Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Where to get bulk pre-popped popcorn

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Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 11-15-2003, 06:45 AM:

I got an ultimatum this week from my General Manager. You have a choice for popcorn for movie engagements: 1) Popcorn in bulk -- those large garbage bags that you can empty into the popcorn machine to LOOK like you have fresh popcorn, or 2) UTZ single portion size packeged popcorn, or 3) no popcorn at all.

Seems he thinks popping fresh popcorn is too work-intensive for our concessions staff. I refrain from pointing out that 4000 theatres across the country have figured out how to do this and still make money and if he can't make it work, then perhaps he should get out of the theatre business, but of course I didn't.

So now I am trying to find a supplier for the bulk stuff. At least that can be kept warm in the popper (remove the kettle and plug in a bunch of heat lamps). And you can add butter to it which should help the taste a bit. Anything is better than the mylar bags that Utz uses for packaging. When we ran THE HOURS, in all the quite sections (which was most of the movie) all you could hear was the crinkling of those little bags.

If anyone knows of a good supplier of half-way decent tasting bulk popcorn, please give a shout.

Frank

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 11-15-2003, 07:23 AM:

Make sure you get everyone you know to complain to him that they liked the popped popcorn better when the switch happens, if you can't come up of a way to prevent it.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 11-15-2003, 11:54 AM:

The only one that I know of is Harlan Fairbanks Co. out of the Seattle area. Shipping would probably be prohibitive, but they might be able to point you in the right direction.

I've bought a few things from Sanarak supply in Buffalo, but I don't know if they do pre-pop.

Sorry to see you having to deal with this. The indoor I recently reopened didn't have a popper. I brought popcorn in from the drive-in every day. Even though the corn was literally new (compared to pre-pop), people would see our warmer & no popper, and would accuse us of selling stale corn. Our corn sales went up 300% the day I rolled my new Diplomat in.

Posted by Richard C. Wolfe (Member # 431) on 11-15-2003, 05:00 PM:

Frank,

You can get prepop popcorn from GOLDEN SNAX POPCORN through either of the following. D & R Concession at 103 Godwin Avenue Midland Park, NJ Phone number 1 800 603-0380 and ask for Don, or at Continental Concession Supplies, Inc. 202 Atlantic Avenue, New Hyde Park, NY phone number 516 739-8777. I think that it is excellent popcorn.

When I had my twin theatre in the mall we popped our corn there fresh every show, while my downtown single screen used prepop.My patrons for the most part went to both theatres, and I could never understand why I was often told that the popcorn was better at the downtown location. We did not prepop for the downtown theatre at the mall. We purchased prepop from a supplier. We purchased the raw corn for the mall theatre from the same supplier. Sometimes when the downtown house was extremely busy and corn was running short we would have the mall theatre pop some for us and deliver it to us within the hour. It was never the same, the prepop was always preferred by my customers, even though they didn't know that it was prepop.

I think the problem with a lot of theatres that use prepop is that they leave the corn in the warmer overnight and it gets stale. We always start with fresh unopened bags, and it is fine.

I have since closed the mall location, but have kept the downtown single. The area could only support one or the other, and the old downtown house is much nicer then the mall house was. It is certainly unusual in this day and age to make the dicision in that direction, but my patrons much prefer it that way as well.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 11-16-2003, 12:17 AM:

I will second Jack's comment.

Frank, check with your concession supplier...There has to be a few companys that will supply it ion your area.

Only drawback with that pre-popped stuff - shelf life. Old stock gives the impression of chewing on rubber gloves.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 11-17-2003, 01:09 AM:

Ed Jurich & I were at a rep theater that used pre-popped popcorn from a local vendor. Before the doors opened, the manager dumped some in the popper, & popped 1 bowl on top to get the popcorn smell going. That olfactory cue is the thing which stimulates what you're going for, *selling* the popcorn. It was very effective.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 11-17-2003, 06:30 AM:

No doubt the smell's the thing. In a theatre that I worked in Brian-College Station, TX when I was Josh Jone's age, the owner was always showing me his "tricks of the trade," and once he showed me a spray can of what he called money magic. The manufacture called it Pop-A-roma, but I think Mr. Schulman's name was more accurate. One day he demonstrated how it worked to me. He went to the back of the theatre and sprayed the can in the air for only a few seconds, waving his arm around just like you do air freshener; within 10 minutes, no matter if it was in the middle of the movie, patrons would come pouring out looking to buy popcorn. I was quite impressed.

In another theatre, the manager placed a fan on one side of the popper so that it would blow the scent of the popping corn out into the lobby. That was pretty effective also.

I've been looking for Pop-A-roma for years, but can't find it anywhere. I suppose if it is no longer manufactured, someone with a little capital could make quite a killing with a product like that.

