Opening Popcorn Bags without hands

[Randy Stankey]

... I hate using our hands and putting on gloves for every purchase isn't feasible. ...

Wash hands frequently. Let customers see you do it as much as possible. Almost to the point of making a show of it.

It was my policy to wash hands whenever you step behind the concession stand even if you were only selling boxed candy.

When I worked at the Tom Ridge Center, it was a single screen, one man show. You did everything; Tickets, usher, concession and booth. I would often sell tickets and popcorn to the same customer then take out their trash, afterward. Because it was a tourist venue before being a movie theater, a lot of people would just bypass the concession stand and go straight to the theater without buying. Washing my hands and making a show of it was my little trick to get people to stop at the concession stand and buy something.

I did a little experiment. After selling tickets, I went to the concession stand and counted the number of people who went straight to the theater or stopped at the stand. I would either wash my hands and make sure they saw me do it or just do it quietly without being noticed. When people saw me wash up, about half those people who bypassed the stand actually stopped and bought something.

I don't know whether people stopped at the counter because they felt, somehow, obliged because they saw me getting ready or whether they felt better about buying food when the person selling washed up first but, either way, more people bought when they saw the person washing.

Doing that, I actually had several days when 100 out of 100 people who watched the movie also bought concessions.
It was a small theater. 100 tickets sold in a day is a good haul.

So my suggestion is to wash up as frequently as you can and make sure that people see you do it. Wash every few minutes if you can, even if it's just to rinse and dry with a paper towel. Many concession stands have a hand sink in view of customers, anyhow. I'm sure that it's just for reasons I stated above... so people can see you wash.

With this virus going around, it's even more important to wash your hands as frequently as possible and to make sure people see you do it. It will help you with your problem about handling popcorn bags, it'll make your customers feel better and, maybe, it will increase your popcorn sales.

[Darin Steffl]

I think we're going to try buckets on our next order to replace bags. I've heard enough good reasons in this thread to give it a go.

I hate handling cash and then food right after. Card transactions are touchless for us now.

[Randy Stankey]

... I hate handling cash and then food right after. ...

That's why they call it "filthy money!" Right?

[Mitchell Dvoskin]

Back in the early 1980’s I briefly worked projection for United Artists Eastern Theatre Circuit, and the manager at one of the locations was scamming the company by saving and re-selling buckets from the cleanups that did not show obvious signs of prior use. From that job on, whenever I went to a venue that used buckets I would crush and tear them so that they could not be reused, and demanded to see the inside of the bucket before it was filled with popcorn. I prefer buckets, but the bags are a lot harder for a dishonest theatre to reuse.

[Sean Falk]

We sell our small 44oz and medium 85oz popcorn in buckets, but use 130oz bags for our large size. Started doing this after reopening in June last year since we do free refills on the large size and didn't want to keep handling used buckets for refills (felt cleaner and safer) so instead of handing out a new bucket every time, they get a new bag that's the same size and around 1/5th the cost.

Have had a few people complain that the bags are smaller (both 130oz, but you can squeeze a little extra in a bag) and that they prefer the buckets, but when I tell them the bag is whats getting them free refills they're usually more receptive.

[Mike Blakesley]

I think we're going to try buckets on our next order to replace bags. I've heard enough good reasons in this thread to give it a go.

If nothing else, just try the buckets on one of your sizes to see how you like them. I would say the only real "drawback" they have is the amount of storage space they take up.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I'm pretty sure that most customers will prefer buckets over bags. I'm also quite sure a lot of people will enjoy the reduced noise level from buckets over paper bags.

That's why they call it "filthy money!" Right?

It really is pretty dirty by all accounts.

It would somehow be ironic if there would ever be a major virus that uses money as its primary attack vector...

[Scott John]

Wow to the number of people using buckets. For us the price for a bucket is many times more than the bag so it is pretty hard to justify.

A regular 130oz bag is about 18 cents (Canadian), an eco friendly version 21 cents, and a bucket the same size is 63 cents.

As for opening bags, we have one concession person who is a whiz at it and can open them fully with a flick of her wrist every time. None of the rest of us can do it. We end up with a glove on one hand, and when we are busier with two concession people instead of opening two lines we have one person doing the popcorn and picking the orders while the other person takes cash the flow works a lot better that way.