Free Imponderables: Fun and Games by David Feldman Page B

cents to the cost.
    Remember that the Rialto has netted $5000 from the admissions to the first week of the James Bond movie. But it will gross almost $10,000 and will net over $8000 from the concession stand. And on the fifth week, when the Rialto nets only about $1000 from admissions, it will earn almost $3000 extra from food and drink sales.
    Considering the importance of popcorn, the largest grossing concession item in profits, why would exhibitors deny the tradition of popping their own corn? Even in the twenty-first century, a good majority of theaters still pop their own. Many exhibitors believe that popping their own corn adds luster to what is an impulse item. The sound of the popping and the aroma of fresh corn and (usually) fresh oil is tantalizing to the vulnerable. And it is slightly cheaper for theaters to buy kernels rather than purchase already popped corn from a food distributor.
    But the crucial question remains: Does on-site popping increase sales? A growing number of concession experts at the big movie chains believe that there is no evidence that on-site popping affects purchases one way or the other. Most of the big chains do not have a strict policy at all on the question. While one theater chain, Walter Reade, told Imponderables that its sales are higher in sites with on-premise popping, a representative from Loew’s disagreed strongly, arguing that none of the research and none of Loew’s internal experiments support the contention that consumers are driven into even a frenzy-ette by their proximity to exploding kernels.
    There are plenty of reasons why managers dislike on-premise popping. Equipment can get messy and smelly, offending both workers and potential customers. Poppers can also break down, and as simple as it may sound, managers must constantly train high-turnover employees how not to wreck the equipment. Commercial prepopped corn is uniform in size and taste, whereas homemade popcorn is subject to the vagaries of oil temperature and stubborn kernels refusing to pop. Most important, theaters never run out of prepopped corn. No manager wants to see his sales force frantically loading the popper while customers wait impatiently in line, contemplating bolting for the theater.
    If there were much consumer resistance to prepopped corn, you would see machines in every theater lobby in America. But the quality of packaged corn can be as good as fresh-popped. The crucial element in consumer acceptance of popcorn is its moisture content. Moisture is the enemy of popcorn, and “old” popcorn can be restored by being placed in the heating chambers that virtually every concession stand possesses. Left at room temperature, popcorn reabsorbs moisture from the atmosphere. In the warmer, at an ideal 135–155 degrees, the moisture is driven out. The lesser moisture in theater popcorn is what makes it taste better than its packaged, unheated counterpart found at supermarkets or ball games.
    If concessions are the crucial moneymaker for theaters, why aren’t stands more adventurous in their offerings, and why don’t they offer more choices?
    The key to this answer is a favorite word of all food purveyors— turnover . The theater owner wants to be able to process as many customers as possible in a short period of time. Now that double features have become a thing of the past for most theaters, concession stands must brace themselves for an onslaught of customers arriving at approximately the same time. More than 80 percent of all concession sales are completed immediately after the ticket purchase, before the customer has taken a seat in the theater. Nothing will turn off a potential customer more than long lines at the food stand. The fewer choices a customer has to make, the less anxiety the customer feels and, most important, the faster the customer is likely to decide what to buy. Most concessionaires have found that when they introduce new products, such as chocolate chip cookies or frozen yogurt,