Selling Girl Scout Cookies has been a part of American life since 1917. The Kenny Family, has been selling Girl Scout Cookies, in more ways than one, for close to 30 years.
- One way is that the Kenny Ladies have been selling Girl Scout Cookies for generations.
- The other way, is that I ran a Coconut Company that sold all the toasted coconut to the Girl Scout Cookie Manufacturers
One might say that selling Girl Scout Cookies is in our blood.
FAMILY
My wife Susan has been big on Girl Scouts forever. She was our daughter Jenn’s troop and cookie sales leader for many years. Now our daughter-in-law Lauren, is our granddaughter’s troop leader and in charge of Girl Scout Cookie Sales. The expression that “the son married the girl, just like the girl that married dear old dad” can be a little bit scary. To say that these ladies (wife, daughter in law, daughter (also a scout leader) and granddaughters) are competitive would be an understatement. Every year, it is given that they will sell more cookies than they did the previous year. The good news is that, in many ways, Girl Scout Cookies sell themselves.
Emma and her Nana in full sales mode
Gramps gets thrown into the fray annually. It is expected that gramps will develop sales materials and encourage our friends to buy cookies. This year Susan and I had the added responsibility of hosting a booth for a morning of sales at the local Kroger. Emma was in charge of merchandising. Gramps was in charge of finance. Not to brag, but Emma’s sales skills are impressive. At 9 years old, she has experience and no fear of chasing down shoppers asking if they need cookies. The combination of her charm, tenacity and digital skills make her a force. Gramp’s responsibility was finance and specifically credit card sales. The Girl Scouts now have a pretty good app and, with a little training from Emma, I was able to keep up, sort of.
Sales materials developed by Gramps
When it comes to sales to our friends, the question we get asked all the time is: do you still have cookies. Truth is that my son’s garage looks like a warehouse. I always think of the story that Phil Harris the actor and announcer at the annual Bing Crosby Pebble Beach golf tournament used to tell. Phil and Bing went on golfing trips to Scotland. One night they were driving home late after golf and more than a sampling of the local adult beverages. They passed a distillery and Bing pointed out to Phil that the Scots can make whisky faster than he can drink it. To which Phil replied, “That might be true, but I have them working nights”. Looking at the inventory in my son’s garage, its hard to imagine that Emma will run out of cookies. Then again, watching her sales prowess at the cookie booth, she might have a supply chain issue.
The Cookie Inventory in Brian’s Garage
WORK
In a past life, I ran a coconut company in the Philippines. The joke used to be that on my tombstone it would say: “He knew coconut”. The second most popular Girls Scout Cookie is the Samoa that is made exclusively with toasted coconut from my Franklin Baker Company of the Philippines. They say that coconut is a polarizing flavor. Either you like it, or you don’t. I can’t tell you the number of times that when someone found out about my being the coconut guy, they would tell me how they don’t like coconut. To which I would ask if they have ever had the Samoa Girl Scout cookie? Invariably they would respond about how it was their favorite. There is something about the toasted coconut in combination with caramel and chocolate that is a winner.
Another, not so funny joke I tell is about “Murphy’s Law”. What can go wrong, will go wrong. I firmly believe that Murphy was Filipino. In my years of running a company in the Philippines, the list of what went wrong went on and on:
- Typhoons
- Droughts
- Military coups
- Communist attacks on our plant
- Assassinations
- Kidnappings
- Salmonella
- Tsunamis
The toasted coconut for the Girl Scout cookies had its moment. One year a large shipment of coconut got contaminated by an off odor. As with all the other things that went wrong, our team at Franklin Baker in the Philippines was amazing. They always figured out the problem and the solution.
In retrospect, whether it is the FAMILY side or the WORK side, selling Girl Scout Cookies is a lot of fun
For anyone that wants Girls Scout Cookies – This is Emma’s card
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