Volunteer Cookie Booths

Design your sale for success!

Booth sales can aid the troop towards their goals and can take many forms and shapes. One of the 5 Skills, decision making, requires Girl Scouts to decide what works best for their cookie business, a drive-thru booth with curbside service, a traditional walk-up booth or a more techy option, a virtual booth.

Learn more about Cookie Booths and online options below.

Types of Cookie Booths toggle arrow

Three Types of Cookie Booths

Cookie Booths/drive-thrus are a sales tool for troops where businesses grant advanced permission for Girl Scouts to sell cookies at their business.

1. Council Secured Locations: Most Dillons and Walmart locations and other select retail locations will be secured by the council. This means that the only communication to these businesses is made by council staff. If the council is successful in securing a location, it will be listed on the Booth Scheduler and is part of the Cookie Booth Lottery process. Troops can make selections in the Smart Cookies Booth Lottery during a designated timeframe. See your Troop Action Calendar for dates.

The Cookie Booth Lottery selection process runs in Smart Cookies. Troops may be assigned up to three booth time slots through the lottery. This process is ran by Smart Cookies; the council is not able to control the outcome. Smart Cookies uses the preferences entered by the troops to generate the assignments, so be sure to select your first booth choice first, then your second choice and so on, up to 20 choices. The more you enter the better your chances of being assigned three booth time slots. Lottery results are final.
Emails are generated from Smart Cookies to notify troops of their lottery assignments. Note: To receive email notifications, the Troop Cookie Manager must enter an email address on the Troop Information page in Smart Cookies.

First Come, First Served - After the lottery assignment process has ran, troops may select additional council-secured booth locations on a first come, first served basis. The council works to have all potential council-secured locations listed in Smart Cookies by the time the Booth Lottery selections open. However, some businesses are unable to commit to a booth location at the time of request. If you do not see a business that has been a council-secured booth location in the past, please contact the Product Program staff prior to contacting the business.

See your Troop Action Calendar for the specific dates the First Come, First Serve options become available.

2. Troop Secured Locations: Troops are encouraged to secure Cookie Booth locations on their own — churches, retail stores, schools, colleges, restaurants and sporting events are a few options.

Requests for new booth locations secured by troops will be available when the Booth Lottery selection opens in Smart Cookies. When a troop has secured a location/date/time, the troop needs to request a new location on the Smart Cookies Booth Scheduler.
The council will approve or decline the booth in Smart Cookies. Once the booth is approved, the booth is scheduled to the troop and will be listed under Reserved Booth Sales in Smart Cookies.

3. Virtually Secured: Utilizing your individual Troop Link and/or QR Code located in Digital Cookie, troops are able to provide a hands-free no contact pay online opportunity for sales. See the Digital Cookie Resources section for more details.

Cancellations: If you need to cancel a booth, please cancel it in Smart Cookies and contact the council. Other troops may be waiting for a booth sale location.

Cookie Booth Guidelines & Tips toggle arrow

Review guidelines with Girl Scouts and caregivers participating in Cookie Booths. When you participate in a Cookie Booth your troop is a guest of the business. Remind all booth participants that they are representing Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland and everyone must exhibit good manners and behavior. Remember, the image Girl Scouts and caregivers portray determines whether Girl Scouts are allowed to sell cookies at the business in the future.

Dress for success!
Girl Scouts should wear uniforms, sashes or vests during the sale. You are all representing Girl Scouts; uniforms help sell cookies! Wear warm clothing, as you may be near a doorway or outside at the location.

Please check-in!
Plan to arrive at the location at least five minutes early to check with the store manager to confirm the booth/drive-thru location. It may be a different location than a previous troop. This is not a point to argue. We are their guest. Politely accept their request. Everyone should use the restroom before the booth sale starts.

Arrive and leave on time!
Do no try to set up early or stay late if other troops are scheduled. Ask everyone who is leaving to do so in a timely manner. Store Managers and customers do not like groups congregating. If you have several shifts, ask caregivers who are leaving to do so promptly. Leave the area clean and free of empty boxes.

Two Girl Scouts and two adults must be at your booth/drive-thru at all times.
A maximum number of four Girl Scouts and minimum two adults are allowed at the booth/drive-thru. At least one of these adults must be an approved GSKH adult volunteer. If needed, divide your booth/drive-thru time slot into shorter "shifts" to accommodate all Girl Scouts who want to participate. Schedule younger Girl Scouts and those with short attention spans, in short (half-hour to 1-hour) shifts. This will help keep everyone focused and cheerful.

No tag-a-longs.
Siblings, friends, additional adults and pets should not be at your booth/drive-thru. They distract those who are working from focusing on the customers and safety is key.

Be prepared!
Bring a small table, money bag with change, clipboards, phone numbers, first aid kit, Care & Share receipts, booth/drive-thru confirmation and of course...cookies!

Practice good People Skills! Encourage Girl Scouts to:

Stand next to display/proper curb lineup.
Be attentive and courteous.
Wait to speak to customers until they make eye contact or approach your table/drive-thru. No one should chase people down, run through stores or block entrance/exit of customers.
Smile! You can't sell cookies without one!
Remember to say "thank you" with every customer encounter.
Say something nice even when someone chooses not to make a purchase.

Do not consume food and drinks at your booth/drive-thru location.
If water is essential, be discrete and store it behind the table. Adults may not smoke at the booth/drive-thru or in front of the Girl Scouts.

Put away cell phones and other electronics.
Remind Girl Scouts that their attention should be on customers and the adults focus should be on the Girl Scouts, not on phone calls or other activities.

Designate a cookie runner.
Someone other than the adults at the booth/drive-thru, who, if needed can get more cookies for the booth.

Problems?
If a problem or conflict arises at the booth/drive-thru, handle it in a polite and respectful manner. Call council staff if necessary.

Note: The number one reason for conflict is usually scheduling. Always double-check your troop's booth/drive-thru time and location.

Drive-Thru Safety Rules toggle arrow

A drive-thru Cookie Booth allows customers to purchase cookies either contactless or without getting out of their vehicle. Follow these rules to ensure safety for both Girl Scouts and the customer:

To deliver curbside service, the flow of vehicles should always flow so that the driver is next to the curbside to conduct business.
No one should ever cross in front of vehicles.
Orange cones are encouraged to guide the flow of traffic.

Booth Setup & Resources toggle arrow

To begin the booth setup process, you must activate the Troop Online Links in Digital Cookie. See Digital Cookie Resources for that process. Once the links have been activated, you may begin creating Troop Secured Booth locations in Smart Cookies. All booth selections and/or creating must be done through Smart Cookies.