Other Popcorn Companies

[troutmaster 10]

A friend of mine gave me a booklet from a recent leadership gathering in Tennessee, and it included a number of contacts for fund raising. I was surprised that there are at least two companies, other than Trail's End. One's web site, Pecatonica River, has little info, other than a wide variety not available from Trail's End, but apparently has been being used by a few councils in the South for a number of years (www.prpopcorn.com). The other seems to have almost everything Trail's End has, at least at their site, plus a different assortment. It has councils listed from a broad area of the country. It is called Camp Masters (www.campmaster.org).

 

Is anyone familiar with these programs? I know that I could see us changing to possibly have a different experience.

[scottteng 11]

Our council changed one year and we did have a different experience albeit a much worse one. Trails end has our business back.

[Pack212Scouter 10]

Our council has used Campmasters for a number of years. No complaints here, but I don't have any experience with others to compair it to.

[eagle90 125]

I have to agree with Scotteng. Our council changed to Campmasters for a year, and after many complaints, went back to Trails End.

[ScoutNut 147]

Unlike the Girl Scout Cookie program, popcorn sales are not a BSA National program, and the popcorn vendor(s) that are used are not hand picked and approved by BSA National. Each individual council decides if they want a popcorn sale, who they will purchase their popcorn from, and what their products, prices and profits will be. There are more than 3 popcorn companies selling to BSA councils. Some use small, local companies that they can get a good deal with.

 

We switched from Trail's End to Campmasters mainly because of customer service issues. After 2 years of complaints about Campmaster's quality, we switched back to Trail's End and a new TE Sales Rep. As of last year, Trail's End was licensed to use BSA images and trademarks.