How Girl Scout Cookies Are Born—And How They Die

Girl Scout cookies have been sold in the United States for generations, and throughout that storied history we've seen cookie varieties come and go. But, why is that? What makes Thin Mints worthy of a permanent position while past beloved flavors like Savannah Smiles, a half-moon-shaped lemon cookie sold from 2011 to 2019, get sunsetted?

As it turns out, there's a method behind the mayhem, Atlas Obscura writes, and it's not just how the cookie crumbles. Karen Schillings, a council historian for the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, explained to Atlas Obscura what it takes for certain cookies to become a mainstay for the organization and why some favorites are discontinued despite their popularity.

Disappointingly, the 2024 Girl Scout cookie season introduced no new cookie varieties, whereas previous years' new releases were met with an almost uncontrollable frenzy. What makes or breaks a new Girl Scout cookie flavor is truly a supply and demand issue.

Girl Scout cookie fans have long been aware of the fact that there are two major bakeries that produce cookies each season for the organization: Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakery. The bakeries each use different ingredients and methods to make the cookies, which can result in a difference in taste and appearance as it did with the 2023 limited edition Raspberry Rally cookies. The cookies also sometimes bear different names; for example, the popular Samoas are also known as Caramel deLites, depending on which bakery produced them.

Schillings explains that each season the bakeries pitch new cookie ideas to the Girl Scouts of the USA, and if the national organization accepts one, then the bakery produces it for the upcoming season. However, depending on the price of ingredients and what it costs to produce a certain cookie, the bakeries may decide to stop making them.

Schillings also notes that if a cookie doesn't sell enough boxes it is, of course, eliminated from the roster, and as a historian of Girl Scout cookies she has some insights into what tends to sell and what doesn't. Cinnamon and sugar-free varieties don't often last on the lineup, for example, whereas variations on lemon cookies have always remained part of the rotation (there have been two on the roster for years: Lemon-Ups and Lemonades).

Although sugar-free cookies have not been very popular, cookies catering to dietary restrictions have been. Schillings says the Girl Scouts have recently offered gluten-free options like the Toffee-tastic cookie from Little Brownie Bakers and the Caramel Chocolate Chip from ABC, both of which have remained in the lineup for years.

The Raspberry Rally incident of 2023 is a prime example of how the Girl Scouts of the USA often have to strategize when it comes to releasing limited runs of cookie flavors. The Raspberry Rally cookies were like Thin Mints, but with a raspberry flavor inside instead of mint, and were only sold online. Schillings says Little Brownie Bakers struggled to source ingredients for the cookies.

"It ended up that they couldn't fulfill the orders for them," Schillings tells Atlas Obscura.

The shortage led to many people selling boxes of the limited-edition cookies on the secondary market for a major markup. Despite this fiasco, Schillings notes that maintaining a roster of staple cookie flavors while also swapping in limited-time cookies helps keep people interested each season.

After all, understanding consumer preferences and market trends are valuable skills in business—and what is Girl Scouts of the USA if not an organization that fosters the entrepreneurial spirit in young girls? Business is business, people. There's no use crying over discontinued cookies.