Great American Cookies is going virtual.
The 400-unit cookie concept owned by Fat Brands is joining the Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) family, which includes other virtual brands such as MrBeast Burger, Pardon My Cheesesteak and Man Vs Fries.
Under a partnership agreement, VDC will operate the Great American Cookies virtual brand, while Fat Brands will continue to support the chain’s brick-and-mortar shops.
VDC's first cookie customer is Chuck E. Cheese, which is now offering Great American Cookies as a delivery-only option at about 200 of its 470 locations, with the rest set to come aboard next week.
The goal is to help the food-and-games chain drive incremental sales both for off-premise and, eventually, in-store, where Great American Cookies will get its own spot on the menu alongside Buddy V’s Cake Slice, another VDC brand.
Often located in malls and co-branded with Marble Slab Creamery, Great American Cookies is known for its large cookie cakes. The virtual version will focus on individual cookies starting with five flavors: chocolate chip, sugar, red velvet, cookies and cream and snickerdoodle. It will also offer seasonal and limited-time options.
Customers can order the cookies via third-party delivery apps either individually or in packs of up to 50. Single cookies start at $2.49.
For Chuck E. Cheese, the cookies arrive fully baked and frozen from a Fat Brands production facility; employees then thaw them daily before fulfilling orders. This helps keep operations simple and quality consistent across the system, said Adam Robin, COO of Virtual Dining Concepts.
The add-on brand will help Chuck E. Cheese tap into consumer demand for treats, which has skyrocketed in recent years behind concepts like Crumbl and Nothing Bundt Cakes. In 2024, average systemwide sales in the beverage/snack segment rose nearly 12%, according to Technomic data from the top 1,500 U.S. restaurant chains.
So far, Great American Cookies is generating an average of $500 to $750 in weekly sales per unit for Chuck E. Cheese, and there are cases in which sales are far higher than that, Robin noted.
For Virtual Dining Concepts, the addition of Great American Cookies is part of its strategy to grow its portfolio with existing concepts, such as Man vs. Fries and Empanadas United, both of which it acquired this year.
“I think we’ve seen so many others in the space, competing companies or concepts, develop something where they have no idea if it’s gonna work or not,” Robin said. “We’re looking at what has already been proven.”
Virtual brands took off during the pandemic, when dining room capacity was limited and restaurants were in search of additional revenue streams. Chuck E. Cheese, in fact, was one of the first to jump on the trend with its delivery-only spinoff, Pasqually’s Pizza.
The idea has cooled off some since then—Pasqually’s, for instance, is no more. But VDC is still growing, and says consumer demand for delivery remains strong. The service has settled in at about 20% to 30% of overall sales at restaurant chains, Robin said.
“It’s the consumer just saying that they want that convenience,” he said. “It’s become their reality.”
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