Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: What popcorn equipment/supplies are you using ?

This is topic What popcorn equipment/supplies are you using ? in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=002016

Posted by Rene Ferron (Member # 4674) on 03-27-2008, 05:10 PM:

I just want to make some comparison on what is used in different theaters around the world.

At our theater here is what we have:

Corn: Act II Raw Corn.
Oil: Mariplex PSO (Ing: Canola Oil, Butter essences(artificial), Beta carotene, BHA/BHT (Preserving Agents).
Popper: 2 x Pop-O-Gold Floor Model - 32 oz. Kettle. (kettle is the warmer)

PS: I'm trying to get my boss to use Coconut Oil to see if the pop corn will taste better.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 03-28-2008, 05:36 PM:

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-28-2008, 06:32 PM:

We use:

Orville Redenbacher Corn
Odell's Fluffy-pop Oil (coconut oil)
Odell's Supur-Kist 2 topping (used to use the Odell's real butter but Supur-Kist is 1/4 the cost and we actually had people say it was better than the "old stuff" when we test-sold it.)

Machinery:
Popper: Cretors Diplomat, 32 oz. with BIB oil heater/pump
Topping dispenser: Cretors BIB-X mounted in the countertop

We add about a tablespoon of Flavacol to each batch of popcorn and we also have Flavacol and "plain" salt available in shakers on the counter.

We offer 9 flavors of Kernel Seasons.

We use real popcorn buckets, not the evil bags, in 4 sizes.

Posted by Sean McKinnon (Member # 612) on 03-29-2008, 10:37 AM:

At one independant theatre that I was an assistant manager at they used to use superkist II. I got them to order a case of the odells butterfat, we decided to perform an experiment and misxed equal parts Superkist II and Butterfat. This combination tasted AMAZING! Everyone loved it and we had tons of positive customer comments on it. Our popcorn sales went way up after we started mixing the two. I guess some people find the butterfat too bland and the superkist too greasy and "fake" but mixing the two makes a product that tastes REALLY REALLY good, it also saves money because you use half as much butterfat. I would reccomend anyone looking or a way to jazz up thier popcorn and increase sales to give this a try!

Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 03-30-2008, 07:14 AM:

Popcorn: Zastrow's MI Popcorn. They grow their own corn and deliver it too. Great customer service. 1 tsp. of flavacol in every batch.

Oil: Coconut

Machinery: Cretors Hollywood 48, 24oz. Made approx 1948-1950. Still works great, but it is a little undersized for our theatre.

People really enjoy our popcorn.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 03-31-2008, 12:47 PM:

Poppers: Cretors 32oz Dip's, and Presidents (something easy for me to fix if they go down...)
Oil: stuff that doesn't need to be melted but not canola
Seasoning Salt: Cretors
Seed: Whatever our supplier sends us since the price is economical

(I miss my Manleys...)

-Monte

Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 04-01-2008, 05:08 PM:

Our poppers vary by location, all Cretor's though if I recall.

Seed: Orville Redenbacher with a teaspoon of flavocol.
Oil: Superkist Canola
Butter: Odell's at the walk-ins and those who "accidentally order" it but otherwise Superkist II.

Posted by Patrick Dunn (Member # 3333) on 04-01-2008, 10:45 PM:

we have Orville Redenbacher and coconut oil and our customers tell us we have the best Popcorn.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 04-02-2008, 09:36 AM:

Pop Weaver corn, Naks Pop popping oil, Super Kist, Flavacol.
Gold Medal Whiz Bang machines-2 of them, not enough space
for anything else.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-02-2008, 10:57 AM:

The Byrd has the best popocorn that I have had in a theatre.

Landmark uses canola oil, Orville (Conagra) popcorn, and real butter (O'Dells). Not sure if they use Flavacol or similar. The popcorn there is decent, but not memorable. Unfortunately, it is sold in bags.

One of the independents where I fill in from time to time uses "Popsit" (which used to be peanut oil, but is now canola (?) oil), Weaver corn, Flavacol, and O'Dells butter. They used to use "Topsit" topping, which was gross; I convinced them to switch to O'Dells a year or two ago and the product is now quite good. It comes in buckets.

Does anyone else notice a difference in the popcorn itself? I prefer Weaver over pretty much everything else. I have to order the big bags for home use because nothing that can be purchased at the local grocery is as good (and Weaver is apparently not available in small quantities).

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 04-02-2008, 11:55 AM:

We've been cited as having the best pop corn in any theatre in the area. It's probably due to the Naks Pop---100% artery clogging coconut oil and the Flavacol added to the corn before it goes into the kettle and that since we have very small machines and space it is rarely more than a few minutes old.

Posted by Tristan Lane (Member # 1169) on 04-02-2008, 02:46 PM:

We've tested a lot of corn here and found that the Vogel "caramel" seed yields the best quality. They give it a caramel designation because it generally produces more large mushroom shaped kernels and very few old maids, thus making it suitable for Karmel Korn or other coatings. The flavor of Vogel seed seems to be a lot stronger than Conagra or Jolly Time.

We also use Odells coconut oil, Odells Butter, and Flavocol. Gold Medal poppers (not sure how I feel about them).

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 04-08-2008, 04:11 AM:

A Drive-In in my area with the classic Manley

..still in use and running quite well - being that this is the original popper installed when the place opened in 1953.

..and it still produces excellent popcorn..
..can Cretors last this long?

-Monte

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 04-08-2008, 08:15 AM:

Coconut oil has gotten a totally undeserved bad rap as heart unhealty. It was all started by the margarine manufacturers when they first started manufacturing the vegetable grease and dying it yellow to mimic the more expensive butter. Margarine --oleo as Ms. Roosevelt would say -- now we find is packed with trans fats. But coconut oil is as healty as other monosaturated oils like olive, but as we know, has a much higher burn threshold, making it ideal for cooking popcorn as well. Just google coconut oil and read about the benefits, not the least of which is that it is very helpful in stabablizing blood sugar levels in people who have type II diabetes. People with type Ii are advised to take coconut oil as a supliment. And it is NOT a cholestoral inducing oil.

We have all been duped by dirty marketing tricks of the food industry.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 04-08-2008, 11:32 AM:

As much as I like olive oil, corn popped in it is terrible, tried it at home a while ago.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 04-08-2008, 04:01 PM:

quote: Frank Angel
But coconut oil is as healty as other monosaturated oils like olive

It's misleading to call olive oil monosaturated when the majority of fatty acids in it are unsaturated.

The saturated fatty acids make up as little as about 9% and as much as 28-29%.

The rest are unsaturated and the majority of those are monounsaturated.

Plus, there's no such thing as monosaturated.

Posted by Alen Gann (Member # 4156) on 04-17-2008, 01:14 PM:

hay on the drive- in with the manley ,could you post a link or tell me wich drive in it is. I belong to another site that that is devoted to manley popcorn mechines. They are trying to set up links of theaters that still use them

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-17-2008, 03:50 PM:

Alen - what is the site devoted to Manleys? I have a machine here that I would like to part company with -- maybe someone there could use it for parts.

Posted by Todd McCracken (Member # 4718) on 04-17-2008, 03:58 PM:

Any good online sources for the good stuff coconut oil ect? Our popper in our QC lab (small 8oz cart type) has finaly depleted the included supplies and its time to re-stock.

Thanks in advance [Smile]

Posted by Alen Gann (Member # 4156) on 04-18-2008, 12:19 PM:

if you want, I can post a listing on the for sale page since I'm already a member. Just let me know
http://forum.manleypopcornmachine.com

Posted by Tristan Lane (Member # 1169) on 04-18-2008, 11:52 PM:

Does anyone know what model of Manley popper is pictured above? That machine is in perfect working condition, but was taken out of service because the glass globe portion of the kettle was chipped and the owner wanted a spare on hand before using it again.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 04-19-2008, 08:03 AM:

That is a VistaPop

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-19-2008, 09:52 AM:

That looks just like our old machine referenced above, except our cabinet is not tapered at the top and the machine is several years newer, I'd guess from the cabinet styling.

Posted by Alen Gann (Member # 4156) on 04-20-2008, 02:08 PM:

I have not seen the gold medal portion pak mentioned ,so I will. I thought I would give it a try, everything is their all neatly measered out for you. Just open the bag and pore. However I find it hard to sqeeze out the contents of the bag and lift the lid to the kettle with out melting the bag or burning yourself. Also the popcorn is toughf , very unhappy with the product and will not buy again.

Posted by Luci Reeve (Member # 3651) on 06-27-2008, 11:34 PM:

Our machine is antique, our corn is Orville's, our butter is O'dell's, our salt is flavacol and our oil is naks...2x what the recipe calls for; and that's why people love our popcorn.

That coconut oil "revelation" a couple of years ago (put out by the corn oil people, I heard) really scared alot of morons but when we tried other oils the popcorn wasn't good enough for me so we never switched.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 06-28-2008, 01:10 AM:

We have Creator's poppers - I don't recall the model. We use Orville's corn, O'Dell's Classic Blend Oil (cheaper than Canola and smells better), and O'Dell's Super-Kist II. For salt we just use a fine snack and nut salt rather than a flavored salt.