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Author Topic: Concessions Alternatives - Pretzels etc... Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 02-12-2009 09:53 PM                     I find it odd that selling nuts was gotten rid of because of nut allergies. So a lot of people bought nuts AND forgot that they were allergic to them? I mean, like I understand that allergies are hard to deal with (I'm allergic to dairy so I have to be careful with groceries). But I'm certainly not gonna complain to Whole Foods if I decided to buy some milk. edit: Come to think of it, since nut allergies tend to be really powerful ones you probably had to get rid of them simply because the allergic people breathed the stuff in (and unlike an open-air place like a baseball stadium, the air is a bit more recirculated).  |  IP: Logged Kurt Zupin Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 989 From: Maricopa, Arizona Registered: Oct 2004 posted 02-13-2009 05:48 AM                     We tried peanuts in bags and I think they lasted two months before we stoped with them. We still have some that we just cant sell.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 02-13-2009 11:55 AM                        The main reason I wouldn't want to sell nuts or seeds is because the shells wind up all over the floor - often covered in the person's saliva. To that end, I always feel like shooting those people who smuggle in a bag of sunflower seeds and leave a pile of shells on the floor. As an aside, I love the sound of pistachio shells being swept across the floor.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 02-13-2009 12:10 PM                     ..dang, sounds like people DEFINITELY do live in pig stys and not admit it...  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 02-13-2009 03:59 PM                        Along with other suggestions, I'm curious to know if any theatres have had luck selling "healthy" snack food options. We tried sugar free candy and we could hardly give it away. Even Welch's fruit snacks are not a great seller. We sell a variety of diet sodas and the majority still want the regular diet. We've had some success with caffeine free Diet Coke and Sprite Zero, but Coke Zero doesn't sell and many don't like the Minute Maid Light Lemonade. Every now and then we get someone asking for milk or fresh fruit, but we just don't do the volume to keep a fresh product.  |  IP: Logged Caleb Johnstone-Cowan Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 593 From: London, UK Registered: Mar 2006 posted 02-13-2009 10:51 PM                     I would reiterate what Mike said above about a 'big 3'. I would try to sort out selling hot dogs as well as they make up the 'big 4' in my view. The only reason to diversify from these products would be if you are playing to an older or art-house crowd. Pretzels sound good though. As for ice creams Haagen-Dazs and Ben and Jerrys look and taste good, and have strong branding. We sell the former in small freezers on the back of the stand and the latter has its own 'scoop shop', which is where I spend an unhealthy amount of my working week. We just started selling Red Bull but it is three times the price of outside, so will never do that well. I would go for Relentless or Rockstar as the cans are bigger. The nuts never sell that well. Neither does healthy food. People come to the cinema to escape and that includes from being healthy.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 02-14-2009 01:34 AM                     Course, the real big thing with all of wanting conc alternatives is: how much of this stuff gonna increase my profit margin in the long run? You bring in Caff Free Diet soda and you're gonna wonder how long that one 5gal BIB is gonna stay on the rack before it expires..and we all know that BIB soda prices have really shot through the roof. You bring in some obscure product that your profit margin is so low from the sales and you wonder why you spent the dough to get it in the first place - let along trying to hopefully to sell it while it's fresh and before the freshness expiry date. But, you bring in pickles, buy the 5gal pail of them things and sell them for 75 cents along with having kid shows, that pail of pickles will be gone in a heartbeat...and you got a stack of HDPE pails that you could sell on the side which in themselves are quite valuable for food storage and household usages...or just toss them into recycle being coded with the "2" triangle. Pretzels, microwave hot/corn dogs, burritos, chimis, and the staple nachos have always been great alternative conc items. You bring in every Tom, Dick and Harry's product and you got some inventory to keep a track of along in trying to push it out the door. ..and don't stock up on the candy being that's only 11% of your conc profit. Keep a mininum variety, but don't go all apenuts in bringing every sort of sweet item for it goes back to storage and freshness. BUT, you'd better to RedVines, Milk Duds and Jr.Mints well stocked at all times. If you're gonna test market a product and it goes well, better keep it as a steady item, for it's not fun to 'tease' the patrons with a product that the most of them like and the pull it off the menuboards (like McD's love to do with their McRibs-wonderful sandwiches, but why do they do a limited run on those things..???) -Monte  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 02-14-2009 03:24 AM                        Here's the sales mix on our soda flavors. Coke 29% Diet Coke 19% Sprite 13% Pibb Xtra 7% Cherry Coke 7% Barq's Rootbeer 7% Caffeine Free Diet 3% Fanta Orange 