This is topic Cafeteria Style Concession in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Matt Kerekes (Member # 2777) on 02-25-2006, 09:28 AM:
Does anyone have any information on cafeteria style concession stands? I know that they raise per cap which is a plus, but what about the operational costs, inventory control issues, etc.? Are they worth it, where can I do research?
Posted by Jeff Arellano (Member # 3249) on 02-25-2006, 06:14 PM:
While I was at AMC, we had two cafeteria style-concessions (aptly named "self service".
Issues that arose from them:
- Theft. People always had ways to steal something. Especially Cheese Cups and Drink Cups.
- Cleanliness. If it wasnt cleaned all the time, no one would go to it. Usually the person behind the register couldnt clean, so it would have to be maintined by someone else.
- Maintenance. Remember, these were the early days (early 90s) so maintenance of the machines cost more than that of the normal concession.
Cost efficent, depends on the size of operation. Century seems not to have issues wiht theirs. AMC ultimately got rid of the three they had in Los Angeles (Burbank 14 was converted to a regular stand, Montebello 10 and Pine Square 16's were closed, and unused for years, before ultimately becoming part of the main concession stand after remodel)
Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 02-25-2006, 07:59 PM:
Operated correctly, they generate larger percaps than a standard bar, and, for a busy megaplex, can do so with less staff. You do haev to keep them clean and you do have to keep an eye out for theft, but, overall, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.
Posted by David Kilderry (Member # 142) on 02-26-2006, 07:35 AM:
Self serve came in as the new thing in the 1970's here, it was the way to higher sales as patrons would just grab more than they wanted. Drive-ins and hardtops everywhere changed over to cafeteria style.
Over time we learnt a number of things: Theft was always a problem, health depts frowned on it as patrons would grab food and then put it back or worse, open it up, you are unable to suggestive sell or upsell drinks and popcorn, you cannot control the speed of the transaction.
Our theatre changed back to counter style service, after changing to cafeteria style in the 1970's, like most theatres in this part of the world. With counter service you can control the transaction; suggest better value and prompt the customer into a decision. With self service, particularly at the drive-ins, customers would slowly choose their items and others would have to wait behind them. No matter how many cashiers you had, they were often waiting as the customer line was banked up.
The only self serve areas here today are for bulk candy areas where customers choose from various sweets and shovel them into bags; they make a mess, handle the sweets and steal!
Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 03-01-2006, 05:23 AM:
Matt,
Century Theatres perfected the use of the Cafeteria Style concession stand. You may want to check their website or find someone who used to work for them (Lakeland - hint hint)and ask them about it.
Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 06-11-2009, 04:43 PM:
It has been 1198 days since the last post.
Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 06-11-2009, 04:43 PM:
I'd love to resurrect this topic for a moment if I may...
I've always found the cashier+support to be the fastest way to serve a hefty line (sold out shows especially) in a reasonable period of time before the film starts.
To that end I've always trained my staff to have, at each station, a cashier that's responsible for everything in reach. Typically this is their register, candy, and soda.
The support is responsible for popcorn, hot dogs, nachos, bottle drinks, basically the back counter.
This way, the more time consuming items (typically popcorn or nachos) are being handled while the transaction is being worked by an attendant that never turns their back on the customer.
The biggest problem I've seen is when you have too many people in line at once and simply cannot serve enough of them before show time. Some folks pass on snacks altogether because the line is too long. This is when per-caps sag. Not because people aren't buying more but because more people aren't buying.
Could be a problem with a cafeteria style line.
With a belly-up on the same number of registers you have the potential for 3 transactions taking place at once.
But with 3 transactions going you have multiple people going for the same items. 2 share a soda tower, 3 share 2 poppers, everything else is single.
The main difference is who's leading the line. The supports or the cashiers. Which is ultimately faster?
I know my opinion but I'd like to know what FT thinks about it.
In a situation where you have a really small counter with only 3 cash registers and 2 soda fountains serving rushes of up to 200 guests at a time which way, do you all think, is faster?
1.) Cafeteria style where you have a 2 or 3 supports and 1 or 2 cashiers. In my mind when you have more than 2 supports you assign them stations. One is popcorn, dogs, nachos, the other is soda, ice cream, etc.
2 or so supports prepare the orders and hand them off to be cashed while they fulfil the next order.
The flaw I've heard in certain small locations is that you can't go any faster than the slowest customer so if you have only 1-2 cashiers and a slow customer or two the line comes to a grinding halt and backs up.
I fail to see how this is any worse than having single cashiers backed up with 1 or 2 slow guests.
2.) Belly-up where you have up to 3 cashiers taking, filling, and cashing orders. Often with a support that's grabbing their popcorn or dogs, etc.
