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Author Topic: Self served drinks Kyle Watkins Expert Film Handler Posts: 185 From: Stuart, FL, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 04-21-2004 05:10 PM                     How does the ice work for these self served. Do you have to fill them up. That can be a real pain in the ass. Or do they come with there own ice maker. Im just comparing it to what i see at fast food places. I never see any one ever fill those, of course im not there 24/7. Thomas is correct about the mess with self served. Ever were i go is a mess, and most the tiem they are out of lids, straws, etc. As for the self served butter......What a joke that is dam this dont woke half the time, dam peole put so much butter on, thne come back for a differt bag. it is not worth it. Off the topic. How much, price wise, cost to make, is the with a lage "bag" of popcorn and a large "bucket". Kyle  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-21-2004 06:54 PM                        A large bag probably costs about a nickel. A large bucket costs anywhere from 25¢ to 45¢ depending on the size. Your cost of ingredients is pretty low in comparison. EDIT: We actually pay 27¢ for our biggest size bucket, a 130 oz. Our most popular size is 85 oz, we pay 24¢ for that. By comparison an 85oz bag costs us 9¢, but to me the customer satisfaction, ease of service, and non-leakage of butter is worth the extra 15¢. [ 04-25-2004, 01:14 PM: Message edited by: Mike Blakesley ]  |  IP: Logged Brad Allen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 688 From: Evansville, IN, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 04-21-2004 07:29 PM                     I personally know two owners that do the self serve drink routine. They both think it's great. Speeds flow thru concession line greatly. No problems at all with abuse. Both say it has saved them considerably in labor costs, as one less person is needed than before. Kyle, customers get their own ice as well. Popcorn bags are a pain, and I doubt they are much cheaper in the long run. Takes longer to fill (slows concesion line) because you can't just scoop the container, and people tend to spill them more.  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 04-21-2004 07:52 PM                     The larger machines like the ones in the Celebration photos have ice makers above the fountains. The ice maker part is hidden behind the wall above the fountain.  |  IP: Logged Benjamin J. Kepner Film Handler Posts: 15 From: Muskegon, MI, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 04-21-2004 09:11 PM                     I personally work at Jack Loeks theaters and yes, we do utilize self serve drink stations. We switched to them over a year ago I believe and they actually work quite well. We do run into instances where customers can be quite sloppy and leave large messes, but that is generally with the self serve butter flavoring oil rather than the soda. We do keep a staff member dedicated to keeping the lobby (and the self serve station) clean throughout the weekends when we are busier, and during the week it generally can just be touched up by whoever is passing by. We also switched to bag from buckets less than 6 months ago (we had them a while back and were actually able to switch back to buckets for a couple more years) and as far as I understand on most sizes of the containers the actual cost difference is pennies to nickels if there even is a difference.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-22-2004 01:26 AM                        You must have either been getting seriously ripped off on your bags, or else you have very crappy buckets. I'll get some exact prices (what we pay, anyway) and edit into my above post tomorrow. Large chains may get'em for a lot less than we do, come to think of it.  |  IP: Logged Brad Allen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 688 From: Evansville, IN, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 04-22-2004 03:43 PM                     In my world, I pay .23 cents ea for an 85oz bucket, same size bag would cost .08cents. Now for a 32oz bag, it would be .07 cents. 32oz cup is .08 cents. So the bigger containers is where the price dif increase's.  |  IP: Logged Rob Butler Film Handler Posts: 91 From: Westford, MA, USA Registered: Mar 2004 posted 04-24-2004 04:29 PM                     With the self serv soda towers, they all just have a hopper on top that you dump the ice into (this is only on the ones which have an ice chute instead of the "scoop and fill"). The automated ice makers just sit on top of the hopper and keep it full. As far as self serv butter, you get less complaints about there being too much or too little, but people often put too much on and it leaks through the bottom of the bag, and sometimes we've actually had kids that dump in a pint or so and pour it all over the theater floor.  |  IP: Logged Thomas Procyk Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1842 From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 04-25-2004 12:47 PM                     Butter should be SOLD in individually sealed cups much like some brands of nacho cheese. That way, if they want to make it leak through the bag and onto the floor, it will cost them. I know, wishful thinking. One theater tried charging $0.25 for extra butter, but that just got complaints. The "extra" was never enough for the quarter, and people would get mad when they said "extra extra extra butter!" and they'd charge them $0.75. =TMP=  |  IP: Logged Gary Crawford Expert Film Handler Posts: 200 From: Neptune NJ USA Registered: Nov 2003 posted 04-28-2004 02:14 PM                     With our customers self-serve would be a disaster. A flood of soda and ice all over the floor, and in an area not big enough to add soda towers to the counter. We pop our popcorn fresh and pre-load it into large and small buckets and display them under heat lamps. Butter if they want it, extra butter (and "extra" is a good amount) is a quarter more. Sodas are filled as ordered. We're a small single-screen and so far we haven't had a problem with "too many" customers in line at the concession stand. One worker during weeknights, two on Fridays and Saturdays and it seems to work fine.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-28-2004 04:20 PM                        our Pepsi machine has the sensor-arms so the staff can start an Ex-Large cup flowing, then go fill the popcorn or collect the money or whatever and the flow stops when the drink is full. The hard part is training them not to stand there and watch the drink filling up.  |  IP: Logged Brad Allen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 688 From: Evansville, IN, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 05-05-2004 05:30 PM                     Mike, how did you convince Pepsi to put that type arm in? I tried in the past, and didn't get very far.  |  IP: Logged Scott D. Neff Theatre Dork Posts: 919 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Oct 1999 posted 05-05-2004 06:05 PM                        BRAD: In my dealing with Coke and Pepsi you usually need to prove you can do the volume to support the added expense to the machine. OR just have a nice Pepsi/Coke rep. As far as self serve drinks go, at a few Cinema West Theaters we did full self serve and only self serve. People generally didn't make too much of a mess, nor did kids spend too much time mixing and matching drinks. The biggest problem with this type of setup is with customers walking off with a Large Cup because they want to share their drinks. Explaining to people that they can't have the big cup because it's part of the inventory doesn't go over well. Especially when your alternative to their 32oz cup is a teensy 12oz cup.  |  IP: Logged

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