Girl Scouts Debut Delicious-Looking New Cookie
Do you love Girl Scouts Cookies? You're in luck, the Girl Scouts just debuted their delicious-looking new Raspberry Rally cookie!
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Okay folks, it’s that time of year again, although it always seems to be that time of year. Of course, we are talking about the annual Girl Scout cookies sell-a-thon. To make this year’s sale even more tempting (as if you aren’t already salivating), the Girl Scouts are introducing a new cookie – the Raspberry Rally. Let’s dig in.
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES “SEASON”
So, before we get into the tastiness that is the Raspberry Rally, let’s see if we can pin down the exacts when it comes to the Girl Scout cookies selling season. Doesn’t it always seem like every time you turn around, Girl Scout cookies are being sold? According to those in the know, which would be the Girl Scouts themselves, their actual “selling season” falls anywhere between January and April. In other words, it can come at any time and can last as long as a professional sports season. Be prepared.
SOME IMPRESSIVE NUMBERS
We all know that Girl Scout cookies season is one many of us look forward to. In some instances, it rivals the anticipation of the start of the NFL season, and we are not joking. If you don’t believe us, let’s take a peek at the Girl Scout cookies phenomenon.
In the United States, there are presently six levels of Girl Scouts. These are Daisy (K-1st grade), Brownie (2nd-3rd grade), Junior (4th-5th grade), Cadette (6th-8th grade), Senior (9th-10th grade), and Ambassador (11th-12th grade). We are pretty sure when founder Juliette Gordon Low first organized the Girl Scouts in 1912, she did not foresee just how big of a gathering her Girl Scouts would bring in.
There are currently over 2.5 million girls and adults that are involved with Girl Scouts. Take that number and add it to the women alive today who have participated in Girl Scouts and you will have over 50 million. You can call Taylor Swift, Mariah Carey, Abigail Breslin, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Dakota Fanning as Girl Scout alums. You can also call Venus and Serena Williams, as well as Katie Couric, Barbara Walters, and Robin Roberts as Girl Scout alums. With numbers like these, you can see why selling Girl Scout cookies have become a big breadwinner.
According to Fortune, between the January-April “season,” nearly 200 million boxes of cookies are sold. So, what does that number compare to? Well, it definitely outpaces the sales of Oreo cookies. It outsells both Milano and Chips Ahoy cookies combined. Just for giggles, you should know that the population in the United States sits around 333 million. This is a good sign for the new Raspberry Rally Girl Scout cookies.
THE FUN-LOVING SISTER
The Girl Scout new cookie, Raspberry Rally, is being billed as the sister to one of the most popular Girl Scouts cookies on the planet, the infamous Thin Mints. Though, if you listen to what the chief revenue officer of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, Wendy Lou, has to say, it sounds like she is drumming up some competition between big and little sister. “We hope that we’ll hear some healthy competition from folks – maybe a little Thin Mint-Raspberry Rally battle,” Lou said to NPR recently.
Typically, when the Girl Scouts come out with their new cookies, they don’t usually resemble any of their other cookies. But the Raspberry Rally gets its “little sister” tag because it is exactly the Thin Mint, except the mint filling has been replaced with raspberry. Although the Raspberry Rally closely resembles the top-selling Girl Scout cookie, there still was the process the Girl Scouts had to go through to develop both the flavor and internal color of the Raspberry Rally.
From beginning to end (concept to production) it takes the Girl Scouts around two years for them to debut a new cookie. They first do wonderful and important market research while gaining input from Girl Scout troops as well as fans of their cookies as ways to get ideas for possible new flavors. They also look at consumers’ cookie trends to see what is hot or what could be hot in the near future. Berry flavors were the hot item, which is how the decision was reached on the Raspberry Rally.
After the Girl Scouts complete their research stage, they then take their best ideas to Girl Scout cookie lovers. From there they gain an understanding of what the fans would like to see and then work with bakers on the cookie’s flavor and also in developing the cookie recipe. Of the Raspberry Rally, Lou says, “It’s a little bit light and a little bit sweet, but not overwhelming […] You feel like you can eat 20 of them.” But, of course, you don’t have to take her word for it.
Once that whole process is complete, the cookie then goes through its naming process. Final tests are conducted with advisory groups of Girl Scouts across the country to make sure their final product is a go. The groups helped choose Raspberry Rally as the winner.
Lou says there were a number of other cookies in the running, though she won’t divulge any names on the chance that some hit the market in the future. The past couple of years have seen the Girl Scouts introduce one new cookie for each selling season. Now, the Raspberry Rally will join its bigger sister and a litany of other Girl Scout cookies for the January-April (aka 12-months out of the year) Girl Scout cookies selling season. You can order the bigger sister and smaller sister cookies on the Girl Scout cookies website as well as the many other Girl Scout cookies flavors such as Adventurefuls, Caramel Chocolate Chip, Samoas (or Caramel deLites), Do-si-dos, Girl Scout Smores, Peanut Butter Patties, Trefoils, and Toffee-tastic, to name a few.
