Confetti, S’mores, Salted Caramel), brownies, ice cream, cookie sandwiches, and cookie cakes.
The chain is based in more than 45 states, and Berkowitz says there’s room to grow in every market. College campuses are the starting point. Recently, the brand opened in Huntington, West Virginia (home of Marshall University), and it became the single-biggest opening in company history. Once Insomnia is established on a campus, it will shift into the late-night city market. After reaching critical mass, it will enter the suburbs.
This will all be completed via company-owned growth. Insomnia has funded the opening of more than 300 shops through internal cash flow over the past 15 years.
“It is definitely open season for us in every single market,” Berkowitz says. “I’d say we’re still more Northeast than anything else. We still have a high penetration in Northeastern America. It’s New York and Philly and Boston and D.C. in particular, but we’ve been starting to accelerate in basically every market.”
As the brand seeks its unit count objective, it’s working on approximately 50 initiatives all geared toward “delivering a warm, delicious cookie,” Berkowitz says. Insomnia has refreshed locations, worked on its technology, ordering processes, and speed of service, and ensured its experience is top of mind so customers can rely on the quality of the product and the quality of the moment inside stores.
International expansion is a major consideration as well. There are seven outlets outside the U.S., and another eight (three in Canada and five in the U.K.) are scheduled to open this year.
Insomnia is part of a cookie category that gained significant momentum coming out of COVID. The most notable example is Crumbl, which went from 0 to 1,000 locations in six years. Other concepts that have popped up include Dirty Dough, Cookie Plug, Chip City Cookies, and Schmackary’s.
Berkowitz says it’s been an interesting trend to watch. Over the years, he’s seen spikes in ice cream, frozen yogurt, and cupcakes—each have had their moment and then that moment dissipates. To him, it remains to be seen whether the cookie segment will suffer the same fate, but he does know that the current traction has boosted Insomnia.
“It’s given people more reason to buy cookies in general,” Berkowitz says. “So the entire cookie category has grown. It has been a moment. It’s been a moment we’ve benefited from. Insomnia, it’s a little bit differentiated. It’s very different I’d say from what you’re seeing in terms of these large rotational players. It’s more about the warmth and comfort of the brand, the late-night element, the irreverence of our brand, our ability to execute and deliver on a wonderful, consistent product. And we can reach people in an unparalleled way. We can deliver many miles past our competitive set. And as all of these players have shown up on the field, we’ve had our best years of all time. So I’m watching. It’s certainly something to keep a keen eye on at the moment. It’s something that is not impacting our goals in any way.”
