I was tempted to hijack the popcorn thread, but decided to behave.
I’ve always wondered why movie theatres don’t offer anything other than candy and popcorn. Wouldn’t they make more money if they also offered things like pizza, subs, coffee and maybe even beer/wine for the adults? I don’t actually know any adults who would prefer a giant box of milk duds, popcorn and a huge sugary soda over something more nutritious and/or satisfying like a turkey sub and a glass or wine, or even a slice of pizza and a draft beer.
I was actually hired to work in a movie theater in their new “cafe” one time. They served basically everything you stated there… pizza from Pizza Hut, subs from Subway, coffee, and even stuff like muffins, ice cream, bagels, etc. The result… less than stellar. The theaters were dark, and the pizza and subs were messy. People didn’t want to deal with having to haul all that food into the theater, balancing it on their knees while they ate.
The cafe section was closed within a couple months, and we went back to serving popcorn and soda.
On the other hand, there is a chain of successful "brew-and-view’ theaters, that play 2nd run, older movies, usually at comfortable tables with waiters who will give you food and beer. It’s been a dream of mine for a long, long time to start one of these types of theaters.
Movie theaters around here often have hot dogs and nachos. The Loews ones even had pretty good curly fries, but some of them have been taken over by Regal, and the rest merged with AMC.
Some movie theatres in Australia sell beer & wine in their premium theatres as well as light snacks but I’m guessing it’s a combination of a) tradition and b) easy to eat while watching something else and c) being easy to clean off between showings.
Well, popcorn and soda are pretty easy to prepare by pimply uneducated teenagers. Movie theatres pretty much have a monopoly on the food supply inside; that’s why they can charge $10 for a bucket of hot air and some maize. Why expand the options if your audience is already munching low-cost, high-profit crap?
Some theatres do sell alcohol, but it’s rare. One problem would be preventing underage drinking. If you let people take alcohol into the theatre with them there’s no way to prevent them from giving it to underage persons without banning anyone not of drinking age from the theatre.
Serving alcoholic beverages could be problematic since their largest market segment is teenagers. Legal issues aside, do you want to be sitting in front of the guy who has downed three beers during the latest Will Ferrell flick?
As for serving other foods, I’ve seen pizza and other selections at theatres. But it’s hard to eat a turkey sandwich in the dark with no table without making a mess. Most of the food they do serve are bite sized and not messy if spilled / easy to clean up quickly.
Another important factor is the profit margin on popcorn. They’d have to charge around $12 for a turkey sub to maintain their revenues.
And one more thing. Popcorn’s shelf life is a lot longer. Unpopped kernels can be kept on a shelf forever. Turkey requires refrigeration and only lasts a few days.
We’ve been there a few times and it has been packed every time. Weeknights, weekends, you name it. The “Living Room” Threatres are open only to adults age 21 or more, but all have huge leather seats and great legroom.
One really great thing is they opened up one of the living room threatres to show some sports playoffs events for free! No cover at all. Access is restricted to 21 or older because alcohol may be served.
As someone who works in fast food, it occurs to me that traditional movie theater fare - popcorn, hot dogs, and nachos - are all products with long “stage” times. That is, once heated, they can be kept on a warmer for a long time before their quality begins to degrade, and larger batches can be cooked less often. It also occurs to me that these foods require little in the way of “assembly” once an order is placed - the popcorn and nachos need merely be poured into a tray/bag and have butter/cheese squirted over them, and the hot dog need merely be placed on a bun and boxed. Speed of service is thereby maximized - the clerk can take an order, assemble it, and hand it out quickly because he doesn’t have to worry about whether there’s enough popcorn in the warmer, or having to put a bunch of veggies or condiments on top.
Foods like pizza or sandwiches, on the other hand, have short stage times and generally have to be prepared to order, which means slower service and slimmer profits since the customers don’t want to stand in line for 10 minutes when the movie starts in 5. The whole point is to serve as many people as possible and keep the line from getting long enough that people decide not to wait, and long service times defeat that purpose.
