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Author Topic: No outside food or drink rules Kelsey Crozier Film Handler Posts: 9 From: Nanaimo, BC, Canada Registered: Nov 2002 posted 03-05-2004 10:47 PM                     I'm sure this has been talked about before but what are some of your policies on the subject? At my theatre I have the ushers stop pretty much everything except bottled water. We also have a no large bags/backpacks policy too. If someone does try to bring in outside food or drink in I politely explain the policy and offer to hold it until after the show or have them finish in the lobby before entering the cinemas. What are some of your policies like?  |  IP: Logged R. Andrew Diercks Expert Film Handler Posts: 232 From: Marion, Iowa (In the middle of everywhere) Registered: May 2003 posted 03-06-2004 03:12 AM                     Mine is pretty much identical to yours and I suspect it holds true for many others.  |  IP: Logged Kyle Watkins Expert Film Handler Posts: 185 From: Stuart, FL, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 03-06-2004 10:42 AM                     I dont like the idea of let them leave food there. A while back some one got food poising once. There was a big investigation, they thought it was someone form the theater. Lucky other people form the restrant got it to. So that saved our ass. Kyle  |  IP: Logged R. Andrew Diercks Expert Film Handler Posts: 232 From: Marion, Iowa (In the middle of everywhere) Registered: May 2003 posted 03-06-2004 11:09 AM                     Do you throw it away? I would think you'll piss off customers even more, if they can't have something back that they paid for. Sometimes they tell me to toss it and I comply.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 03-06-2004 11:10 AM                        We work pretty hard at enforcing our "no outside" rule, though we get a certain amount of flak because the "big guys" don't enforce theirs. We try not to keep customer stuff around the lobby either, though it's hard to make that a "hard and fast" rule. We have our policy posted on the entrance door, and again at the ticket podium. People are generally pretty good about the policy, UNLESS you catch them in the auditorium and ask them to get rid of whatever it is. They tend to think they're home free if they get past the ushers, and they're more likely to be obnoxious if you challenge them at that point. Then, you start getting the "well, you don't serve (fill in here), so I HAD to bring in my own!  |  IP: Logged Kyle McEachern Expert Film Handler Posts: 165 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Feb 2004 posted 03-06-2004 12:08 PM                 When I worked for Century, I initially thought there was a 'No outside food/drink' policy, since the last chain I had worked at was similar to the earlier posts (Not allowed in, but we'd hold it for them), but then found that it's not even a matter of it not being enforced, there's simply not a policy (According to what I was told)...as long as it's not distracting to other people, you could bring in a large pizza and a 2-liter bottle of soda and nobody would stop you. But then again, there are a lot more resources available to clean theatres than at places like the first chain I worked at (3-4 screens).  |  IP: Logged Brad Allen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 688 From: Evansville, IN, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 03-06-2004 12:13 PM                     Jack, care to share your policy wording? Thanks!  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 03-06-2004 12:49 PM                    Why is bottled water an exception? Don't most theatres sell this as well?  |  IP: Logged Kyle Watkins Expert Film Handler Posts: 185 From: Stuart, FL, USA Registered: Sep 2001 posted 03-06-2004 12:57 PM                     We did the same with water until we starting selling it. Kyle  |  IP: Logged Matthew Stevens Film Handler Posts: 37 From: Colorado Springs, Co Registered: Jan 2004 posted 03-06-2004 02:44 PM                        Our theater doesn't allow bottled water. We get too many alcoholics who think because we sell wine and beer, that they can bring in vodka in the water bottle.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 03-06-2004 03:05 PM                        Each individual situation is a judgement call. I remember an entire management staff getting let go because they kicked out an elderly lady with diabetic candy in 1997 when Titanic opened. Her son happened to be the editor of a local paper (a rather large local paper)- in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Needless to say, the whole ordeal played out on the front page. I believe it was a Silver Cinemas location (a now defunct theatre). I always remember this when my ushers are getting into with a customer about "outside food or drink".  |  IP: Logged Kelsey Crozier Film Handler Posts: 9 From: Nanaimo, BC, Canada Registered: Nov 2002 posted 03-06-2004 04:06 PM                     Although we do sell bottled water we always let people in with outside brands or home bottled stuff. I can't really think of a good reason that we do this other than we have had a complaint go to head office and it is hard to argue that you can't bring in tap water. I would like to think that when most people tell me that it is just tap water from home they are telling the truth, but I doubt it. We used to have a fountain by the usher post and we would ask that customers pour out their water and refill it there just to be sure that it was water and to avoid the old "I got food poisoning at your theatre."  |  IP: Logged Brian Michael Weidemann Expert cat molester Posts: 944 From: Costa Mesa, CA United States Registered: Feb 2004 posted 03-06-2004 04:16 PM                        Our theatre has a policy on this; or two of them, rather. The first policy is: No Outside Food or Drinks, Period! The second is: Whatever you do, make the customers happy and don't piss them off. It's quite difficult to enforce policies at odds with one another like this. Several months back, a patron had written an angry letter to corporate to the effect of ... how dare they not let me in with the $5.00 coffee I just bought across the plaza from the more popular purveyor of overpriced coffee! What, you expect me to pay to buy your own "prison coffee" that isn't suitable for blah, blah, blah ... This customer then received passes and free this and free that, while our manangement received reprimands for enforcing their own policy. Fortunately, I'm locked in the IMAX "attic" all day, so I don't get to make these "judgment calls" on policy.  |  IP: Logged Ian Price Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1714 From: Denver, CO Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-06-2004 04:27 PM                     California law states that you, the theatre, must provide water at the customer's request. This is a restaurant law and we have a restaurant licence. We have a drinking fountain and we have pitchers of water at the end of the concession counter. I don't care if people bring in their own water. This hasn't hurt our bottled water sales any, we still go through 12 cases a week. I did, however, just kick out two guys from The Passion of the Christ for drinking a 40oz bottle of beer during the 1:15 PM show on a sunny afternoon. It felt good. My ushers report a great increase in beer consumption for The Passion of the Christ.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-06-2004 08:13 PM                     In the City of Toronto it is an offense under the health code for any business that sells food (popcorn is a food) to permit for any reason the bringing in of any food or drink that was not purchased on the premises If a theatre is caught they usually only get one warning before there food service ie snack bar gets closed for 30days  |  IP: Logged

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