3% Coke Zero 3% Rasp. Iced Tea 2% MM Light Lemonade 2% Iced Tea 2% Sprite Zero 2% Vanilla Coke 1% Hi-C Fruit Punch 1% Diet Soda Mix (30% of all sales) Diet Coke 63% Caffeine Free Diet 10% Coke Zero 8% MM Light Lemonade 7% Iced Tea 7% Sprite Zero 5% We go through about one 5gal BIB of Caffeine Free Diet in a normal month. We use 2.5gal BIB for Vanilla Coke. Generally we don't have much of a problem going through a full BIB before the expire date. In fact, where we had the problem was when we had all of the Cokes hooked up to bag selectors so there was always 2 BIBs connected for each fountain. For what it's worth, our other theatre is in a community with a very high senior population (something like 50% are 50 or older) and a higher than normal religious concentration - with higher than normal LDS and Jehovah's Witnesses concentrations. At that theatre the diet flavors make up about 45% of all sales and the Caffeine Free Diet Coke is about 20% of the total Diet Coke sales.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 02-14-2009 09:17 AM                     quote: Justin Hamaker The main reason I wouldn't want to sell nuts or seeds is because the shells wind up all over the floor - often covered in the person's saliva. To that end, I always feel like shooting those people who smuggle in a bag of sunflower seeds and leave a pile of shells on the floor. They sell nuts sans shells. It'd be extremely dumb to sell them with shells.  |  IP: Logged Chad Souder Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 962 From: Waterloo, IA, USA Registered: Feb 2000 posted 02-14-2009 09:55 AM                     Out of the shell the portion would look so small you would never sell any. The profit comes from it appearing to be a big bag because it is 70% shells. I have never seen peanuts for sale at a theatre or sports park out of the shell unless it was surrounded by chocolate and a thin candy shell. I have seen roasted almonds once somewhere but I think it was a playhouse. If nuts were sellable, more theatres would be doing it. They are not. Stick with cotton candy, pretzels, nachos and possibly hot dogs if you are busy enough.  |  IP: Logged Jack Theakston Master Film Handler Posts: 411 From: New York, USA Registered: Sep 2007 posted 02-14-2009 02:10 PM                     I've seen a number of venues with the 1.75 oz Planters Peanuts (shelled). Likewise, Planters makes shelled sunflowers, and cashews, too. The product amount seems decent, but anyone who thinks peanuts are healthy needs to look at the nutritional info. I agree, though-- shelled is just a stupid idea (and gross, when it comes to sunflower seeds). I'm also not a big believer in ice cream sales, either-- all you need is for some kid to drop it on the floor and then you've got the ice cream AND the chocolate to deal with, not to mention some brat who might chuck it at the screen. Regarding candy, customers seem to go crazy for those cookie dough bites (I think they're disgusting) and Sour Patch Kids over the usual fare. When I was doing concessions, they used to be my top sellers.  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 02-14-2009 03:57 PM                        There was a time when I used to get a small bag of pop corn for about $2.50 and a small soda for about $2.00 but not anymore. Popcorn is over $5.00 but the serving is huge and soda is about $3.00 and come in a larger size. Because of my semi retired status with a fixed income I do my best to budget as much as I can. As a senior citizen, I pay $675.00 for my admission ticket and feel spending an additional $5.00 for popcorn and soda is ok but having to pay almost twice as much is out of the question. I no longer buy anything at the concession stand and usually eat before or after the movie. This is another reason I seldom go to the movies anymore. By waiting about two or three months, I can see the same theatrical movies at home with snacks costing far less than it would at a theatre. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 청주시, 경북도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 02-14-2009 06:33 PM                     I think you moved that decimal a few too many places over. At least I HOPE the SENIOR rate isn't $675!  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 02-14-2009 06:43 PM                        You are right again, Chris My senior ticket price is $6.75 -Claude  |  IP: Logged Aaron Mehocic Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 804 From: New Castle, PA, USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-14-2009 07:01 PM                     quote: Justin Hamaker Along with other suggestions, I'm curious to know if any theatres have had luck selling "healthy" snack food options. We brought in "Taste of Nature" back in 1993 when advertising healthy eating was still more of a novelty than not. It lasted about one year before being chucked. I recall we had yogurt covered raisins, yogurt covered pretzels, dried apricots, and trail mix. The staff ate most of the pretzels and the raisins and apricots were just plain nasty. Profit was less than 1%. Bottled water was also brought in that same year. Customers initially laughed their asses off when they saw that. (Trends tend to reach this part of the country rather late.) Today, the bottled water sales are phenomenal, most especially in the summer, of course. Our location is very much still a "popcorn and soda" stand. Soft pretzels were tried and failed. As did both hot and iced coffees. We never attempted hot dogs - due largely in part to limited space.  |  IP: Logged

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