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Topic: Popcorn Bags vs Tubs

Marc Jones
Film Handler

Posts: 82
From: Elizabethtown, KY
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-05-2000 06:04 PM

What do you like better Popcorn Bags or tubs.
Have you noticed if sell more Popcorn if your using bags or tubs.
Has any one found a bag manufacture that can make a bag that doesn't leak.
Thanks
Marc Jones

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Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-05-2000 07:02 PM

Ah an old topic.

I like the tub, but...

We use the bags for environmental, cost and trash hauling cost conciderations.

Don't butter the sides of the bags and don't over butter.

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Mark Huff
Film Handler

Posts: 69
From: Springfield, IL, USA
Registered: May 2000

posted 07-05-2000 07:36 PM

We serve the famous Tub in a 170oz. It is out X-Tra large size and our customers love them. When we first started the Tubs we sold more than all other sizes combined. Customers seem to love the old style. We also made it easy to upsell them by charging .25 cents more than the large.

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Scott Norwood
Film God

Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-05-2000 07:52 PM

Tubs, definitely! I'm reasonably confident that the manufacturers have solved the "leaky bag" problem, but I've personally had several unfortunate experiences in the past and so am wary of the bags. I'm sure that many customers feel the same way.

More importantly, bags take longer to fill than tubs (though I'm told that there's a special scooper gadget that makes filling bags easier), they look bigger, and are easier for the customers to handle without spilling popcorn all over the ground.

I do agree that tubs are a problem if you're paying by volume for garbage collection, but I also believe that the tubs sell better and speed up the concession line significantly, though I have no hard data to prove this.

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Richard C. Wolfe
Master Film Handler

Posts: 250
From: Northampton, PA, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 07-05-2000 09:29 PM

TUBS for sure.

Our largest is the 86 oz. for $2.50
I can't imagine selling a 170 oz. tub. People don't finish the 86, and spill half of it on the floor. As for trash...we stack all of our cups, and therefore can put hundreds of them in a typical trashbag.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 07-06-2000 03:47 AM

YES. Tubs!

Bags are bad for all the reasons listed above. Gotta be careful not to overbutter the popcorn and then you must deal with the customers who want extra butter explaining why you cannot do it. THEN you must end up paying for their clothes as the butter seeps through the bottom of the bag! Cleanup is far easier and even just consuming popcorn in a bucket is easier than in a bag. How many times are bags found torn into little pieces on the floor delaying cleaning time because the patrons kept tearing layers of the bag away to they could easily get at the popcorn in the lower part of the bag?

Bags are just one of those ideas that look great on paper but suck in the real world.

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Lance C. McFetridge
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 135
From: Penn Yan, New York
Registered: Jul 99

posted 07-06-2000 01:22 PM

Bags all the way!!!! :P Ok, well not all the way, we sell a 170 oz and make a killing off of it. We have never had tubs other than this size so our client base is used to the bags. I agree that trash is a major concern. Most trash removal companies size the dumpster by the cubic yard, hence the more trash, the higher the bill. We use a good quality double lined bag and do not have a problem with butter leaking through, of course we meter the amount of butter put on the corn. And we use real butter. yes there is a comercial tool used to fill bags and they come in a right and left handed models. It takes very little time to use and the customers seem to like it when the girls "pack" that little extra in. One downside though, a 130oz bag that is over filled will hold as much as a 170oz tub.
lance

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Russ Kress
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 202
From: Charleston, WV, USA
Registered: May 2000

posted 07-07-2000 02:44 AM

We are one of three multiplexes in the greater Charleston area. We are the only one that uses tubs. Customers like them better.

Russ

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Zach Zagar
Film Handler

Posts: 45
From: Jefferson City, MO
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 07-10-2000 10:22 PM

My theater chain (Goodrich) has flip flopped on this issue over the years. The inital shock to customers when they get a lovely bag instead of a tub, was not pleasant to our ears. We offer both, with the 0.25 upgrade idea (not sure who had that idea first). The tubs sell better.

Don't you all love those people who think that they are different sizes? THAT bag is 46 oz? It feels like only 1 oz. For customers benefit, however, most of the time, we can get a bag of the same size to hold more corn. Just too compact, butter not spread properly, etc.

TUB TUB TUB, I say

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 07-11-2000 05:41 PM

We use tubs. I would think bags would take so long to open & fill that the cost difference would be made up in time wasted. Also customers like them better.

BTW, even if nobody eats all of a 140oz bucket....so what? It's the buying that's important!

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John Wilson
Film God

Posts: 5438
From: Sydney, Australia.
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 07-22-2000 03:23 AM

If anyone's planning on coming out for the Olympics and happen to take in a movie while you're here, you'd better bring your butter with you. Popcorn ain't served with it here...that's why I have to make it to the States every so often so I can get my 'fix'.

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Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!

Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 07-23-2000 12:34 AM

Tubs for sure! The bags have another annoying side effect....they sure seem to be noisier than the tubs rustling in the theatre. Particularly when a group gets the community sized popcorn for multi-person distribution.

Factors on my popcorn purchase include:

Tubs
Real Butter (Odel's Real is my personal favoite). If you have it, I WILL buy the popcorn (and tell all my friends too!)

Steve

------------------
"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 07-23-2000 01:14 AM

Bags seem to work just fine for me. Ours are manufactured by Winpak. They do just fine for us (Cinemark). I've never had a problem w/ a leaky bag. However, next month, we are offering some sort of a popcorn tub combo. It'll be interesting to see how that goes over. A little off topic, but are we the only company that is such a whore for advertising? I don't sell a single bag w/ Cinemark imprinted on it:
46 oz - Kirby's Adventure (Nintendo)
American Express (previously)
85 oz - Thomas & Magic RR
Cybergold.com (previously)
Pitch Black (previously)
130 oz - Rugrats In Paris
Mission Impossible 2 (previously)
Snow Day (previously)
Sleepy Hollow (previously)

it's kind of annoying.
At least our drink cups are still Cinemark cups.

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Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001

posted 08-05-2001 05:06 PM

Where I'm coming from every chain (AMC, General Cinema, Loews, National Amusements, Reading, Regal, UA) uses bags. So does the nearby arthouse.

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Rachel Carter
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 248
From: Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 08-05-2001 08:30 PM

I like the tubs but unfortunatly they cost more and take up more space in the trash can.

We have bags for our Small, Medium, Large, and X-Large but also have the choice of the tub for our X-large. The X-Large tubs fly off the counters while the X-Large bags just sit on the counters getting dusty I can't wait for the day that we sell out all the X-large bags so we can just get rid of them completly! It probably helps that we have pictures on the tubs from various kids movies, they do great at the matinees!

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