Read on for information about Smart Cookies and Digital Cookie, Digital Cookie Rally in Rallyhood Invitation, Council Cupboard Locations Preview, Cookie Chats, Troop Initial Order Deadline, Cookie Booths, Assisting Troops with Initial Orders, Service Unit Digital Cookie, and more! 

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Reminders:

For Service Unit Cookie Managers:

Cookie Go Day is less than a month away! We will meet an important milestone tomorrow with the initial cookie order deadline in Smart Cookies for Troops. After the initial order deadline has passed, you have some cookie “down-time” and we hope you can take a moment to get prepped for the season, including solidifying your cookie schedule with families, securing a cookie booth (or five 😉), and maybe attending a Cookie Rally. Stick with us and we’ll keep providing you the helpful tips and reminders today, next week, and beyond.

On behalf of all River Valleys Girl Scout entrepreneurs, thank you for your support and dedication to the cookie program! Our staff and baker partner are ready and prepared to make sure that you and your Girl Scouts have the access to cookies that you need when you need them, offer participation options that are flexible, and provide selling resources and support Girl Scouts need to reach their customers.

New this year we have an enhanced, fun online and point-of-sale platform called Digital Cookie along with fun selling resources like a booth kit and door hangers. Our team is here and ready to offer support through our phone lines, email, in-person, and for Service Unit volunteers, Rallyhood!

All cookie proceeds stay local and help power our amazing programs, camp properties, and ensure access for all. Participation in the cookie program helps ensure our local Girl Scout council remains thriving and shining bright now and into the future. Because of you, cookie entrepreneurs build confidence, practice the 5 skills, and I couldn’t be more honored to serve and support you through this year.  

Now that Cookie Central is basically your BFF when it comes to cookie resources, it’s time to do the same with Smart Cookies and Digital Cookie. It’s our first year using two online systems to manage the cookie sale. We know change can be a little scary, and that’s why we are ready to support you and your families through it all. Whether you learn by doing, watching videos, or reading a guidebook, we have the tools, resources, and support you need. Digital Cookie offers a more engaging and easier to navigate site with exciting new features, including the ability to turn-off cookie varieties and more visibility into your troop’s online activity. What will you use Smart Cookies for and what will you do in Digital Cookie?  We’ve created the Understanding Roles in Smart Cookies and Digital Cookie to give you the answers on when you will use each system.

Smart Cookies

After the initial order, you’ll continue to use Smart Cookies for managing troop inventory, scheduling cookie booths, ordering rewards, crediting girls with cash/check payments, running reports, and more.

From Cookie Central, you can visit the Smart Cookies Guide with both video tutorials and step-by-step instructions. Plus, you can view the training videos from the Safety & Training videos tab in Smart Cookies. If you need help from the pros, contact your service unit Cookie Manager, contact us, or the ABC Help Desk. 

Digital Cookie

Watch for an email from email@email.girlscouts.org coming to your inbox next week (week of January 22) to register your Digital Cookie account. If the email doesn’t land in your inbox, check your spam/promo/junk folder. In that email, you’ll find a Register Now button that will take you to the site to begin the set-up process.

Both troops and families will use Digital Cookie to engage in online cookie sales. Troops have the option to set up two Digital Cookie sales links:

Note: The Troop Shipped Only link and Troop Virtual Booth Links are used for troop sales. You will distribute any sales from these links to girls using Smart Cookies. For any sales made when girls share their unique Digital Cookie sales links, the sales will be automatically credited to the girl in Smart Cookies, no action is needed from the troop.

Troops and Girl Scouts will use the Digital Cookie Mobile App to accept in-person and booth credit card payments. Once your troop site is set up, you can download the Digital Cookie Mobile App from the iTunes or Google Play store. The same email and password used to access Digital Cookie is the same to log into the mobile app. Plus, there’s a-lotl help resources built right into every page in the site. Digital Cookie will launch for online sales on February 8.

Looking for more?  We’d like to invite to join our new Digital Cookie Rally in Rallyhood for Troops and Families! Rallyhood is an all-in-one platform for Girl Scout communication and collaboration, combining many of the tools Girl Scout service units and troop leaders use to communicate with other volunteers and families - here you can connect with your peers, ask questions to the River Valleys cookie team, get just-in-time information, and more. Share the link with your families and encourage them to join as well! 

Inquiring minds want to know…. what are the locations for this year’s Council Cookie Cupboards? Here’s the scoop for you:

*The River Valleys Properties Team is still looking for a new warehouse in the West Metro (Golden Valley/Plymouth area) to host a cookie cupboard for the 2024 season. Please submit any leads to River Valleys Director of Properties, Matt Hein.

Watch for more details on using a Council Cupboard coming before Cookie Go Day here in The Cookie Press.

Join the Product Program Team for our first Cookie Chat of the season in Microsoft Teams on January 25 starting at 6:15pm. We’ll chat about the Troop experience in Digital Cookie, the new online sales management system. Cookie Chats are designed to provide Troop cookie volunteers with a deeper dive into popular topics during the cookie season. Sign up to join the Chat.

Can’t join us that night? We’ll share the recording after the event here in The Cookie Press and in our Girl Scouts River Valleys Troop Product Program Facebook page.

Troop initial cookie orders are due in Smart Cookies tomorrow, January 19, by 11:59pm. The Smart Cookies Guide features step-by-step instructions for placing an order in the system. Don’t forget to select your delivery station after entering the initial order. If you need to change or edit your order or delivery station after this deadline, connect with your service unit Cookie Manager, who will have the ability to edit orders until January 20. Note: the initial order is placed in CASES. If your troop missed the pre-order for the gluten-free Caramel Chocolate Chip cookies and wishes to order more than two cases of this variety, this is your last chance to request an exception. Follow these important steps:

Score additional council-secured Cookie Booths tonight! The next round of FCFS sign-up opens tonight at 7:00 pm where troops can choose three new booths. Here’s a look at the upcoming schedule after tonight:

For each round of first-come, first-served booths, the selections will close at 4pm before the following round opens at 7pm. During this time, we will upload any new booths secured. Pro tip: be sure to refresh your page at 7:01 pm to see the new options for the new round!

After the troop initial cookie order deadline has passed, the Service Unit will be able to enter or edit Troop initial orders until Saturday, January 20, at 11:59pm. Follow these steps to edit or enter an initial order from your service unit access:

Smart Cookies Super Users: Run the Troop Initial Order Report to see which Troops have placed an Initial Order. Reach out to Troops who may need a reminder to place their order. You can also run the Troops with No Specified Delivery Station Report to view the Troops that placed an Initial Order but are missing a delivery station. If troops are assigned to a Mega-Drop, you will be able to select a location for the Troop until January 20. For any Troop missing a delivery station after January 20, River Valleys will select a location and timeslot for the troop. 

Service Unit cookie volunteers will also be added to Digital Cookie. If you hold both Service Unit and Troop roles, you can navigate both roles from your Digital Cookie dashboard. If you also are the parent/caregiver of a Girl Scout, you’ll be able to manage that role starting on February 1. With your Service Unit access, you can view the online activity for both Troops and Girl Scouts in your area. Check out the Service Unit Volunteer Access section of our Digital Cookie Guide for Volunteers on Cookie Central for an overview of your role.  

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