Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Cleaning Popcorn Machines

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Posted by Greg Mueller (Member # 17) on 05-11-2003, 10:49 AM:

What do you use to clean the inside of the popcorn machine?

Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 05-11-2003, 11:24 AM:

Inside the machine itself or just the inside of the kettle?

For the kettle, each manufacture has their own kettle cleaners specially formulated to cleaning the particular metal content of their kettles. Cretors uses steel kettles and Gold Medal uses aluminum kettles. If you're talking about just the cabinet glass and metal trim cleaning then just about any common household spray cleaner/degreaser will work like 409. I've heard some people have used vinegar on the glass, too.

Posted by Greg Mueller (Member # 17) on 05-11-2003, 11:45 AM:

It's a little Cretors "Night Club" It has a steel kettle. When I was first getting used to it, I burned a batch. I had heard about vinegar and so I but some in there to let is soak. Of course I forgot about it and went on vacation and when I came back it was a rusty mess. I just replaced the kettle.
To answer the question I want to clean both the kettle and the glass and stainless sheet metal, but I am concerned about using something that might transfer something toxic to the corn (and me). I tried vinegar on the cabinet, but it really stinks.

Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 05-11-2003, 12:18 PM:

We were closed for the past week and I spent two hours cleaning out our Cretors Hollywood 48.
Here is my process:
Get 2 tsp Cretors Kettle cleaner and mix it with 16 oz water and let it boil for 10 mins, you should be able to get it at a restaurant supply or from a theatre supplier. ( do all this with the lid down)Dont let the solution boil over.
Dump that solution out and then put two more cups of water in the kettle and let it boil for a while then dump that out, repeat until the water doesnt comes our nearly clear.
For the stainless steel we use restaurant stainless steel cleaner and follow the directions for use on food surfaces.

And for glass we use professional strength Windex sprayed onto a piece of paper towel and not directly onto the glass as you can get overspray onto any corn in the machine or onto the freshly cleaned stainless steel.
If you are worried about contamination, just make sure to rinse everything a few extra times to rid of leftover chemicals.

Posted by Lance C. McFetridge (Member # 95) on 05-11-2003, 12:18 PM:

Cretors makes a product called " Cretors Kettle Cleaner". We have great results with it. It removes carbon deposits. You should be able to get it from a dealer. We get ours from Theatre Confections INC. the local cretors dealer. While the kettle is hot, add water, this product, bring to a boil, shut off the heat, allow to agitate, and dump. Very little scouring.
hope this helps
lance

Posted by Dennis Udovich (Member # 1066) on 05-11-2003, 01:47 PM:

Cretor's has a Inside and Outside Kettle Cleaner. Using Inside Kettle Cleaner on a daily basis is best. The Outside Cleaner is okay, but Cretor's now has a new product for burnt on carbon for the outside. Over years of use, black carbon builds up on the outside and especially under the kettle. A new product call Cretor's Carbon Cleaner comes in a spray can. You need to wear gloves and best is to take the entire kettle apart. Spray it on the black carbon and it foams and bubbles. Wash it with soap and water. It's amazing!

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 05-11-2003, 03:01 PM:

Greg, you can get the cleaner from Harland-Fairbanks.

Posted by Bob Peticolas (Member # 328) on 05-11-2003, 07:28 PM:

We use a very caustic cleaner called "Carbon Kleen" by Diablo. We get it at the popcorn machine supply house in El Paso.

We brush it on, leave it sit for 15 minutes to an hour and then wash off. Carbon disapears like magic. Then wash the kettle VERY thoroughly with soap and water.

On a kettle that has been used for years and never cleaned, we left it on over night. The inside was gleaming after washing, [Wink]

well if not gleaming, it wasn't the Seven little dwarves kettle, either. After a few months it is almost carbon free.

Use in an open area or with good ventilation, it is mean stuff, but it works without a lot of elbow grease. Makes cleaning the kettle not fun, but not a pain either.

