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Topic: Concession Per cap

Dustin Mitchell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1865
From: Mondovi, WI, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 05-20-2001 07:21 PM

True Mike, but my point is people are willing to spend more when they go to the stadium because they think of it as something special, maybe something they'll only do once or twice in their lives. The length of many sports games also has something to do with it. A baseball game might last 4 hours. On a hot summer day, your going to buy a beer, even if it costs $5. But when you go into a 90 minute movie, you've likely eaten before hand or are planning on eating afterwards.

I guees the argument boils down to how low is too low and how high is too high. $3.05 for a large pop and $4.40 for a large popcorn in a market like mine is too much in my opinion.

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Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001

posted 03-10-2002 02:01 PM

Bumping this up for the newbies and to get it back on topic.

Combos will definitely help your per cap as long as they are kept simple and are reasonably priced. A large popcorn plus a large Coke is your basic combo. Big chains will usually go a bit farther on the combos menu (nachos at AMC, popcorn shrimp or chicken tenders at Loews).

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Dennis Benjamin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1445
From: Denton, MD
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 03-11-2002 07:33 AM

Down here in the Miami area we see per caps around $2.50. That is the average. However, down here a few companies have figured out how to consistantly beat the $3.00 mark. They do it by offering a "Hot Food" menu. Muvico Theatres and Cobb Theatres are doing this at thier newer locations. They have a kitchen with a fryer. They offer chicken wings, chicken tenders, french fries, corn dogs, and pizza (with a few differences here and there). I have seen that it can be a success. I guess it all depends on your demographic though......

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"Running through life at 24 frames per second"

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Adam Fraser
Master Film Handler

Posts: 499
From: Houghton Lake, MI, USA
Registered: Dec 2001

posted 03-11-2002 01:23 PM

We stay right around $2.00/person selling popcorn, candy, slush puppies, and pop. I would not think that lowering prices would make very much of a difference in per caps because there will always be a certain group of people that will not buy anything from the theatre concession unless it is the same as supermarket prices, which is only about a 10% markup, mix that with the about 10% us theatres get to keep from movie rentals and that would not even be enough to pay the bills unless volume of candy sales went up by 100's of percentage points.

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Adam Fraser
www.pinestheatre.com

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Zach Zagar
Film Handler

Posts: 45
From: Jefferson City, MO
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 03-11-2002 10:52 PM

Higher p/c's are great. However, I'd rather keep the @2.00 p/c with just popcorn, soda and candy, than hit 3.00 with hot dogs, pizza, wings, etc.

The return is not as good unless you charge 15.00 for one slice of pizza.

Most theaters get, what a 4 or 5 time markup on candy... I'm thinking, hey, that's pretty good.

My theater consistently turns in $2.50+ with popcorn, candy, soda, and mild nacho sales.

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 03-12-2002 12:18 AM

Don't forget Hot Dogs - I've gotta have a hot dog when I go to a theater. They are easy to prepare and you can just get the portion pack condiments ... no hassle involved!

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Scott Madsen
Film Handler

Posts: 58

Registered: Oct 1999

posted 03-13-2002 12:08 PM

What effect do free refills of pop and popcorn have on per caps?

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System Notices
Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi

Posts: 215

Registered: Apr 2004

posted 12-13-2004 08:35 PM

It has been 1006 days since the last post.

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Chris Brown
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 105
From: Fairport, NY, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 12-13-2004 08:35 PM

Very interesting thread here...obviously in the time since the last post, concession prices have skyrocketed (right now, for a Lg corn and Lg drink, the cost is $10). But the interesting thing is that, on average, per caps have stayed about the same (at least within Regal). Basically what is happening is that each time the prices go up, you lose a few customers or the ones you do have buy less. The increased revenue from the customers who buy the same thing no matter what balances out the revenue you are losing.

Personally, I think that we could definitely stand for some concession price cuts. Or even have special weeks (much like tax free week) where you save a few bucks on certain sizes of popcorn and soda. In addition to having combos, I would think that these practices would help increase percaps. My theatre is usually around $2.50, and has been about the same in the almost 4 years I've been there.

Unfortunately, working for a chain (Regal), all I'll ever see is prices going even further up. And as such, I believe that our percaps will stay very stable for quite some time.

Anyways, lots of great stuff here, thanks!

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Barry Martin
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 203
From: Newington, CT USA
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 12-13-2004 10:34 PM

$10 dear god, is it this bad? It's been a while since I was in a chain and I do remember larges being pricy but the "super combo" at Loews when I was there in 2002 was like 7 bucks plus tax. At my twin a large and a large is $6.75 INLCUDING tax. Granted, our large isn't as obnoxiously large as most of the big chains; large soda being 32 ounces and large corn is somewhere in the realm of 70-80 ounces, but come on! The stuff is CHEAP. If we can make a living off an average of 500 people/week (of course more for the big films, but still not more than 1,500 in any given week) and each person is spending $2.25-$3.00 on average (and without ANY form of screen advertising) then so can any large chain. Oh wait, they have to pay six to seven figure salaries to big wig executives (who usually only drive the company bankrupt) so THAT'S why there is no profit. [Roll Eyes]

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Jason Black
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1723
From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 12-13-2004 11:33 PM

quote:
I guees the argument boils down to how low is too low and how high is too high. $3.05 for a large pop and $4.40 for a large popcorn in a market like mine is too much in my opinion.

Famous last words Dustin...

Now they're what, $3.50 and $5.00 respectively?

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David Yauch
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 206
From: Mesa, AZ, USA
Registered: Oct 2004

posted 12-14-2004 03:31 AM

Here we do a dollar refill cup. It's a 32 oz. plastic "souvenir" cup that you purchase and it's good for $1 refills for the rest of the year. The real reason we do it is that you can't take it to the AMC five minutes down the road. If you own the cup and you know you can get a drink thats regularly $3.50 for only $1, you'll do it. We go through thousands of these. We also have popcorn t-shirts. $20 gets you 1 free 85 oz. popcorn every visit for a year. Each year there is a different design on the shirt and cup and you can only use the current year(or next year if its november and the new cups have just come out). It's kept a LOT of customers loyal, and the per caps aren't bad at all.

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 12-15-2004 12:03 AM

Large Drink - $3.75/$4.00
Large Popcorn - $5.00/$4.75

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Dustin Mitchell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1865
From: Mondovi, WI, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 12-15-2004 01:25 AM

Here a large drink is $3.35 and a large corn is $5.25. A tray of nachos is also $5.25 and another $0.75 for extra cheese.

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Chris Brown
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 105
From: Fairport, NY, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 12-15-2004 02:06 AM

Yea Barry, it is that bad! Granted, the large corn is a 170 oz tub for $5.75, and the large soda is a 44 oz cup for $4.25. Actually at my local theatre here at school (a Hoyts turned Regal), the large corn/large drink combo is $11.75! Only difference being the large cup is 64 oz, not 44. But still...definitely pretty ridiculous. And every other item we sell pretty much follows suit. Like bottled water for example. A 20 oz bottle is $3.50! You can imagine how many people simply walk away after we tell them that.

David, I like the ideas of refill cups and other customer incentives. A few years back, we had the "Regalator" cups (basically same thing as what you described). We didnt have another theatre that close to us, but I still thought it was a good idea. Unfortunately we stopped selling them a few years ago (corportate probably realized they were losing soda sales due to this...god forbid we do something for the customers instead of our bottom line!). But that's Regal for you...

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