The advantage is more simultaneous transactions. The disadvantage is less counter space for service so if the cashier(s) are tied up the supports can't start the next order in line. And of course those simultaneous transactions take longer -- if for no other reason than the cashier having to change tasks multiple times -- getting back to the key pad, etc.
What do you think, FT?
How do you move 'em out without bizarre herding tactics?
Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 06-11-2009, 05:25 PM:
We have a belly up snack bar with four stations. Each station has it's own soda fountain with each having a head of coke, sprite, and diet. The other flavors exist on only certain fountains, but as they are ordered less frequently it's not a major issue to have the cashier go to the next fountain.
When we are very busy, I will typically have one casher per station and one person to back-up two stations. Any more than that and it's just too crowded in the snack bar area.
The one advantage I can see to a cafeteria style snack bar is that people who are just getting candy or bottled water can get through much quicker. And I think many people are more tolerant of waiting when they are serving themselves. Of course my theatre isn't busy enough to justify cafeteria style.
I have mixed thoughts on the self serve soda fountain. While it would cut our time spent filling sodas, I think it would create a log jam during peak period unless you had a bank of 3-4 fountains. I would also be concerned about the mess and the safety issues resulting from a spilled soda.
Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 06-11-2009, 06:56 PM:
Another way is to leave people on the registers to just put in transactions and then someone takes the receipt from the order and makes it up for them. I did this once on an intermission where about 40-50 people expected to get served in ten minutes, worked reasonably well with two serving and four making up orders.
What we do if we are very busy is have every till open and then leave one person to just stock up. Our stand is based on the 'station concept' so you don't have to move around much to do an order.
Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 06-12-2009, 03:57 PM:
Having never personally run a self-serve stand before, but having worked for Century I saw a lot of advantages and disadvantages to the method.
To speak towards Dominic's observation about one or two people slowing things down, to me (as both auditor and customer) it takes the blame out of the process.
1. As a customer you never choose the wrong line. You're not anxiously waiting to get up to the counter and you're never pissed off that you chose the one line with the 10-kids in it. Everybody is treated the same.
2. By the time you get the cashier, you already have what I want. You don't need to wait any longer for them to get something. You've already gotten to them, all you have to do is pay and be done. You don't have to wait, pay, and wait some more.
3. If you don't want popcorn, but desperately want a something else, the theatre doesn't lose a sale. Because you don't have to wait in line behind all those people waiting for popcorn, you can jump ahead and get your soda, hot dog, ice cream and/or candy. And again, because you have all this in hand rarely will you set it down and walk away because the cashier line is too long.
4. The downfall is of course theft. Unless you have people watching the entrance there will be people who turn around and walk out without paying. At busy locations with enough management standing around doing nothing, I never understood why one of them couldn't perch themselves at the front of the snack bar and watch both entry points.
5. The other downfall is customer service. Because the customer is being shuffled along the assembly line, they get upsold and suggestively sold more times than they would at a crash-up. By the time they get to the cashier who suggests a pack of Red Vines, the customer may want to rip out their throat. While it still works well, I think the best upsales are made at a crash up where the customer is "yours" and you can establish a 30 second rapport with them.
6. Another downfall is waste. You get people filling up cups halfway and then realizing they want another size. You have people samping bulk candy (if you have it like Century). You have people getting their hot dog and then realizing it's the one that's been there all day. Some people will just leave this stuff and that's where you DO have a problem making sure it all gets cleaned up.
7. I suppose another pro for self serve is less cashiers handling the money. Instead of having 9 separate cashiers, you have 4-6... (unless you have a cafe) which means 3 less people running scams and giving stuff out for free. But then of course you have cashiers not catching all the items for sale and innocently letting stuff out of the bar for free.
8. As for people saying it's cheaper on the payroll... I'm sure that's true to a point, but not entirely true. I've seen those self-serve bars staffed with 10-20 people on a Saturday night, which is easily the same as a regular snack bar would staff. I think the payroll is made up for by capturing the sales that would otherwise skip the line.
I'm done rambling, thanks for letting me weigh in.
Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 06-12-2009, 09:41 PM:
To be more specific.
The line I was thinking of was with the supports grabbing the items and moving them to the cashier who just rings them up and cashes them out.
The bottleneck is when you have customers jump the line and order directly from the cashier and/or when there are too many cooks in the kitchen, quite literally, and no one knows what's going on or who's gotten what for what order.
A bit of a variation is the stations approach. Orders get called out by the cashier and filled by the supports at each "station".
Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 06-13-2009, 01:25 AM:
We use a next in line system where all four stations draw from one line, rather than having to try and pick which will be the shortest line. This helps avoid the problem of someone getting "stuck" behind the big order. It also adds a randomizing factor that makes it more difficult for someone to go to their friends for a hook up.
