There's a big Girl Scouts cookie shortage – and the group is frustrated with its main baker

This is the mode the Girl Scout cooky crumbles.

Amid wide cooky shortages, the Girl Scouts of America said they are "keeping each options open" arsenic frustrations equine with 1 of its baking partners, Little Brownie Bakers, which is owned by Italian confection elephantine Ferrero.

Little Brownie Bakers, oregon LBB, notified the Girl Scouts connected Monday greeting that weather-induced powerfulness outages astatine their Louisville, Kentucky, factory, halted cooky accumulation for the play of March 5, mounting inventory adjacent further back.

The powerfulness outages travel amid a bid of accumulation delays and problems that LBB has cited to the Girl Scouts since January, the opening of the selling season, according to a idiosyncratic acquainted with the matter. In an email obtained by CNBC, Girl Scout executives told section unit leaders that it expected its baking partners to beryllium "more up of demand" than LBB has been truthful far.

The inventory woes person caused a shortage of immoderate cooky flavors that person sent Girl Scout cooky resale prices skyrocketing. Boxes of the newest, limited-edition flavor, Raspberry Rally, are being sold connected eBay for $35. Boxes of Girl Scout cookies typically spell for $5 a pop.

Little Brownie Bakers has besides said that mechanical issues person gotten successful the mode of accumulation of Samoas, the fashionable caramel-coconut cookie. This is the 3rd twelvemonth successful a enactment that the baker has struggled to support up with cooky production, said the person, who is not permitted to talk astir the substance publicly.

"We are highly disappointed that LBB is again having challenges with managing their production," a Girl Scouts spokesperson told CNBC. "We volition code these issues with our baker spouse successful the aboriginal and we are keeping each options unfastened to bash close by our girls."

As of this week, astir 75% of section Girl Scout troops are supplied by LBB and arsenic a result, person not been capable to conscionable their cookie-selling income goals, which are the largest backing operator for the troops. The different 25% of Girl Scout councils are supplied by ABC Bakers, a smaller baking institution that the Girl Scouts accidental has not had the aforesaid accumulation issues arsenic LBB.

To beryllium sure, LBB has shipped implicit 84 cardinal packages to section troops and produced much Girl Scout cookies than it had this clip than past year, said a spokesperson for Ferrero, which makes the Ferrero Rocher cocoa and hazelnut treats.

"Global proviso concatenation issues, section labour shortages, and adjacent unforeseen terrible upwind person each impacted the selling season, but Little Brownie Bakers is connected way to fulfill archetypal orders," Ferrero told CNBC.

In the meantime, Ferrero said that "teams successful our bakery person been moving overtime" to guarantee that archetypal Girl Scout cooky orders get fulfilled.

For the remainder of the selling season, Thin Mints, Adventurefuls and S'mores are the lone remaining cooky flavors disposable for online acquisition from some Girl Scout troops successful states specified arsenic New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon and others. Orders that person already been placed volition not beryllium impacted, and customers successful the affected areas tin inactive acquisition the different flavors successful idiosyncratic astatine section Girl Scout cookie-selling booths.

Ferrero, besides known for brands similar Nutella and Kinder Bueno, has been connected a ngo to turn implicit the past year. In November, it broke crushed connected a $214 cardinal enlargement to its Bloomington, Illinois, manufacturing works successful bid to nutrient Kinder Bueno cocoa successful North America for the archetypal time. The institution said the Kinder Bueno task led to the instauration of 200 caller jobs successful Bloomington.

In December, it agreed to bargain crystal pick elephantine Wells Enterprises, which would widen its North American footprint.