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Author Topic: Pop Corn Question ! Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-26-2008 09:38 PM                        quote: Monte L Fullmer Hey Mike - I bet you would love to have that Manley back in a hearbeat...nothing can outdo a Manley when it comes to corn popping. The Manley made good popcorn it's true, but the Cretors outdoes it hands down in a lot of other ways. Easier to clean; easier to use; nicer looking; faster; the Cretors heaters keep the corn better than our Manley ever did; and most importantly: We can get parts for it. As for the popcorn brand name: We switched from Mormac to Orville Redenbacher just so we could put that logo on the wall. Can't beat that name recognition, and the price was about the same.  |  IP: Logged Sean McKinnon Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1712 From: Peabody Massachusetts Registered: Sep 2000 posted 03-27-2008 05:02 PM                        Yeah, Cretors is just covering thier behind because just oil with no seed could cause a flash fire. For insurance reasons I think I would follow it though incase the popper did catch fire and your insurance company investigated it they could try to say that you were not following the directions of the machine.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-27-2008 05:52 PM                        The only time the oil goes in first is on the first batch, when the kettle is cold. After that it's seed first, then oil.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 03-27-2008 06:41 PM                     But, how many, many, many times we've seen people/circuits using the Cretor units by firing up the kettle til it's almost smoking, toss in the seed, then shoot the oil in so they can have a great batch made on the first dump? Who wants to waste a batch by Cretor's instructions even though they have a valid reason to do so ...as mentioned on ins liabilities..?  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 03-28-2008 12:40 AM                        I guess all the popcorn purists here would positively gag, were they exposed to Northwestern drive-ins... and a few indoor houses, too. Seattle's Harlan Fairbanks Co. used to have a HUGE gas-powered air popper, with which they sold pre-popped corn by the 5 pound bag. They brought coconut oil in by rail car, which they used to locally fill containers for theatres and power their own machine. The air-popped corn worked its way up a screen, which filtered out the small stuff & old maids. Oil & seasoning was sprayed on. Then the corn emptied into a big hopper, from which the bags were filled. Believe it or not, that popcorn could sit in a box for a couple of weeks before being warmed in a serving bin. United Drive-Ins of Washington, owned by California's Pacific Theatres, used pre-popped corn exclusively. Only recently have they started popping their own. I know of one indoor theatre that still uses pre-pop. It's not wonderful, but people do buy the stuff. Costco used to stock it... maybe they still do. Somebody mentioned that some theatres pop their corn elsewhere in the building. Our local AMC (formerly a GCC) theatre does this. They have one of those 2-kettle machines on the floor above the lobby. A couple times a week, they do a mass-batch of corn, with which they fill the warmers built into their concessions counter. This may not be as gross as 2-week-old pre-pop, but it wasn't necessarily popped today, either. Yummy!  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 03-28-2008 01:06 AM                     Though all the other AMCs in the Seattle area (the takeovers from Loews-Cineplex) have poppers in the snack bar.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-28-2008 09:27 AM                        There is a small chain here in Montana, Polson Theatres, which has warmers in the counters and does all their popping in back room. They run nice clean operations but I think that's a mistake...popping in front of people is the best way to sell corn, as long as the machine is kept clean.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 03-28-2008 01:34 PM                        quote: Chris Slycord Though all the other AMCs in the Seattle area (the takeovers from Loews-Cineplex) have poppers in the snack bar. That may be, Chris. Over here (30 miles West of Seattle)they just changed the signs & policy strips. Everything else is pretty much as it was when General Cinemas had it.  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 03-28-2008 02:58 PM                     Some of the stands that popped their corn off-site or in another room may not have the 220 outlets in the stand to run a popper with, at least not without calling in an electrician. It also occured to me (I'm slow) that most of the poppers, like the Cretors Diplomat, are set up so the back of the machine can face the customers and thus they can see the popcorn as its being popped, depending on the layout of the stand, of course.  |  IP: Logged Zachary C Washburn Film Handler Posts: 18 From: Peoria, IL Registered: Sep 2005 posted 03-28-2008 04:11 PM                     I think this can all be easily summed up with a single word, "Cornditioner". Thank you Cretors!! If you use a poor quality corn stock and say I don't know canola or any other vegetable oil to cook your corn I would not only suggest throwing out day old popcorn but I would also suggest throwing out your fresh popcorn. It will never taste as good as it should. Not for those using a high quality corn stock and oh lets say a pure coconut oil. You should be able to corndition your popcorn for 2 days easy without a customer discerning the difference. Of course this doesn't mean that you should save and reuse popcorn, but it certainly does help when you have 400 kids lining up in front of the building at 9:00 AM and you are the only to dish it out.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 03-28-2008 08:48 PM                     quote: Jack Ondracek That may be, Chris. Over here (30 miles West of Seattle)they just changed the signs & policy strips. Everything else is pretty much as it was when General Cinemas had it. That's the same in Seattle too. I was just pointing out that the Seattle area has both former GCC's and former Loews-Cineplex's which are all obviously run by AMC. The GCC ones were left much the same as when GCC built them (so poppers separate from snack bar) and the ones that were from Loews or Cineplex Odeon have the poppers in the snack bar.  |  IP: Logged Allison Parsons Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 630 From: East Peoria, IL Registered: Oct 2004 posted 03-28-2008 09:52 PM                        Zak, What theater do you work at?  |  IP: Logged Luci Reeve Film Handler Posts: 50 From: Telluride, CO, USA Registered: Feb 2006 posted 06-27-2008 11:40 PM                        The key (besides the extra low humidity) is thouroughly warming up the corn...if we have any left over corn I turn on the warmer a couple hours before I sell.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 06-28-2008 01:02 AM                        We have a large Rubbermade container that we will fill up at the end of the night so we have something for doing end of the night refills or the customer that strolls to the snack bar an hour after the last show started. What's left over at the end of the night sits in the sealed container over night and is dumped in the popper(s) to start the next day. But keep in mind this left over amount usually amounts to less than 1-2 batches. We're not trying pinch pennies, we just don't see an issue with mixing a small amount of 12 hour old popcorn with the first batches the next day. But we will never use popcorn that is older than last night's closing. Besides, our equipment is designed to dehumidify popcorn, not keep it warm (note there are no doors to keep the heat in and we serve it in an uninsulated container).  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 07-01-2008 04:34 PM                     At the last two theatres where I managed (a single screen and a CineMark) we trashed the corn at the end of the night to keep it fresh.  |  IP: Logged

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