In the DC area, there are a couple of theaters that are restaurants/theaters. Also, there is a theater (Mazza Gallery) that sets aside one theater for over 21 patrons and serves alcohol. There was another theater, Visions, that had this concept, but poor execution and went under.
And since theaters make nearly all their profit from popcorn and soda, they can get away with the high mark up. (A large popcorn cost the theater a few cents. Soda about the same.) Not as many people are going to spend over ten dollars for a sandwich.
And all of this is why so many adolescent films are made: adolescent film viewers are most likely to by soda, candy and popcorn.
I don’t know if they’re still around, but 15 years ago, there was cine de verano in Spain (Summer Movies), basically cheapo outdoor outfits that had midnight showings of the blockbusters from last season. Not drive-ins, mind you, but sit down in aisles theatres. The one I went to screened the movie on a white washed stucco wall. But they served gin&tonics for $1 a pop. Good times.
More seriously, theatres make almost all profit from the concession stands. And pop corn is awfully cheap. The margin of profit goes down, as attendance numbers go up, i.e. a moderately succesful movie might get the theatre owner a buck of profit per $10 ticket sold, but a huge summer blockbuster will only get the operator a dime. Since overheads are the same, they need to make money from something with a reliable profit margin. Pop corn and pop is such an item. The more people the theatre gets, the more maize it sells.
I find it kinda sad that movie theatres now show movies as an excuse to be an overpriced candy store.
In Washington, there are a few theaters – in particular Georgetown and the E Street cinema – that offer upscale food choices, including cappucinos, hot cocoa, some Mexican-type thingies. But the food is pretty expensive and those theaters have the highest ticket and parking prices too (no free parking in those neighbourhoods).
In Arlington, there’s the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse, which offers really horrible subs, pizzas, and nachos. The food sucks, but the ticket prices are the lowest (they’re a second-run cinema). They also sell alcohol and allow smoking and I wish they didn’t. I remember the last time I got stuck near a couple who were drunk off their asses who kept talking, trying to smoke in the non-smoking section and kept offering us their food. (No, I don’t want to share your sandwich, you drunken ass. Now shut up so I can watch the movie!)
guizot hit the nail on the head. I worked in a theatre for a couple of years and the new hirees would routinely drop suggestions to the managers to expand their food offerings- the answer was that the theatre makes the vast majority of their revenue through popcorn and soda sales and other options don’t turn a profit. As bad as $10 ticket prices are, the theatre keeps only around of $1 of that with the rest going back to the studios. By contrast, an extra-large bag of popcorn retailed for something like $5.75 but cost the theatre less than $0.15 for popcorn, bag, oil, and salt. Similar numbers with the self-service sodas. We also sold nachos and individual pizzas, but the profit margin was comparatively very little. They tried coffee for a few weeks but they ended up losing money on it. Kids movies, especially, raked in the dough, since although attendance was generally sparse parents routinely stocked up on everything that would keep their little beasts quiet for a couple of hours.
I think the most cost-effective and gastronomically diverse option would be to rent the DVD and order take-out, but maybe that’s just me.
Why don’t you watch the movie at home? I don’t know about your kitchen, but mine has a very varied menu and is open 24 hours. Cheaper, too, although I have to clean up my own messes.
Yeah, we usually do. But sometimes the whole movie theater experience is just cool. And like we were talking about in the popcorn thread, there doesn’t seem to be any big problem discreetly bringing in your own food and beverages if you aren’t a popcorn/soda person. At least, I’ve never been hassled and I’ve even brought in the occasional beer or mini bottle of wine.
I was just thinking it would be profitable for them to serve beer, even if it is $4.00 a glass. But, guess not.
There was an article in the NY Times about a chain of upscale movie theaters with better food, and better crowd control aimed at adults. As I recall, they were hoping to expand nationally from I believe the Houston area. The article was probably close to 1 year ago.
In Oregon/Washington, the McMenamin Theatre Pubs are a great alternative. They have full menus, beer, wine, and spirits (most of them at least, some have just pizza), and 2nd run movies for around $3 a person admission. Beers are around $3.50 - $4.00.
And I heartily second Cinetopia in Vancouver, WA. Absolutely fantastic!
