{"id":204903,"date":"2026-03-05T02:56:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T02:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/204903\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T02:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T02:56:07","slug":"girl-scouts-san-diego-sues-multinational-cookie-maker-in-breach-of-contract-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/204903\/","title":{"rendered":"Girl Scouts San Diego sues multinational cookie maker in breach-of-contract suit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A Girl Scouts cookie booth outside a supermarket. (File photo courtesy of Girl Scouts San Diego)<\/p>\n

Girl Scouts San Diego<\/a> is suing Ferrero\u00a0U.S.A., and its subsidiary, Little Brownie Bakers\u00a0(LBB), accusing the firms of violating contract terms and leaving the nonprofit short of funds.<\/p>\n

Ferrero acted as the baker for the Girl Scouts, producing the popular boxes of cookies that go on sale early each year to raise funds for the organization. <\/p>\n

In the suit, filed Tuesday in federal court, officials accused the company of \u201cabruptly\u201d\u00a0terminating\u00a0its contract with\u00a0the organization\u00a0in 2024, a year before it was set to expire, and deciding \u201cthat the bottom line was more important than the promises it made to an organization dedicated to building the leaders of tomorrow,\u201d said Carol\u00a0Dedrich, CEO of Girl Scouts San Diego.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir actions\u00a0took away\u00a0critical\u00a0girl program\u00a0funding, diminished trust with our volunteers, and\u00a0negatively\u00a0impacted our customer base,\u201d Dedrich said in a news release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Girl Scouts San Diego, the organization had to trim 25 jobs even as officials quickly pivoted to find a new baker. The change, they allege, led to\u00a0lost revenue, reduced earnings for scout troops and 21,000 fewer packages delivered to military members through Operation Thin Mint.<\/p>\n

Dedrich called the resulting confusion among consumers \u201cimmediate and widespread.\u201d The loss in funds, she said \u201cdirectly limited the troops and Girl Scouts San Diego\u2019s ability to fund outdoor enrichment programs, STEM activities, outreach programs, community service projects, cultural empowerment experiences, and other impactful leadership initiatives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Girls Scouts San Diego, Dedrich said, has tried for nearly two years to negotiate a resolution with Ferrero, which has corporate offices in New Jersey, but could not come to an agreement.<\/p>\n

Ferrero\u2019s commercial brands include Keebler cookies, Nutella and several candy bars, Nestle Crunch and Baby Ruth among them.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we teach girls the importance of\u00a0integrity and\u00a0business\u00a0ethics, we were left with no other choice\u00a0but to formally file a lawsuit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ferrero officials did not return an email seeking comment.<\/p>\n

Five attorneys from three firms have taken on Girl Scouts San Diego\u2019s case on a pro bono basis.<\/p>\n

The group offers year-round activities and volunteer training for nearly 24,000 girls and adults in San Diego and Imperial counties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Girl Scouts cookie booth outside a supermarket. (File photo courtesy of Girl Scouts San Diego) Girl Scouts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[69056,1846,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-204903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-girl-scouts","tag-lawsuit","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}