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Why There Aren't Gluten-Free Girl Scout Cookies in North Florida

Girl Scout Cookie lovers in North Central Florida looking for a gluten-free option to satisfy their sweet tooth are out of luck.

Cindy Laugert, a Gainesville Girl Scout troop leader, said the decision to keep gluten-free cookies out of the catalog isn't a local one.

"We don't determine it as leaders," Lauger said. "That comes from national Girl Scouts."

She said there are only two Girl Scout Cookie providers in the U.S.

Little Brownie Bakers, the company Laugert and the rest of the region's Girl Scouts get their cookies from, doesn't offer a gluten-free option.

Mary Anne Jacobs, CEO of the Gateway Council in Jacksonville, said Girl Scouts of the USA, the group’s national office, calls the shots when it comes to who sells which cookies.

Jacobs said the national office selected 20 Girl Scouts councils across the country to test how gluten-free cookies fare in the markets.

“We just happen to be one of the councils that were not selected to test the gluten free cookies,” she said. “But if the tests go well, we will have gluten free cookies from next year.”

But those seeking gluten-free Girl Scout cookies in northern Florida aren’t without options.

She said the only Florida council selected to test the cookies is one in Orlando, whose service area stops at the southernmost point of the Alachua County border.  The local groups will sell the cookies when they open their booths in the next few months – meaning a road-trip to Orlando will put the ambitious cookie craver in reach of a box.

 

Dyann is a reporter for WUFT News and can be contacted by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.
Sean is a reporter for WUFT News who may be contacted by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news @wuft.org