my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Ground Level   » Parade Magazine and sneaking in snacks. (Page 2)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: Parade Magazine and sneaking in snacks. Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-17-2008 02:00 PM                        Mike, Justin's got it right. You let people carry in a supply of Big Macs and crap and you are telling everyone else that it's ok. You have a no outside food policy but you let the customer ignore it, i.e., it's ok for anyone who wants to to break it (and any other policy they may want to ignore). That WILL eventually deminish your concessions bottom line because you are in effect telling everyone, come on in, folks, and bring in your own catered dinner. You have half your audience chomping down on their Third Angus Burges and frys and you're concessions per cap will be in the dumpster, to say nothing of the cost of cleaning up all the extra packaging garbage that comes in with that outside food. There are a lot of rules that we have which may piss off this or that customer, but that doesn't mean we just say let them ignore which ever ones they want because we are afraid they might not come back. Hey, Target, Lowes, maybe Home Depot, I'm not sure, and IKEA have a 'no outside food allowed in the stores policy' (IKEA I think because they have their own restaurant). And they don't have any problem making people finsh whatever food stuffs or drinks they have in their fat stubby fingers before they are allowed into the store. Doesn't seem to bother them if the customer is pissed or not.  |  IP: Logged John Walsh Film God Posts: 2490 From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way Registered: Oct 1999 posted 07-17-2008 05:48 PM                     When I suggest not to make a big deal out of 'outside' food, I'm talking about sneaking in snacks, a can of soda, etc. If someone tries to bring a big bag of smelly chinese food, a large pizza, etc., in that case, yes, they should be stopped.  |  IP: Logged Alex Rolfe Film Handler Posts: 37 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 07-18-2008 09:50 AM                        There's also the issue of cleanup. If a customer spills food or drink they bought from us, well, at least we got something out of it. But their own food...I get really grumpy picking up someone's nasty burrito wrapper or mopping up their coffee.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-18-2008 05:10 PM                        quote: Frank Angel Mike, Justin's got it right. You let people carry in a supply of Big Macs and crap and you are telling everyone else that it's ok. I can't speak for the others, but when I said "it's no big deal," I meant that it's not that big of a problem. IOW, maybe one out of a hundred people might carry in a water bottle or something. But we don't allow outside food of any type past our doors, nor do we allow full unopened bottles of pop (that we catch).  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-20-2008 03:35 AM                        It really is a matter of perception on the part of the patrons. DIs have an especially hard time because people are coming in in their cars which they do perceive as an extention of their home, which of course is sacrosanct -- their home is their castle while their car is their castle away from home. The don't believe anyone can tell them what they can do in their car. Also, the DI has a kind of picnic atmosphere which is one of its alluring charms, which is why it can be difficult changing that perception. On the other side of the coin -- and here is where perception is incredibly powerful -- when people come to our Performing Arts theatres, believe it or not, our policy is that are actually not allowed to bring the food that they just bought at the concessions into the theatre. They have to stand at one of the many small table all over the grand lobby and eat what they've purchased at those tables. And this they don't complain about because it is done at all the other major performing arts centers -- the only exception to this rule is that they are allowed to bring in bottled water purchased from our concessions. The amazing thing is that they seem to have no problem with this. Me, I would be kicking and screaming.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 07-20-2008 07:07 AM                        I go pretty much with Mike here. Most of the resistance we got at our indoor came from the fact that all of our local houses had "no outside food" stickers on their doors... but we were the only ones enforcing it, and the customers knew it. I've never much cared for how theatres tie their concessions to the customer experience. Expecting a customer to support the concessions after buying a ticket is risky, since there really is no obligation to do so. It's worked better for me to encourage what really is an optional purchase on the part of the customer, but not to focus on it as the tipping point of my survival. As such, we'd explain that whether the customer chose to purchase from the snack bar was his option... but we didn't want outside food, containers or cleanup inside the building. Given the lack of enforcement from the chains, this was a problem we never totally solved. In any case, having a national publication encourage the practice would definitely get me writing letters. Sneaking into the drive-in is another of those "traditions" that seems to be an ongoing part of our life here!  