On a rainy Saturday morning, Girl Scout Troop 2370 stood anxiously under the red awning of Winn-Dixie on Main Street. Though the day was gray and gloomy, 8-year-old Kate Sarnoski couldn’t help but smile a toothy grin while greeting grocery shoppers with a question difficult to resist:
“Would you like to buy Girl Scout cookies?” she asks.
A rainbow display of cookie boxes is sprawled across their fold-out table — a siren call for any passerby with a sweet tooth.
As any local who’s entered a Publix or Walmart during the past three weekends can already tell you, it’s Girl Scout cookie season.
The annual tradition of selling cookies has been a staple in American society for a century, and though it’s seen some changes in the past decades, such as new flavors and methods of selling, it continues to be a popular and profitable endeavor.
Although some Girl Scout councils across the nation have caught media attention for upping cookie prices from $5 to $7 this year, the costs in Gainesville remain the same as last year’s. The specialty cookies — Girl Scout S’mores and Toffee-tastic — are $6.
Kate’s mother, Ana Sarnoski, supervised the cookie booth at Winn-Dixie Saturday. A former Girl Scout herself, she remembers selling boxes for only $2.50.
When it comes to the price, she has not encountered anyone upset about the cost of today’s specialty boxes.
“When I did it we had to go door-to-door with our order form,” Sarnoski said. “Now everything is mostly digital which makes it pretty easy.”
Melissa Redon is the director of marketing and communications for Girl Scouts of Gateway Council. She said Gateway Council encompasses 35 counties in North Florida, including Gainesville. Last year, scouts in this district sold 1.5 million boxes of cookies, Redon said.
“It’s pretty impressive,” Redon said. “As someone who loves a Girl Scout cookie, I just had no idea how much work, effort and concentration goes into cookies in the window of time in which they are sold.”
According to Girl Scouts of the United States of America, prices reflect the current cost of cookies and the cost of providing Girl Scout programming and experiences.
In 2014, Girl Scouts launched the platform Digital Cookie, which allows scouts to create websites for customers to purchase cookies online. Some Scout parents also take to social media to advertise and sell their cookies.
Heather McMahan is a district product manager who helps handle leader training, online portal support, warehouse delivery and cookie pickup. She accompanied her 12-year-old daughter Hayleigh while her troop sold cookies Saturday.
So far, Troop 2370 has sold around 13,000 boxes of cookies since the season began in February, McMahan said. Though about 4,000 of those boxes came from booth purchases, she said the majority of sales are a result of the scouts selling on their own.
“It’s just the girls hustling, going door-to-door asking their families, their mom’s co-workers (and) dad’s co-workers,” she said. “It’s a lot. I was shocked.”
McMahan said she doesn’t foresee the price of cookies increasing for at least another year. The $5 cost of each box makes adding up the day’s profit simple for the young scouts.
“The girls can count by five so easily,” McMahan said. “I don’t want it to go up.”
Girl Scouts of the USA maintain net proceeds made from cookie sales stay local with the originating council and troop. These provide access to activities within the troops, including STEM projects, field trips and campouts.
Raising funds isn’t the only benefit of selling Girl Scout cookies, parents said. Scouts who sell cookies are also learning life skills such as goal setting, money management, people skills and business ethics.
“I think it really helps them with their people skills and their math skills,” McMahan said. “We’ve worked really hard with them on doing their sales pitch and accepting rejection.”
For 8-year-old Kate, getting badges to put on her Brownie vest and going on trips are her favorite parts about being a Girl Scout. But when it comes to her favorite part of cookie season, she has a simple answer:
“Eating them,” she said.
Contact Bonny Matejowsky at bmatejowsky@alligator.org. Follow her on X @bonnymatejowsky.
Bonny Matejowsky is a third-year journalism major and a Fall 2023 Avenue Reporter. When she’s not writing, you can find her thrifting or watching Twin Peaks.