Posted by Dave Macaulay (Member # 813) on 11-17-2003, 09:47 PM:

I think the difference with prepop is quality control. With any on-site popper there are quite a few ways the staff can vary the popcorn to fit their personal taste.
I checked the Cretors website looking for some replacement Diplomat parts and found out what a big popping machine looks like. They make the largest theatre model I've ever seen look like a toy.
Presumable the bulk operators have researched the cooking and flavouring that folks on average actually want, and control the process to deliver it.
I know a few locations that use prepop and if they reheat it properly and don't let it go stale it's as good as any just-popped I've found - and I don't get a batch made by some salt-addicted moop that decided to use double the amount of flavouring.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 11-17-2003, 11:35 PM:

Years ago, we had a major concession supplier (Harlan Fairbanks Co.), which was located near the railroad tracks between Seattle and Ballard (North Seattle). I must have been around 11 or 12 when I first saw the place... and that was back when dirt wasn't old.

Harlan Fairbanks produced bulk pre-pop in 4 or 5 pound bags... several of them packed in large cardboard boxes. One of the theatres I grew up with used it (and still does). Some drive-ins in the Seattle area also did. They also produced specialty products... caramel and various other flavored corn, packaged in single-serve bags.

The popper they used was a huge gas-fired air popper that was housed in its own section of the warehouse. The output of this thing ran through a rotating cylinder of close-meshed wire, to filter out the small stuff. Then, the corn was sprayed with coconut oil, which was shipped on rail tankers & kept in heated underground tanks there (they also packed & sold the 40 pound "Vo-Pop" tins for the rest of us). Some seasoning was also included. Finally, the finished corn was conveyored into a big elevated container with a chute at the bottom. A worker would put the top of an empty popcorn bag under the chute & press a foot pedal.... which would drop a measured amount of popcorn into the bag. A twist-tie finished the process & the bag was packed into a cardboard box for shipping.

The company was moved, then sold, then picked apart by a company that was more interested in selling hot dogs to the King Dome than concessions to theatres. They sold their pre-pop through Costco for awhile, but I think that ended some years ago, when the company folded into their parent, PAC Concessions, which also eventually hit the skids up here. Harlan Fairbanks is back, but a shell of what it once was. The massive popper is no longer part of the company, either, though someone in the local area is still producing pre-pop for those who still need it.

Posted by Glenda Cockrum (Member # 542) on 12-03-2003, 12:59 PM:

If you are still trying to convince him to pop in house, remark on how much space pre pop takes! That's a lot of cubic feet of popcorn! You also need a secure, clean, and humidity wise stable area to store pre pop. And how often can you get deliveries, every day, once a week, on demand? How quickly can they get product to you on short notice?

Suppliers, try your local ballpark/ stadium food suppliers. Here in Pittsburgh TriState Snack Foods is my raw corn supplier and they also bulk pop for all the local sports venues, excellent product, great people. And if he still insists on pre pop, don't get rid of the kettles, try popping 1-2 batches once you have loaded in the pre pop, and mix it in. This helps heat the pre pop up and spreads that wonderful aroma around. I pop at least one batch just before opening the doors each show, just watch the sales go up!

Good luck!

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 12-03-2003, 01:39 PM:

Stupid things that will kill you in the Exhibition Industry:

1. Pre-popped popcorn
2. Sticky Floors
3. Scratched Prints
4. Dirty Bathrooms
5. Broken Seats
6. Mono Sound
7. Insufficient light on the screen
8. Rude Employees
9. Burnt out light bulbs
10. Deferred Maintenance
11. Owners trying to save a buck!

Popcorn is the #1 profit center of the theatre and the concession stand. Why fuck with it?

Here's a short term way for you to increase your income. Buy the popper yourself, pop corn for the theatre, and sell him the Pre-popped popcorn at a proper markup. This way you will have a nice nest egg to A) find a new job when the theatre tanks or B) a nice down payment to take over the lease of the theatre, when the theatre tanks.

Didn't anybody learn anything in the '80s?

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 12-03-2003, 02:56 PM:

Didn't you hear? The '80s are back in fashion again. [Big Grin]

Jeez, Ian, get with the times and put on a polo shirt.

Posted by Blake Zaugg (Member # 1455) on 12-03-2003, 10:41 PM:

Is there another theater nearby that would pop some bags for you?

Last week we pre-bagged and supplied popcorn for the tree lighting ceremony in our downtown. Enough popcorn for 1500 people.

We've also started marketing bulk popcorn sales to local schools, youth groups and businesses.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-04-2003, 03:12 AM:

Ian, evidently pre-popped can taste pretty good from what Richard C. and William are saying. And our operation would seem to lend itself to pre-popped because we don't run 7 days a week. We only do "CinEvents" which are marketed as special events in between the live theatre. So we would only need enough to cover our two day run and then we would hopefully have it mostly sold and dump what is not sold. We wouldn't be buying for weeks or months of operation. And our House Manager usually is pretty good at hitting the mark on approximately how much of anything to buy so we don't have too much waste. So it's not like we will have huge amounts of the stuff around for days on end -- not long enough even to get stale.

I'll look into the suppliers you guys have mentioned. Will let you know what happens.

Oh, and just yesterday I got two emails about how distracting the mylar foil bags of Utz single serve popcorn were during all those silent sections of 2001, which we just ran with Keir Dullea as a guest speaker....how embarassing They said it sounded like a sea of tin was rippling across the theatre.