The first theatre I worked for used a belly up system and I find our way works much better.
Posted by Poon Limpapun (Member # 4551) on 06-14-2009, 03:34 PM:
We have tried the Self Service concept once and it did increase our Strike Rate but
it reduces the average value per transaction as customers tends to only buy what they want and they have time to roam around the concession to pick what they would like.
We then switched back to a counter service and it gives us more opportunities to up sale any promotion combos we have or anything we would want to get rid of and plus by doing this, it puts the pressure on the customer to quickly order when the queue is long as there is someone behind them and this tends to generate more revenue but the strike rate does decrease.
Anyway, sounds like we are really nasty on the customer but hey it works and customer tends not to think of our sales method while they are making the order and would just order what our staff suggested.
Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 06-14-2009, 10:53 PM:
Our operation sounds much like Justin's. We also have 4 stations, which we staff according to expected crowds. As customers enter our building from each side, the two lines naturally split between the two closest registers.
The only "self serve" stuff here is at the condiment bar, and that's just ketchup, mustard and napkins. Believe me... that's challenging enough to keep clean!
The advantages/disadvantages of belly-up / cafeteria concessions has long been a subject of enthusiastic debate among drive-in owners' groups. Probably the only subject that attracts as much polarized debate is whether drive-ins should charge customers for outside food, ban it outright or not to worry about it.
As uncomfortable as I am, seeing large crowds and long lines in my building, I have to remind myself that the lines wouldn't be there if the result wasn't a product and service the customers knew they'd eventually be getting. We're a victim of our own success.
That said, I found these coaster pagers have been a huge help for us. For orders that naturally take longer to do (pizzas, for example), we'll hand the customer one of these instead of a numbered pickup ticket. They get out of line, out of the building and don't miss any of the show. We don't have them staring at us, counting minutes. When the order's done, we set off the pager. It's pretty entertaining, watching them run in with a pager, wildly blinking & buzzing... and they're much happier about the experience.
Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 06-15-2009, 01:40 AM:
I've seen those coaster-call pagers at Le Boulanger over here. They're pretty neat.
After spending a weekend behind the stand my hypothetical questions have been based on I have come to the conclusion that your speed relies entirely on the layout of the stand.
The particular stand previously mentioned seems to run the best with 5 people tops and the bottleneck really seems to be how the back bar is set up and operated.
That 5th person needs to be sort of a team captain and keep everybody moving.
The setup in question is 3 registers concentrated to one side of the stand, poppers and bottle coolers on the ends, ice cream on one side, nachos and dogs in the middle.
The 3rd register is used strictly to bail out transactions if the other cashiers are busy but the person on it is mainly responsible for arms-reach items. Candy and soda in this case.
The other support grabs corn, dogs, and nachos. Basically one transaction at a time is taken to the next available cashier and rung out while the lead support on sodas is taking the next order.
That 5th keeps the poppers popping, dogs loaded, nachos made, etc. and jumps in if an order takes longer to fill for some random reason.
Ultimately if the stand were rearranged a little I think we would be in much better shape and wouldn't need as much strategy during operations but at this point it is what it is.
You might say this is over-thinking a problem and we should just deal with the lines and have all 3 cashiers doing their thing but I just can't accept that!
Being that we only have 2 of the sodas, 2 poppers, and none of it is conveniently located for everyone some strategy seems to make a difference.
I come from thinking the line should never be more than 5 deep though so I have to at least try.
Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 06-15-2009, 03:13 AM:
Well, it's good that you're thinking in those terms, Dominic.
Our setup has popcorn machines at each end, duplicate candy racks on either side of the kitchen window and one soda tower for each two cashier stations. The kitchen window, being in the middle of the back wall, is about as far as anyone has to go from their station. Ice cream is in a freezer directly below the kitchen window. The only major exceptions are a cooler for our bottled water, and our Icee machine. They wound up all the way at one end. We couldn't find a better place for those machines, but it isn't too much of a problem.
I find that, regardless of the wait, customers are much more tolerant when they see your staff busting their chops to get things done. They already know how frustrating it is, being in line at the post office, when there are 6 available stations and one sloooooow cashier! If you're fully staffed on busy nights, and the crew appears to know what they're doing, you'll get more slack from the customers... at least it works that way for us.
One final issue for us, is that everything must be restocked and prepped for the next day's business before the staff goes home. Nobody has time to play catch-up on a busy night. That's an obvious point for most, but when the staff is eager to finish up a shift, things get overlooked. We eventually went to a checklist system, so most everything gets done.
Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 06-15-2009, 10:13 AM: