Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Is the recession hurting concession sales?

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Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 02-26-2009, 11:54 AM:

News stories report that the movie business is thriving with the bad economy, but what about concessions? Are people buying less or about the same? Are people buying mediums instead of large, or maybe sharing drinks? (I'm not asking for any confidential or specific information here...just a general indication of what is going on.)

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-26-2009, 12:52 PM:

No difference noted here....our attendance is on par with last year at this time (maybe up a little) and concession per caps are normal.

We're not seeing the large increase over last year that's been noted in the press yet because we haven't played most of those big movies yet...we're playing Gran Torino this weekend. Should have a pretty good March/April and a good leadin to summer.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-26-2009, 09:58 PM:

Basically, all depends on the market - liberal or conservative - for I've seen both during these hard times.

But, it seems not to affect the young people who's doesn't have the living responsibility as does the established families. Thus, they are more apt to blow the dough on anything that pertains to entertainment-including the cost of refreshments.

Agree with Mike though: Our per cap has been on the steady increase even during these troubled times.

-Monte

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 02-27-2009, 01:30 PM:

What I'm seeing is more people buying the large sizes which come with free refills. Right now our per/cap has been suffering because we're playing more films aimed at seniors and the "art house" crowd. But I think we were up slightly for January with prices being constant from last year.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-28-2009, 02:00 AM:

quote: Justin Hamaker
seeing is more people buying the large sizes which come with free refills

Called "the value of a dollar."

People are now hunting for anything that is related to value where they can get the most for what they want to spend.

Justin - you should begin]to explode in the month of March and onwards .. watch for it.

Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 02-28-2009, 09:04 PM:

Our per caps are fantastic so far this year. We have some great concessionists, many of whom are still in high school! So, no, the recession has not affected us yet. Although, as I was just discussing with the assistant manager, I don't believe we are anywhere close to the bottom of the economic downturn.

One more thing I'd like to acknowledge is how well our staff up-sells many customers - especially on large popcorns. As one former manager has said, those are the hardest products to get customers to change their minds in favor of, and these guys do it so well.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 03-01-2009, 05:09 PM:

Last night I did an analysis of soda and popcorn sales for the first 2 months of 2009 vs the same period in 2008. Our attendance is up just a tick from last year and our popcorn/drink sales are basically flat vs the same period last year. We sell a drink to 30 out of every 100 people, and a popcorn to 28 out of every 100 people. The variation of less than 1% can be attributed to a February lineup that skews more toward seniors than general audiences.

The only noticeable change is a small shift (about 1/2%) upward in the sizes, but trend goes back more than just this past year.

Posted by Gary Crawford (Member # 2038) on 03-03-2009, 08:13 AM:

We've been running about the same overall. We do far better with a younger crowd, 30-40-somethings. The old folks, especially the Q-Tips (old ladies w/ blue puffy hair that look like Q-Tips from the back) don't buy anything.

We don't have "Concessionists", we have "Refreshment Consultants".