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 07-20-2008 09:58 AM                        Just like the drive in policy of "no outside food or beverage": you have the absolute right to determine your company's rules. Likewise, the customer has the absolute right to stay away or comply. Really quite simple. BTW: there is NO place that charges admission that allows food & drink in, except drive ins. No, not the Derby, the Indy 500, football, baseball, basketball, plays or concerts. Not even Little League anymore. Louis  |  IP: Logged John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 07-20-2008 08:16 PM                     Good point, Louis. If people want to eat outside food or drink, then they have the option to eat it outside the theater. I have heard many stories of people being stopped by our ticket takers and raising a fuss about our policy (No outside food or drink), which is clearly posted at both the box office and autitorium entrances. Clearly, complainers always want our managers to make an exception for them. Reasonable people will always finish their refreshment and then go in. Unreasonable people will bitch and moan in the hope that our managers will eventually give in. What part of the word "NO" do they not understand?  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 07-20-2008 09:48 PM                        quote: Louis Bornwasser BTW: there is NO place that charges admission that allows food & drink in, except drive ins. Yah... this is an ongoing discussion, pretty much anywhere drive-in owners congregate. There are a couple of problems here. The obvious one, for those who want to stop the practice, is that it has been acceptable practice, at least up until the past 5 years or so. The debate has been spirited, and for the most part, fairly civilized, given that drive-in owners have strong opinions on most everything... and this is no different. The other problem is with the customers themselves. They'll find a way to rationalize any behavior they choose to bring in with them... and outside food is no different. "Excuse me... you can't run your barbecue here"... "well... I did last year"... "If you did, it was only because we didn't catch you. Maybe you didn't notice the sign that's right next to the poster you used to select your show tonight... the one that says "No cooking on drive-in property"?... It's been there for 10 years." ... "Why, no... I didn't see that"!!!! Now, we're being compared to state parks, where you can cook... so that's the latest stretch. There are too many angles to this argument, and we've all polished our respective approaches. We're all correct in our thinking, naturally!  |  IP: Logged Mark Lensenmayer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1605 From: Upper Arlington, OH Registered: Sep 1999 posted 07-21-2008 10:26 AM                     Just for the record, the Target store 200 yards from an AMC 24 plex has a large display of "Movie Theater Candy" near the checkouts. Prices are about 1/3 of what the theatre charges. And, to make it easy for Ohio State students, one of the free bus stops from campus is right next to the Target store!  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-21-2008 02:21 PM                        Yeah, I long for the good old days when the only place you could buy the "theatre sized" candy was in....theatres! Of course theatres used to be the only place you could see a movie, too. (That was better as well.)  |  IP: Logged Luci Reeve Film Handler Posts: 50 From: Telluride, CO, USA Registered: Feb 2006 posted 07-24-2008 05:14 PM                        Does it really affect your bottom line?  |  IP: Logged Daniel Wright Expert Film Handler Posts: 163 From: Okmulgee, Ok , USA Registered: Oct 2003 posted 07-26-2008 11:50 PM                     There used to be a Dollar store in the Prominade Mall in Tulsa. Which sold big bags of pre popped popcorn. I saw more then one customer munching away on it in the movies. Since the theatre is inside the mall they can't stop you from bringing in shopping bags. After the store closed I always wondered if the theatres management put pressure on the malls owners to get rid of it.  |  IP: Logged Andrew Bangs Expert Film Handler Posts: 148 From: Kerrville, Texas, United States Registered: Sep 2008 posted 09-07-2008 02:14 AM                        My favorite is when they try to bribe us by offering us some. At that point I just stand their stone faced and say no thank you now please either finish it put it in you car or throw it out. However every now and again they sneak it by our ushers who at times could be considered "special" and then while cleaning the theaters find a "present" left behind. My example being two separate times, once they brought in a six pack of Corona and left 4 full unopened bottles. That was a good night after closing. And the other was, not one but, two bottles of wine plus 4 plastic wine glasses. One bottle was left unopened and the other was half full. The kicker is both times they were the only people in the theatre and they were semi regulars. So we knew them the next time they came in. Unfortunately since it was alcohol we had to ban them from the theatre. That and for being so stupid. Boy you gotta hate banning Regulars like that. On the other end of the spectrum I was cleaning a theatre one slow afternoon and was disgusted when I found a Jiffy pop bag under one of the seats. I did a double take however as stuffed inside the jiffy pop bag was one of our small pop corn bags. I guess they had to maintain an image for their friends or something.  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.