Gluten-free Wasteland Girl Scout Crushes Cookie Sales

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By Jefferson Adams

March 28, 2017
By Jefferson Adams • March 28, 2017

Gluten-free Wasteland Girl Scout Crushes Cookie Sales

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Reviewed and edited by a celiac disease expert.

Caption: Brutal honesty helps Girl Scout crush cookie sales record. Photo: CC--JayJayOh

Celiac.com 03/28/2017 - A savvy Girl Scout from New Jersey is close to selling more cookies than anyone in history thanks to her brutal reviews of the sweet treats that have gone viral.

Employing brutally honest cookie reviews, skilled networking and aggressive sales tactics, 11-year-old Charlotte McCourt set a new Girl Scout cookie-selling world record by selling 21,477 boxes of cookies, shattering the 35 year old previous record.

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Originally, Charlotte was aiming to sell at least 300 boxes. As part of her effort, McCourt rated all of her cookies on a scale from 1 to 10, and included frankly worded reviews. She then emailed the rankings and reviews of her offerings to her dad's "rich" friend in hopes of swaying him to purchase a bulk of her 300-box goal.

For example, Charlotte rated the gluten-free Toffee-tastic cookies a 1, calling them a "bleak, flavorless gluten-free wasteland." She also slammed Do-si-dos as "unoriginal."

She did praise Samoas, the crisp cookie with shredded coconut, caramel and chocolate, rating them a 9.

The wealthy pal, who was revealed Wednesday to be Colorado-based venture capitalist Jason Mendelson, was blown away when he received the sales pitch from McCourt.

Mendelson, childhood friends with McCourt's father, Sean, was sold on her pitch, immediately buying 25 boxes and donating them all to the military.

"As I'm reading her plea, all I can think is, 'My God, I'm a venture capitalist. I get pitched 30 to 40 times a day. This is an 11-year-old telling me exactly what she wants. There's no beating around the bush,'" he told The Post. "It is a master class on sales," he added.

Later, Sean's boss, TV personality Mike Rowe, shared the email with his Facebook followers, reading it and cracking up at the gutsy critique. Rowe's video, called "Truth In Advertising!" was uploaded Jan. 25 and has received over 8.4 million views, and triggered thousands of cookie orders for McCourt.

Read more at: GoodNewNetwork.org

Edited May 7, 2019 by Jefferson Adams
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Guest WendyKat

Posted April 3, 2017

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There are two bakers of Girl Scout Cookies - ABC Bakers and Brownie Bakers - and they each make a different gluten free cookie, so what you can get in your area depends on what baker your local council contracts with. Toffee-tastic cookies are made by Brownie Bakers. Last year, our local council switched from Brownie to ABC and...OMG...if you think Toffee-tastic are bad, you should try the "Trios" that ABC makes. I now dream fondly of the wonderful Toffee-tastic cookies we used to get. Trios are a peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chip cookie, which, first of all, is a cookie with a multiple personality disorder, but also tastes stale right out of the package, the texture is odd, and it's just...really, really terrible. The ONLY reason I eat any at all is because my daughter is a Girl Scout. If you wait until you're trapped out somewhere with no food and you're really hungry, you can choke them down. rnFor the love of god, Girl Scouts, it canÂ´t be that dang hard to make something that doesnÂ´t completely suck. Sheesh.

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Guest Pippy

Posted April 5, 2017

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GS cookies were terrible! the worst cookies ever!!

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Guest Dawn Bright

Posted April 5, 2017

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I LOVE the Girl Scout Toffee Tastics. I have celiac and it's hard to find ANYTHING that taste good that is a Gluten Free Treat. I had them this year and last year and they were great both times. I never got sick or had GAS from them like I do other gluten-free products. I feel they did a great job making a really tasty product. I hope they can make a sugar free one next. Way to go Girl Scouts!

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Guest Sherry

Posted April 6, 2017

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We love the Toffee-Tastic cookies!

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About Me

Jefferson Adams is Celiac.com's senior writer and Digital Content Director. He earned his B.A. and M.F.A. at Arizona State University. His articles, essays, poems, stories and book reviews have appeared in numerous magazines, journals, and websites, including North American Project, Antioch Review, Caliban, Mississippi Review, Slate, and more. He is the author of more than 2,500 articles on celiac disease. His university coursework includes studies in science, scientific methodology, biology, anatomy, physiology, medicine, logic, and advanced research. He previously devised health and medical content for Colgate, Dove, Pfizer, Sharecare, Walgreens, and more. Jefferson has spoken about celiac disease to the media, including an appearance on the KQED radio show Forum, and is the editor of numerous books, including "Cereal Killers" by Scott Adams and Ron Hoggan, Ed.D.

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