Most of last year’s Thin Mints are but a sweet memory, and that means it’s only a matter of time before the annual Girls Scout Cookie fundraising campaign begins.  Sometime soon after Thanksgiving, girls will begin planning, setting up their online stores and marking their calendars for group sales.  
Tuesday night, CNBC aired a segment on an anticipated price hike on Girl Scout cookies.  That may be the case in some markets, but cookie lovers in Kansas can breath a sigh of relief.  After holding the line for seven to eight years, Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland Council already raised prices last year to $4 a box, and that is where it will stay this year, said Lisa Cech, product sales manager for the council.  Other markets may see their Thin Mints, Trefoils, and all the other highly anticipated selections go up to $5 a box, as these councils offset increases in production and transportation costs.   
In Kansas, here is how the $4 is divided up:  91 cents goes to rewards for individual scouts, troop proceeds and support of service units; 99 cents goes to the baker; the remaining $2.10 goes back to the Council.
“Other than the 99 cents that goes to the bakery, the rest stays with the girls and the council in some way, shape, or form.” Cech said.  

Value and values
That 99 cents paid for cookies provides more than just a delicious treat.      
Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland cookies are supplied by ABC Bakers, a part of Interbake Foods, LLC. , which is owned by George Weston Limited, a Canadian company.  They are made at the bakery in North Sioux City, South Dakota. They’ve been baking Girl Scout Cookies for the past 75 years.  
In addition to supplying the cookies, ABC also provides consulting and R & D services to Girl Scouts to help ensure successful sales campaigns.  They also take part in sustainability programs from memberships with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, incorporates mass balance sustainable palm oil into our Girl Scout cookies since 2012, adheres to EnergyStar guidelines and was recently recognized with the EPA EnergyStar Award at the Sioux City bakery, and participates in the EPA SmartWay Transport Partnership.  
The only other baker of Girl Scout Cookies is Little Brownie Bakers, whose parent company is Kellogs.  The bakery has been baking Girl Scout Cookies for over 35 years.  The company is also a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, and claims all its packaging is not only 100 percent recycled, but also 100% recyclable.  It too provides consulting and technology to help plan and train volunteers to conduct the national sale.  

Online sales opens market
Girl Scouts now have the option to set up their own online cookie store in addition to face-to-face sales, so grandparents, friends, and extended family can still support their favorite Scouts, even if they live too far away to deliver on a timely basis.  The cost of delivery will also remain the same as last year, Cech said.  This may be a boon to those east and west coast relatives of Barton County Scouts this year.  At $4 a box, they can afford to order one more box of Thin Mints on a $20 order.