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 12-04-2003, 12:43 PM:

Adam, I'm wearing a Polo Shirt. [Big Grin]

Posted by Tom Holland (Member # 1254) on 12-07-2003, 10:59 PM:

Frank,

FYI, Pop-A-Roma was banned by the FDA in the Seventies. They discovered it was a sexual stimulant.

--Tom.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-07-2003, 11:30 PM:

It was a sexual stimulant? No wonder I loved hanging out at the popcorn stand between reels. Figures.... the minute something is discovered to give sexual pleasure, leave it to politicians to ban it.

So the FDA takes decades to ban carciogenic pesticides that get into the food supply and spend hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to determine what amount is an "acceptable risk," but along comes a sexual stimulant and BOOM, it is off the market in a heartbeat.

Damn those Republicans. [Wink]

And PS -- Ian, you can take prepopped popcorn off the top of your list of things that will bring down a business. Everyone knows that sex sells and is always good for business. Now we find out that pre-popped with a little aresol sex stimulant is what kept them coming back for more. More of what is the question!

Posted by Nicholas Suchyta (Member # 2050) on 12-13-2003, 07:41 PM:

Last year our theatre decided to switch from popcorn tubs to the bags. Managment thought that this would help with cost cutting as we are a single screen semi-live venue. But as you all well know, managment doesn't always see both sides of the issue. I can't count the number of times that people have left and complained about the noise that they make. Even the live performers have commented about the noise while they were speaking. Oh well, wish we could change back.

Posted by Nathan Guerriero (Member # 1214) on 12-15-2003, 03:32 AM:

I would just like to echo the earlier statements about getting another theatre to pop the corn for you. This might be even easier since you are open semi-regularly: you won't have to worry so much about delievery schedules, turnover etc.

I run a struggling independent theatre and I would be thrilled if someone (even another theatre operator) wanted to buy bulk popcorn from us.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 12-15-2003, 02:05 PM:

quote:
our theatre decided to switch from popcorn tubs to the bags.

We also thought about that, but trashed the idea very shortly after buying our first case of bags.

The individual cost of each bag is less. However, our customers really like the fact that we "layer" the butter topping & shake it up to spread it around. That's not easy to do with a bag (the tubs have "lips" on the bottom that you can hang onto).

It has been an issue that comes up periodically, as we look for ways to make things more efficient. Those pre-loaded warmers & "do it yourself" topping stations look interesting on the surface... but pre-filling the bags means the customer would have to make an extra trip or two out of the auditorium in order to get topping throughout. At the drive-in, I'd guess most people would just deal with it, rather than make extra trips to the snack bar for topping.

In the end, we've stayed with the tubs. The employees get the bags (freebies).

Posted by Nicholas Suchyta (Member # 2050) on 12-15-2003, 03:52 PM:

I agree with you Jack, our customers liked the layered butter too, but of course the bags just dont allow for it. One of these days i know we will make the switch, it just hasnt happened yet.

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 2038) on 12-16-2003, 02:28 PM:

A local indie newspaper recently did a "contest" of the local theatres. The monsterplexes didn't get good marks overall (they recommended patrons of one to see matinees or early evening shows because the gang wars started after 9 PM). We are the only single-screen left, and we pop our own nightly, and we got "A" marks on everything, except that they said we had a "musty aroma, but we were old, so that was okay."

We save some from the night before and mix it in with today's fresh popped, and we use real butter. Remember that stuff? REAL!

One indie I worked for years ago actually vented the popcorn machine chimney into the auditorium with small fans. We laughed at this idea, until we saw just how much popcorn he sold! That idea worked well.

Myself, I love the fresh popped stuff that's warm from being popped, not from heat lamps. Plus of course the real butter. I don't care much for the yellow Styrofoam some of the other houses sell. Did they ever taste that stuff themselves? Yuck.

Posted by Joe Schmidt (Member # 822) on 12-31-2003, 01:07 AM:

[Big Grin]

MY FAVORITE POPCORN RECIPE [Big Grin]

1. Melt 1/4 pound of Real Butter in a large Pyrex cup: microwave 2 minutes.

2. Cook one bag of Orville Redenbacher's Ultimate Butter in microwave: Set 3minutes, 22seconds, push button.

3. Add some popcorn to the Pyrex cup, about 2/3 full. Stir with large tablespoon so that popcorn is saturated with butter.

4. Proceed to the LazyBoy chair, settle in and start the DVD. Eat the popcorn with spoon so fingers don't get buttery. The cup can be refilled with popcorn about twice before the butter runs out.

5. My question for the group here is, Am I using enough butter or should there be more?
[uhoh]

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-31-2003, 10:38 AM:

More or less butter is up to you but I think you should clarify your butter before putting on the popcorn so you don't get that "gloppy junk" all over.

When your butter is melted let it settle for a while. The whitish-colored "curd" will float to the top. Skim this off and toss it. Use the clear yellow liquid that's left over.

Your popcorn will tase better and you won't get that soggy shit in the bottom of your bag.