A chewy brownie cookie filled with a salty-sweet caramel creme? Yes, please! There’s a kind of giddy anticipation around the Girl Scouts’ new cookie release for 2022. Called Adventurefuls, these new cookies have that rich combination of chocolate and caramel, making it the Girl Scouts’ most indulgent cookie flavor to date.
Yet just as the Girl Scouts’ cookie season gears up to start, there may be some scouting and searching required to get these new cookies. Even though the Girl Scouts announced that they’re partnering with the delivery service Doordash, their issues go deeper than distribution alone.
Commercial bakers are not immune to the problems plaguing the American supply chain. Like many industries, manufacturers have been facing issues since 2020. The eternal difficulty of ingredient inventory has gone hand-in-hand with the continued problems of labor shortage.
These issues, however, are only affecting half of the Girl Scouts’ manufacturers. You see, it’s not just one company that makes the cookies. The ordering, manufacturing, and distribution of the Girl Scouts’ cookies are all location-dependent. Each regional Girl Scout council contracts with either ABC Bakers or Little Debbie Bakers. According to a spokeswoman interviewed by the Washington Times, the supply chain issue is only impacting Little Debbie Bakers.
Troops have been notified of Little Debbie Bakers’ shortage, yet this poses another problem. In some regions, even before the season starts, Adventurefuls are nowhere to be found. Since some regions relyed only on Little Debbie Bakers, there are pre-season shortages. It was reported that more than 70 councils depended solely on this manufacturer.
Why not just order from another manufacturer, easy right? Well, it’s not so simple. For councils not near ABC Bakers’ region, distance is a major problem. Shipping from ABC Bakers would not be financially feasible, nor would shipments arrive on time for the season.
Since there is limited inventory, and to prevent a nationwide shortage, the Girl Scouts imposed a sales restriction on Adventurefuls. Nationwide, each council’s order will be capped at 7% and in-person sales of the new cookie will be discontinued. However sad these shortages and restrictions are, don’t get too bummed out. Luckily the sales restriction is only applied to the new cookie and not impacting the Girl Scouts’ lineup of classic mainstay flavors.
So how can you get your hands on this infamous cookie? Besides partnering with Grubhub in 2021 and Doordash in 2022, the Girl Scouts has a delivery feature which helps you order Adventurefuls online, if they’re in stock.