In theaters August 7.
LYNN’S TAKE:
Innocence and ambition collide in “Cookie Queens,” an insightful and charming documentary about the annual Girl Scout Cookie season that brings in $800 million each year to the nonprofit organization. Four tenacious young Girl Scouts, ages 5 to 12, are spotlighted.
Director Alysa Nahmias filmed the girls and their families during the six-week selling period in 2024, and the go-getter Scouts, who live in different parts of the country, strategize with their parents, set goals, and work to win prizes and achieve personal satisfaction.
Winner of the Audience Award at this year’s SXSW Festival, “Cookie Queens” shows the drive needed to hit sales targets and the tensions that arise. It’s very much a family affair, and their parents support and challenge the girls to achieve their sales targets.
The girls, self-reliant and imaginative, are from varied socio-economic backgrounds, and have different selling methods, but share the same spirit of teamwork.
Olive, 12, of Charlotte, N.C., who is a dynamo and wants to be a Supreme Court justice has made over $200,000 for the organization. The fact that each box only generates $1 for the girls to use for camp and troop activities becomes a sticking point for her.
A social pre-teen, she has slick videos produced by her dad, and her own website. She is a super-salesman that smashes stunning sales numbers. She gets things done – but worries that her life is too consumed by the pressures of each selling season.
Spirited and sweet Shannon Elizabeth, 8, of El Paso, Texas, calls herself the Cookie Ninja. Her parents worry that they are going to be out thousands of dollars if those boxes stacked in their home don’t go out the door.
Shy Nikki, 9, of Chino, Calif., has two high-achieving older sisters that she seems to be in the shadow of, and how she emerges and stands out from them is an intriguing aspect of the narrative.
Precocious pianist Ara, 5, of San Diego, is a juvenile diabetic, and sets a small number to sell, 55 boxes, compared to Olive’s 4,000 boxes. But as a first-time Girl Scout, she must learn a lot. She also takes matters into her own hands by making sugar-free cookies for a neighbor.
The girls, all brought up in nurturing environments, are captivating subjects – thoughtful, kind, and compassionate.
One of the more troublesome aspects is the toll it takes on the girls and their parents, who worry about the time it takes away from their ‘down time’ after school and being a kid, not to mention the money they need to put out for the inventory.
Girl Scouts have been selling cookies for more than 100 years, and the way they sell now – licensing commercial bakeries to produce the cookies, which the girls then sell for $6 a box – is the current model. The business skills they learn, in leadership, entrepreneurship, customer relations, money management, and marketing, have been invaluable tools.
But at what price? The documentary raises issues about the stress of selling those Thin Mints, Tag-a-longs, Samoas and Trefoils.
However, the life lessons and camaraderie are shown as well. The girls make friends and are briefly seen in other activities. But it is their hard work and their families’ encouragement that makes a difference in their selling results.
You may never look at those stands in front of the supermarkets the same way again, but perhaps, will listen to the ‘upsell’ with new appreciation.