Hot Concession Items?

[Scott John]

We have a non-profit taking over an historic old theatre in the Spring that would otherwise be closing down permanently.

To help keep the doors open, we are going to get a liquor licence which has recently been allowed in our jurisdiction. One of the quirks is needing to offer some food items that aren't just snacks.

We are trying to think of some options that might be a little different than hot dogs, nachos, and pizza we have limited prep and concession space so we can't do anything too complicated. We were thinking of something along the lines of a panini press to make grilled cheese sandwiches or similar.

What are other folks serving that can be prepped mostly ahead of time to keep the line going and serve during the quick windows between screenings?

[Randy Stankey]

There are many convenience stores and similar places that offer made-to-order foods.

Customers use a touch screen computer terminal to order their food. The computer prints out a numbered ticket. The customer pays at the register then picks up their food when their number is called.

The kitchen is rather streamlined with only a fryer, a TurboChef oven and a microwave.
The menu includes fried foods, subs, pizza and nachos, etc. Sometimes, you can order coffee and shakes.

I don’t know what the cost of such an thing would be or the logistics of operating it would be but this sort of thing has been pretty popular in my area. I often buy my lunch for work at a Sheetz convenience store with an MTO food stand.

[Kenneth Wuepper]

Around here the Speedway stations have a similar order, pay and pick up operation. It works very well and they are fast since you don't have to wait more than 5 minutes for a full sized pizza that is made to order and baked while you pay. They also have the Pannini sandwiches that are very popular.

[Harold Hallikainen]

How about arranging for a food truck right outside the theater? Arrange to get a percentage of their gross.

[Randy Stankey]

That wouldn’t be a bad idea, at least for a start-up operation, but you would have to figure out a way to handle re-admissions.

There are always people who forget their ticket stubs or lose them. Then there are people who go out and give their stubs to friends in hopes of getting in for free.

What’s stopping a person from buying an armload of hotdogs and nachos then heading inside and claiming that they had already given their ticket to “that other guy?”

What about a legitimate customer who genuinely does leave his stub in his coat pocket, inside the auditorium?

It could lead to some uncomfortable confrontations, either way.

[Kenneth Wuepper]

You really do not want anything brought into or sold within the theatre that you are unwilling to clean up after the patron leaves.

We never sold and vigorously discouraged chewing gum in our properties. It is rather hard to get off the cushions and it seems to find a resting place under the seats. Ice is your friend with those remains.

One local business was a two screen combination bar and fast food establishment that was designed as a theater. It was called "Cinema and Suds". It had tables and a couple of long shelves with stools, all of these allowed viewing the screen. Unfortunately the food and drink crowd made watching the movie impossible over their conversations. That property is now converted to a pain clinic.

One of the more popular items is soft pretzels. They are baked in our kitchen and displayed in a warming case in the concession. They can be accompanied by a small container of warm cheese like the nachos. These are sold in a special wax paper envelope.

[Frank Cox]

The local pool hall here has what he calls a "diner" where he serves stuff like hot dogs, burgers, chicken wings, ribs, fries and I don't really know what else. He gets stuff that's somehow flash-frozen or something like that and heats it up in a microwave as people order it. I know that he gets the product (burgers, etc.) from the same outfit that I buy my popcorn supplies from; they also have coffee and soft ice cream and whatnot.

As far as I know all of the stuff that he's serving in his "diner" is something that he microwaves on demand, so I guess it's it's stuff that he can just prepare one order at a time though there would still be a wait of however-many minutes between ordering it and having it ready to serve.

[Randy Stankey]

He gets stuff that's somehow flash-frozen or something like that and heats it up in a microwave as people order it.

That's what the TubroChef oven is for. They use some kind of catalytic heater with convection blowers to cook food super fast.

Those things can cook a 12-inch pizza in under three minutes. They'll cook a batch of chicken wings in less than five!

[Frank Cox]

Actually, Scott, since you're in Canada you might just want to call the company that I referred to above. They have a distribution center in Delta BC.

https://www.harlans.ca/

[David Bird]

Hard to say what the liquor laws will mandate, sometimes they seem to have some odd quirks as to what qualifies as "substantial enough". I'm a big fan of the Italian style paninis which done properly (ie: in Italy) are generally made up and ready in the counter and only need pressing, maybe add a pickle and some high-end chips? Anything in a crock-pot has the benefit of dumping it in to heat and keep until ordering. Any kind of a theme or demographic you're going for? Is this upscale with wine and live performances as well, or just mainstream stuff?

[Scott John]

Hard to say what the liquor laws will mandate, sometimes they seem to have some odd quirks as to what qualifies as "substantial enough". I'm a big fan of the Italian style paninis which done properly (ie: in Italy) are generally made up and ready in the counter and only need pressing, maybe add a pickle and some high-end chips? Anything in a crock-pot has the benefit of dumping it in to heat and keep until ordering. Any kind of a theme or demographic you're going for? Is this upscale with wine and live performances as well, or just mainstream stuff?

We will have wine and higher end craft beers... but really it is a small town so even when folks go out it isn't really "that" upscale (as in people wear jeans to the opera).

I am leaning towards a panini press at the moment. It can serve just regular grilled cheese on weekends and 2nd run films with a more family oriented crowd, but we can "upscale" it a little bit to add fancier paninis on the weekday "Arts" nights where we show indie/festival type of films and have a wine drinking audience generally in their 40's-70's.

[Scott John]

There is a hot dog roller grill and a pizza warmer sitting in the basement, apparently functional. If the roller grill can also prep a couple of other options like an egg roll and a taquito/tornado kind of thing that might be a good option to get some variety with only one piece of equipment since we have limited counter space in the concession after the popcorn, slushie, and nacho stations.

[David Bird]

I've spent some time in Vernon, so I get what you're saying....

[Marcel Birgelen]

Back in the 90s, I worked at something that was locally known as "Service Cinema" for a few months, it was the precursor of the kind of cinemas today that let you order (almost) fully-featured meals and snacks of all kinds right to your seat. You had a "page" button, that would summon the "waiter". This button would activate a "paging light" in your row and a notification in the kitchen area. We just offered a small selection of cold and hot snacks back then, but it was this concept that made the rather small-scale operation viable against the multiplexes that were popping up all over the place back then. And yeah, we served beer, in proper glasses, not in a paper cup... and fries, drowned in mayonnaise... but no burgers.

Although my job there was "technical" and my primary occupation was projectionist, the whole operation ran with minimal staffing. So if someone failed to show up, I also was on waiting and even kitchen duty... That meant that I was the one who had to start new shows, had to rewind and reload stuff in-between shows, I had to wait 4 rooms and also had to prepare their drinks and fry, bake, cook or toast their snacks... While this still was kind-of doable if there was just a minimal occupation, this totally broke down if a somewhat substantial crowd managed to show up to one or more of the shows during otherwise slow weekdays.

Getting back to Scot John's concept, what's not clear to me is if you guys want to offer just a counter service for those concession items or if you also want to deliver them to the patrons seat. Both operations differ greatly in execution and you need to account for the amount of personnel you need in order to offer such a service.

A local art house that moved into a new site about a year or 4 ago, decided to add a fully-featured restaurant to the lobby and outsource the operations. Before this whole zombie-apocalypse thing started, this restaurant was highly popular. While they didn't allow any concession items inside the auditoriums (after all, it's an art cinema and you are there for the enjoyment of art in the form of moving pictures ), this restaurant business kept it afloat pretty well.