This is topic Starbucks? in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Nick Catalano (Member # 1296) on 06-03-2002, 08:49 PM:
How many theaters are installing Starbucks Coffee shops inside? Is this a money making oppertunity?------------------
- Nick Catalano
Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 06-03-2002, 08:55 PM:
I know Starbucks is different from regular coffee, but we have tried coffee and other assorted hot drinks and they did not sell hardly at all. And we only get asked if we have coffee a couple of times per year.------------------
Adam Fraser
www.pinestheatre.com
Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 06-03-2002, 09:24 PM:
In our humble single screen, we installed a 2 head coffee machine last year.Last Tuesday we sold 80 cups.
80 x $2.00 = $160.00
cost = approx $20.00
profit from Tuesday $120.00
We spent a month giving away coffee's while we
a - trained/perfected
b - made the customers aware that espresso's were available.
The training is the key. Making a consistantly good coffee is paramount.
This simple excercise cost us bugger all, but the benefits are ongoing.
Don't underestimate the selling power (and profit) of espresso.
Granted some days we will sell under 20 cups.
Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 06-03-2002, 09:31 PM:
I don't think Starbucks is that great, personally. It has a bitter taste.
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 06-03-2002, 09:48 PM:
The appeal of coffee probably depends heavily on the market. Part of the problem is that, unlike soda or bottled water, there can be a huge variation in quality and only regular customers will know if a particular theatre's coffee is worth buying.Hot tea and iced tea are the same way and both seem to be either overlooked or poorly served at most theatres. One place I worked served 'Nestea' iced tea, which came premixed and was quite nasty (i.e. "iced tea done wrong"). I suspect that they could have made a _very_ nice profit on this item if they had taken the time to make it fresh and consistently provide a high-quality product.
Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 06-03-2002, 11:01 PM:
The other advantage is within 10 minutes of opening up I can get a massive jolt of coffee.
I need at least 2 to even come close to being coherant.
Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 06-04-2002, 03:35 AM:
Coffee is a hard concession item to judge. Some days you will sell a ton, and others only one or two cups. But you still have to brew fresh all day long, which means most of it ends up down the drain.The best solution would be to have a single serving brewer, similar to a vending machine set-up (or like they have in some gas station stores) which is consistant and always fresh, but still quick enough to handle large volume.
At the theater i'm at now, we have a complimentary coffee bar. If the coffee is stale, well, at least its free.
Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 06-04-2002, 04:22 AM:
An espresso machine, while not cheap to buy, makes exactly the amount you need.We originally had filter coffee, but was too hard to judge demand.
Call your coffee supplier for any second hand machines available.
Posted by Peter Kerchinsky (Member # 1098) on 06-04-2002, 04:55 AM:
Hey Paul:
I totally agree with you on Starbucks, it tastes bitter! It's like they over roasted the beans. Have you tried SBC out of Seattle. Not bad....and it does not give me heartburn after drinking several cups before I head into the booth.
Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 06-04-2002, 08:05 AM:
Oh I beg to differ Mr. Norwood...Soda taste can vary wildly! How well a machine is set up can affect it, what serving vessel is used can affect it too. Soft drinks in cans (any of them) never takes like it does in bottles or out of a fountain. How often or well a soda tower is cleaned can also have a HUGE affect on soda taste.
Heck even the "bottling companies" don't get their mixes right from batch to batch. Furthermore, you can tell the difference from region to region.
Steve
------------------
"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-04-2002, 01:18 PM:
Oh but Steve, it's not just in the brixing and cleanliness of the soda fountain, but a lot of it is from people who stay on top of changing out the water line filters as well. You can have the most perfectly calibrated machine in the world that is so clean it is sick and have the worst soft drinks all because of a dirty water filter. Also, even just the local water supply can kill a drink. Before I go in to calibrate a head I always check the water filters and if I do not get good results I usually take a stroll over to the water fountain, where I generally find bad water.Also, idiots changing out the BIBs can destroy the taste. There's nothing worse than some brain dead concessionist hooking up Diet Coke into the regular Coke lines and pumping that foul "beverage" syrup through it. It takes a long time for that rancid taste to work it's way out of the lines, and Dr. Pepper and especially Root Beer really do a number on the lines.
Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 06-04-2002, 01:59 PM:
After about ten years of being open, the theater i used to work for had all of its soda syrup lines replaced because everything had a faint "rootbeer" flavor to it. The reasoning that the installer gave us is that the rootbeer syrup is so potent that it can bleed through the line and effectively "stain" other lines just by being in close proximity. Off topic, but: Hooking up the wrong flavor is pretty brain dead, but I've seen somehting even worse! I once had the misfourtune to smell pepsi syrup being pumped into a hot kettle. Some bone-head accidentally hooked up the syrup box to the popper's oil connector. They had the same BIB connector, by bad design.
Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 06-04-2002, 02:02 PM:
Famous Players has them in alot of new plexes here in Canada. Too bad - people would rather have Tim Horton's...
Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 06-04-2002, 04:30 PM:
General Cinema sold Green Mountain coffee (from Vermont) at the Essex Green and Clifton Commons theaters in New Jersey. Don't know if AMC kept the coffee bars after AMC took over GCC.The Reading Cinemas in Manville NJ has had a coffee bar with house blends from the day it opened in May '99.
Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 06-04-2002, 08:12 PM:
I love Starbucks house coffee. Don't know how well coffee would do in a movie theatre though. Seems strange that here in the Pacific Northwest where coffee is a big deal, I haven't seen coffee or espresso in any of the mainstream theatres. Maybe the art houses have it and I just need to broaden my moviegoing horizons. I would think though that the prospect of coffee or espresso being spilled on the carpet and seats would be a concern. Not to mention lawsuits from wacky consumers claiming they were burned because your brew was "too hot". 
Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 4594) on 06-04-2002, 10:07 PM:
We sell Green Mountain Coffee products. Using the K-Cup system (one fresh cup brewed at a time) you can get a variety of flavors and the customers love it because it is FRESH! Fresh is the key to good coffee...well, not the only key but Green Mountain is pretty good. 
We do very well with coffee. About 7% of our customers bought coffee tonight (Tuesday) which is really low for us.