But, if the kettle is very old and pitted, the pits may get bigger i.e. this stuff may eat some of the metal. It is safe for aluminium but I wouldn't use it on stainless steel.

Posted by Don Furr (Member # 1469) on 05-11-2003, 07:49 PM:

In our theatres we used Creators kettle cleaner for the inside of the cooker BUT our concession folks could only use pure water on the glass. We found it did not leave the "film" that Windex and other cleaners left. Try it...you'll like it.

Posted by Mark Maxwell (Member # 1355) on 05-13-2003, 01:40 AM:

I've had people suggest pickle juice. Don't use that, or vinnager, lemon sleanser, of anything acidic. It can caouse a chemical reaction if there is any aluminum or copper in the metal. It can cause corrosion in the metal, and deffinately effect the way something taystes. That had been on food network several times. Cretors is awsome. They have outside and inside cleaner. Just don't get the two mixed up. If you don't have that right now, any dishwahing liquid that breaks up grease. There are lemon liquids, but I assume they are safe. I actually heard a guy ask one time if it would be quicker to go on and sprinkle some Cretors in the last batch. If you have to ask why that's a bad idea, you need to go back to cleaning theaters like we made this guy do.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 05-13-2003, 07:45 AM:

Victor Products Co., our local concession supplier will pick up our kettles on a regular Friday supply delivery and return them the following week in like new condition--spotless. Thermostats, heaters are checked and replaced as is any missing or broken hardware. Price $79.00 plus parts. If it seems high, consider the time, foul and hazardous chemicals, profanity and the half assed job that ends up, along with the busted parts and poorly operating them. control that will still be there its a deal. See if somebody in you are has this service. You will need an extra kettle or 2 though.

Posted by Tony Ratcliff (Member # 1196) on 05-14-2003, 10:05 PM:

We've used several brands of kettle cleaners, including Cretors.
Of them all Gold Medal's inside and outside cleaners work the best for us.

Posted by Greg Mueller (Member # 17) on 05-15-2003, 09:46 AM:

Thanks for the help, everyone.

Posted by Tom Kroening (Member # 201) on 05-31-2003, 01:41 AM:

I've tried it all... My favorate is the no fume oven cleaner stuff. It works just like those carbon removers except you don't have to breathe that crap in. Of course you have to let it sit and it still is pretty messy. I've toyed with buying a professional pressure steam cleaner but the high PSI triggared ones start at around $600... man that cleaner would do wonders on the grout too!

Posted by Travis Hubrig (Member # 1745) on 06-07-2003, 05:38 PM:

When it gets cleaned, BE THERE! Have your best employee or yourself clean it...

Once upon a time, Our concession attendants started the process of cleaning the inside of our ONLY kettle... Blah cups of water, Blah tbsp of Cretors inside kettle cleaner. The turned the heat on, Me and another Manager went across the street for dinner. 15 min after we left we had the other Manager call us to let us know 'The Theatre is on FIRE'
Turns out it was just our popcorn machine, and a quick acting cashier saved the entire mall. The solution boiled down and one of the workers reached over the controls and bumped the oil pump.
Oil into smoldering kettle = FIRE. We lost a Cretors Headliner, the confidence in the Manager on Duty, and all respect throughout the mall.
P.S. We had an assistant training a new concessionist on the process when it happened. The asst. was in the concession the entire time. We got our dinner cold.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 06-08-2003, 09:18 AM:

Friday, one of our resident morons managed to short-circuit our Cretors popper. Saturday = NO POPCORN!! I was told he splashed water on it/in it when cleaning and it got to the wiring. Boy, those auditoriums are sure easy to clean when you don't sell popcorn!! [thumbsup]

Just curious, who is responsible for cleaning your popcorn machine at your location? At our place, the GM makes it the projectionist's job to do the ice, change the soda bibs, sweep the floor, empty the trash and clean the popcorn machine. By the time this is all done, all the movies are out and it's time to go, leaving any booth cleaning (including projectors!) un-done. [Frown]

=TMP=

Posted by Travis Hubrig (Member # 1745) on 06-08-2003, 03:44 PM:

It sounds like your projectionists have a lot of work...
We close our concession 30-40 min after the last show starts.
The concessionists clean up and restock everything.
My projectionists clean in the booth and do show checks.
Our projectors getted cleaned and wiped out a couple times a day sometimes.

