Girl Scouts offer new cookie delivery method in Cedar Rapids: DoorDash

CEDAR RAPIDS — If you want your Do-si-dos for delivery, local Girl Scout Troop 1949 has you covered thanks to a new partnership with DoorDash.

Until March 27, cookie monsters in Cedar Rapids can get their fix delivered with a minimum three-box order. Better yet, Girl Scouts in select, experienced troops chosen to pilot the program this year are not being charged any fees for the deliveries, making orders guilt-free.

“The pandemic definitely had them look for different ways to sell cookies in a safe way,” explained Marilyn Askelson, director of product sales for Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois.

And like many habits, the pandemic has changed things on a permanent basis, as Girl Scout officials anticipate that DoorDash is here to stay. Last year, other troops were selected for a short-lived partnership with Grubhub. The new platform for cookie delivery this year has offered to waive fees and has put substantial marketing efforts into cookie sales, according to Maura Warner, vice president of marketing for the Girl Scouts region.

For those ordering from other restaurants, DoorDash’s software will find the right times to suggest that you add a few boxes of cookies to your order before you check out. In its first week, Troop 1949 sold more than 100 boxes through the platform — comparable to sales at a booth location outside a small retail location or door-to-door sales in a neighborhood.

That’s a lot, according to the troop leader, who said initial DoorDash sales allowed each troop member to add 20 boxes to their individual sales tallies. Sales on the virtual platform are treated as a booth outside a store with the whole troop participating, to encourage team work.

“The girls all felt like every single order was amazing,” said Allison Parr, troop leader. “Almost every girl has set a new goal because they reached their first goal.”

The sales method with the highest volume remains booth sales like stands set up outside of big box stores. But over the last six years, the Girl Scouts’ Digital Cookie platform has been paving the way for the latest delivery method, allowing Girl Scouts to collect payments via credit or debit card and encourage more box purchases per customer. Thanks to the pandemic, cookie sales on the digital platform have “exploded” over the last two years, Askelson said.

“It’s hard for us to digest how many boxes of cookies we’re going through each week,” said Parr.

Now, with in-person or social media sales, scouts can display a QR code that allows customers to pay with their cards.

The logistics for a DoorDash delivery order, much like a restaurant order, are pretty simple. Customers can place their orders on the smartphone app or website while the local troop’s cookie shop is open, or schedule orders for later delivery during regular business hours. Scouts often open the shop with orders waiting for them to process.

With a simple tablet and printer set up, a chime alerts the troop of each new order as it comes in. Scouts tap a button to print and gather the appropriate boxes to ready for a delivery driver. After the order is picked up, the troop can track its status up to the point of delivery.

“By keeping it so simple, it makes it so girls can see the logistics, work with customers and pack the orders,” Warner said.

In an activity that tends to be very individualistic, the new platform for sales makes it more of a teamwork exercise. And like the other restaurants on the platform, the girls processing orders are learning important business lessons — thinking outside the box and trying new things — while gaining the confidence to execute them in real life.

“It’s such a cool partnership for the girls to see another avenue of business. You can always pivot and go with the trends in society,” Warner said. “That’s a cool example for the girls locally to see how you can expand your reach.”

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