Product Sale History

The Girl Scout cookie program is nationally recognized as "the premier entrepreneurship program for girls" and generates over 50 percent of the revenue necessary to provide the Girl Scout program.

Cookie sales for the Girl Scouts of the Jersey Shore will take place in the spring. Nuts will be sold in the fall, to be delivered in time for Thanksgiving.

The program teaches girls goal setting, planning, teamwork, sales and marketing, logistics and direct customer service. The Girl Scout cookie and nut programs are also a great way for people, who wouldn't otherwise be asked, to make a donation to Girl Scouts.

History of the Girl Scout Cookie Sale

More than 70 years ago, Girl Scouts began selling Girl Scout calendars and cookies to earn their "Money Wise" badge, and to help subsidize troop and council expenses. It started as a local fund-raiser that grew into a national phenomenon.

The 1920s are most often cited as the earliest years for home-baked Girl Scout cookie sales to the public. Many councils, however, have their own cookie sale history which began later. Councils in New York, Illinois, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania were holding cookie sales in the early 1930s. In fall 1933, Girl Scouts baked and sold cookies in the windows of the Philadelphia Gas Company and the Philadelphia Electric Company to assist in building Girl Scout Camp Indian Run.

It wasn't until 1936 that the first nationally franchised Girl Scout cookie sale was held. In subsequent years, over 50 baking companies and/or their subsidiaries produced cookies for the sale. During World War II, the cookie sale was discontinued to save sugar and other ingredients for the war effort. The sale of Girl Scout calendars was substituted in many areas. The postwar era, however, brought increasing cookie sale revenues, which supported the capital development of Girl Scout council camps and provided campership funds.

During the 1960s, volume increased significantly. In 1961, 14 licensed bakers with 19 plants were mixing batter for thousands upon thousands of cookies. By the middle of the decade, Girl Scout cookies represented 10 percent of all cookies manufactured in the United States. Cookie revenues represented about 40 percent of total income for all councils.

The 1970s brought financial struggles for the country as a whole. As a result, such organizations as Community Chest and the United Way decreased their funding to councils. Increased cookie volume and a rise in the cookie sale price helped councils surmount the loss of outside funding. Commercial bakers supported the sale with imaginative marketing strategies, volume discounts, and other initiatives.

During the 1980s GSUSA began supplying to each baker a standard cookie package layout and pictures. Each baker could provide a maximum of seven varieties of cookies for sale to councils; three varieties were mandatory, and the other four varieties were the option of the bakery.

Health concerns of the 1990s led bakers and their suppliers to substitute more healthful ingredients in cookies. In some cases, cookie recipes were revised. In 1995, a new variety was introduced, a low-fat cookie, bringing the number of cookie varieties to eight.

In 1995 two new products and programs were introduced: Girl Scout nuts and a magazine subscription/renewals. With the addition of these new products during the Fall Sale, troop and council income steadily increased.