Why don't your concession attendants clean the concession stand?
Does anyone clean your projectors?

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 06-09-2003, 04:35 PM:

The GM's reasoning is that the concession employees are kids, and have to leave by 11pm, and thus don't have enough time to clean the machine. However, night after night, they all stand around and watch me clean it while their drawers are being counted... sometimes up to three of them... while I do it all by myself and get done with it before 11. But it's a losing battle.

Nobody cleans our projectors except me, whenever I have a free moment. Sometimes, they don't get cleaned for weeks. [Frown]

=TMP=

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 06-09-2003, 05:21 PM:

Have you tried to reason with him by explaining to him the money he would save on problems with the projectors by keeping up proper maintenance? Maybe if he thought he would save money, he could let the employees clean the popper while they were waiting for the other employees next to them to be counted out and be more likely to let you do your maintenance cleaning... Sometimes $$$ is the answer! [Smile]

Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 06-10-2003, 10:08 AM:

Travis said

quote:
We close our concession 30-40 min after the last show starts.

At most theatre's i have worked for we close 20 minutes after the last show. I can't imagine staying open any longer.

Thomas, is your popper located upstairs? One theatre I worked for had the popper upstairs and the projectionist popped all the corn and clean it.

My advice is to keep the theatre part time and look for another job, after what you have told me about that place i'd run away. You are taking on more responsibilities than your job calls for.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 06-10-2003, 10:41 AM:

quote:
One theatre I worked for had the popper upstairs and the projectionist popped all the corn and clean it.

Wow! What a brilliant idea! This must explain the prints that I've gotten that have popcorn grease all over them! [puke]

Just out of curiousity, was this a GCC theatre? They seemed to like to have the popcorn machines on the second level for some reason that I've never understood. I've never heard of them expecting projectionists to pop the corn, though.

Thomas, I agree with William--can't you find some other theatre that might be interested in hiring someone who cares, rather than staying at one which obviously isn't interested in quality presentation or in keeping their good employees happy? This industry is terribly messed up; there are definitely some good employees and some good employers, but both sides seem to have a difficult time finding one another.

Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 06-10-2003, 02:05 PM:

Yeah Scott, it was GCC, to be honest the projectionist kept the popper spotless. The cleanest popper I have ever seen.

It made no sense to me(popper kept upstairs), when we ran out of popcorn, we had to find a manager get the keys because the booth door was locked, run upstairs, open the booth door and enter the popper room and get the popcorn bags. It took way to much time, when you had a line with 25 customer waiting for you.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 06-10-2003, 05:58 PM:

Rachel -- It's a her, and no, there's no reasoning with her. The woman wrote up the whole staff the other day because they had eaten a bag of candy (a kind we do not sell) that some customer left in the lobby the night before... "What if they came back for it?!?!" [Roll Eyes]

Our popper is downstairs in the concession stand where it and the popcorn jockeys belong! [thumbsup]

Scott -- The theater IS just a part-time job, (although I had to argue that fact when I was scheduled 42 hours in 5 days once...) and believe me, I'm looking!! I gotta have at least ONE film-related job [Smile]

=TMP=

Posted by Travis Hubrig (Member # 1745) on 06-15-2003, 10:50 AM:

William,

We close our box office and front doors 15 min after the last feature starts... The concessionists begin closing shortly after. We have too many customers come out while they are closing, so they keep one till open until the entire stand is completely clean and taken down. We have had nights busy enough that a manager or projectionist would stay in the concession stand until the last movie is over... mostly with free refills, but many times they are working anyway and we can sell an additional $50.