The Business of Girl Scout Cookies (2024)

As Girl Scout Cookie season winds to a close, we at Top Business Degrees thought it would be fun to look into the financial and nutritional numbers behind Girl Scout Cookie sales and the overall business operations of the Girl Scouts. And so we've developed this infographic with lots of interesting little tidbits such as the fact that over 200 billion calories worth of Girl Scout Cookies are consumed annually. In addition to cookie sales, we also included interesting data about the organization itself.

Some Girl Scout Facts

1. ~200 million boxes of Girl Scout Cookies Sold Each Season (Year)

The best selling Girl Scout cookies are:

• 25% Thin Mints
• 19% Samoas/Caramel deLites
• 13% Peanut Butter Patties/Tagalongs
• 11% Peanut Butter Sandwich/Do-si-dos
• 9% Shortbread/Trefoils

Other assorted other varieties combine to account for the remaining 23%.

2. Over 200 billion calories worth of Girl Scout Cookies are consumed annually

Nutritional info for each type of cookie:
http://www.girlscoutcookies.org/nutrition_info_2011_2012.asp

Thin Mints: 50,000,000 boxes sold per year
Serving Size 4 cookies, 7 servings per box
Calories: 160 ; 1120 per box, 5,600,000,000 calories in a year's thin mint sales
Calories from Fat: 70; 490 per box
Fat: 8g; 56g per box; 2,800,000,000 annually
Carbs: 22g; 154g per box; 7,700,000,000 annually

Samoas: (and Caramel deLites together 38,000,000 boxes sold per year)
Serving size 2 cookies, 7 servings per box
Calories: 140; 980 per box
Calories from fat: 70; 490 per box
Fat: 7g; 49g per box
Carbs: 19g; 133g per box

Caramel deLites (listed separately???)
2 cookies, 8 servings per box
Calories: 140; 1120 per box
Calories from fat: 60; 480 per box
Fat: 7g; 56g per box
Carbs: 19g; 152g per box

Tagalongs: (and Peanut Butter Patties together 26,000,000 boxes sold per year)
Serving size 2 cookies, 7 servings per box
Calories: 140; 980 per box
Calories from fat: 80; 560g per box
Fat: 9g; 63g per box
Carbs: 13g; 91g per box

Peanut Butter Patties (listed separately from Tagalongs ???)
2 cookies, 7 servings per box
Calories: 130; 910 per box
Calories from fat: 70; 490 per box
Fat: 8g; 56g per box
Carbs: 13g; 91g per box

Do-si-dos (and Peanut Butter Sandwiches together 22,000,000)
Serving size 2 cookies, 9 servings per box
Calories: 110; 990 calories per box
Calories from fat: 45; 405 per box
Fat: 5g; 45g per box
Carbs: 16g; 144g per box

Peanut Butter Sandwich (is listed separate from Do-si-dos ???)
Serving size 3 cookies, 7 servings per box
Calories: 160
Calories from fat: 50
Fat: 6g
Carbs: 26

Shortbread: (and Trefoils together 18,000,000 sold per year)
Serving Size: 4 cookies, 10 servings per box
Calories 120; 1120 per box
Calories from fat: 40; 400 per box
Fat 4.5g; 45 per box
Carbs 19g; 190 per box

Trefoils:
Serving Size: 5 cookies, 7 servings per box
Calories: 160; 1120 per box
Calories from fat: 70; 490 per box
Fat: 8g; 56g per box
Carbs: 22g; 154 per box

New this year: Savannah Smiles
Serving size: 5 cookies, 5 servings per box
Calories: 140, 700 per box
Calories from fat: 45; 225 per box
Fat: 5g. 25g per box
Carbs: 23g; 115 per box

Dulce de Leche
4 cookies, 5 servings per box
Calories 160; 800 per box
Calories from fat: 70; 350 per box
Fat 8g; 40g per box
Carbs 20g; 100g per box

Thank U Berry Munch
2 cookies, 7 servings per box
Calories 120; 840 per box
Calories from fat 50; 350 per box
Fat 5g; 35g per boxCarbs: 18g; 126g per box

Shout Outs
4 cookies, 10 servings per box
Calories 130; 1300 per box
Calories from fat 45, 450 per box
Fat 5g; 50g per box
Carbs: 18g; 180g per box

Lemonades:
2 cookies, 8 servings per container
Calories 150; 1200 per box
Calories from fat: 60; 480 per box
Fat: 7g; 56g per box
Carbs: 22g; 176g per box

Thanks-A-Lot
2 cookies, 8 servings per container
Calories: 150; 1200 per box
Calories from fat: 60; 480 per box
Fat: 6g; 48g per box
Carbs: 22g; 176g per box

3. The naming of the cookie depends on which bakery it comes from

Cookies are baked by 2 licensed bakeries: www.abcsmartcookies.com or www.littlebrownie.com.

While defended as a skill building exercise for girls, the "skills" girls learn through the Girl Scout cookie program certainly have an annual payoff for the organization:

4. In 2010, some three million girls sold 198 million boxes for a record $714 million in cookie revenue to support Girl Scouting.

4. Some girl scout cookies get retired.

Presumably because they are the least popular. Still, each cookie has its diehard fans. Click here for a list of some of the ones people miss the most.

5. The current record is 17,328 boxes in a single year by a single girl scout

Jennifer Sharpe, age 15, of Dearborn, Mich., holds the record for most cookies ever sold, with 17,328 boxes in 2008. Of the $21,000 her troop raised to go on a 10-day tour of Europe, $14,000 was due to Sharpe.

6. Girl Scouts as a political litmus test?

As of 2005, 71.5 percent of women in the U.S. Senate and 67.1 percent of women in the House of Representatives are Girl Scouts alumnae.

7. Girl Scouts earns $37 million in membership revenue fees, but over $714 million from cookie sales