RETAIL

There’s a big Girl Scout cookie shortage, and the group is frustrated with its main baker

PUBLISHED THU, MAR 9 2023 | 9:38 AM EST | UPDATED THU, MAR 9 2023 | 11:47 AM EST

Rebecca Picciotto

KEY POINTS
• The Girl Scouts are frustrated over production problems at their main baking partner, Little Brownie Bakers, which is owned by Italian confection maker Ferrero.
• The baker has struggled to keep pace with cookie demand due to supply chain issues, labor shortages and weather-related power outages.
• The inventory woes have led to sagging sales for local Girl Scout troops.

This is the way the Girl Scout cookie crumbles.

Amid widespread cookie shortages, the Girl Scouts of the USA said they are “keeping all options open” as frustrations mount with one of their baking partners, Little Brownie Bakers, which is owned by Italian confection giant Ferrero. ... Little Brownie Bakers, or LBB, notified the Girl Scouts on Monday morning that weather-induced power outages at their Louisville, Kentucky, factory, halted cookie production for the weekend of March 5, setting inventory even further back.

The power outages come amid a series of production delays and problems that LBB has cited to the Girl Scouts since January, the beginning of the selling season, according to a person familiar with the matter. In an email obtained by CNBC, Girl Scout executives told local troop leaders that they expected their baking partners to be “more ahead of demand” than LBB has been so far.

The inventory woes have caused a shortage of some cookie flavors that have sent Girl Scout cookie resale prices skyrocketing. Boxes of the newest, limited-edition flavor, Raspberry Rally, are being sold on eBay for $35. Boxes of Girl Scout cookies typically go for $5 a pop.

Little Brownie Bakers has also said that mechanical issues have gotten in the way of production of Samoas, the popular caramel-coconut cookie. This is the third year in a row that the baker has struggled to keep up with cookie production, said the person, who is not permitted to speak about the matter publicly. ... “We are extremely disappointed that LBB is again having challenges with managing their production,” a Girl Scouts spokesperson told CNBC. “We will address these issues with our baker partner in the future and we are keeping all options open to do right by our girls.”

As of this week, roughly 75% of local Girl Scout troops are supplied by LBB and as a result, have not been able to meet their cookie-selling sales goals, which are the largest funding driver for the troops. The other 25% of Girl Scout councils are supplied by ABC Bakers, a smaller baking company that the Girl Scouts say has not had the same production issues as LBB.

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