Welcome to BigScreenBiz.com

Sorry to repost this! I had this in "Concession Stand" but I think more folks will see it here.

In the property I'm looking at, I'm planning on offering pizza, beer and wine in addition to traditional concessions. Except for matinees, which will be open to all ages, this theater will be for adults 21 and over. I'll run this either as a 3-screen or 4-screen.

Does anyone have any idea about sales numbers on concessions for theaters such as this? Any thoughts on per capita sales...either with or without the beer and pizza? I know where the margins are on these things, but projecting average dollars spent per customer is more of an unknown to me.

As always, your thoughts and ideas are appreciated

The issue you are going to find is that so few theaters operate like this that there is not many who know. My suggestion is to find a similar theater 60 miles away and more and befriend the manager on duty for that info. Or go hang out and people watch and try to figure how much they are spending.

Hey rufusjack - that's actually a really good idea, just to hang out and get a sense for what people are spending. I slapped my forehead when I read it, which is always a sign that someone else is employing common sense.

There are a few theaters that do this in town. People love them, but there are none that serve the area I'm looking at. Our prospective booker guessed a pretty high average order in these places - just based on observation. I tend to go conservative and lowball these things.

So, good call, rufusjack. Any thoughts on traditional concessions? Or does anyone else have thoughts on pizza and beer?

Traditional concessions -- it depends, obviously, on the price you are charging for items. If you are in the $6 large popcorn price point, you should see an average per cap of around $4.00 for traditional.

With beer and pizza, it depends on how it's presented. If you are doing it with ordering at your seat and table service, You could see $9-15 per cap depending on your menu. But, you'll have more labor, of course. If you are just ordering at concession stand, I'd say you'd probably be in the $5 range...but with pizza you'll have waste to take into account. And, if you are going to do draft beer in kegs, you'll need to make sure you are selling enough to keep the beer from going flat.

Elin

This is what people pay me A $100.00 an hour for........... I know it sounds mean... lol

rufusjack wrote:
I did exactly this over a couple of nights (Wednesday and Friday) last week - went to two theaters that serve pizza and beer, watched what people were buying, what they were spending, etc. Obviously, this was not a scientific study, but it was an eye-opener. During the time I watched, EVERY customer who entered the theaters visited the concession stands. They also spent quite a bit more than I'd have guessed. (One observation - couples may buy one soft drink to share, but if they want to share beer, they buy a pitcher.)

I wouldn't want to project sales based just on what I saw on those nights, but it was, indeed, encouraging.