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Do you throw away the leftovers each night and cook all fresh every day? Or do you do it weekly?
Do you clean your machine out daily, weekly or monthly? or never at all.

We completely clean ours out weekly although during school holidays it gets done daily. Popcorn here gets mixed with the day before's and is cleared out completely at least once a week.

We run pretty close to what you're doing. Having come from the days when half of the theatres around here were selling pre-popped corn, I've seen firsthand how long a bag of corn can really last in the storeroom... and it's much longer than a day or two.

Still, I've seen comments from people here who do dump their corn at the end of the night and start fresh the next day. Chalk this one up to personal preference, I guess.

I try to pop as little corn as possible going into the last set of the night. We keep a little corn bagged as we are cleaning the popper and then pitch the remaining amount as we leave. I was taught to pop fresh everyday though I realize corn will stay good as long as it's heated.

Bagged corn in a stockroom just seems like an open sign for a roach/mice buffet.

We cleaned our popcorn machines daily at the end of the night. And we made fresh popcorn during the day, we trashed the old stuff. The customer always got fresh.

We try to have as little as possible left over, but do bag what's left and re-heat it the next day.
We do not have a warmer, we only use the popper itself, which is in the concession stand.
So we also pop as least some fresh for every show, if for nothing other than the smell in the air.
When we expect to be too busy to keep up with popping in real time, we will pop up a bag or two, but then use it asap.

Then, every Thursday night, whatever is left is bagged and given to our local Girls Inc. on Friday.

We clean the popper out every night and try to clean the kettle about once a week.

I think with the low cost of corn that you should be providing fresh popped corn every night.
Don't over pop and throw the leftovers out. 2nd day corn can always be detected regardless.
How long does it take to pop corn if you get a rush and low!
Don't skimp on your main draw!

Am I the only one that cleans the kettles daily? I thought that was relatively standard.

Everyone is supposed to clean the kettles daily! I also thought that was relatively standard.
The gunk that builds up from the oil is alot for one day.
But I guess smaller theatres that only have 2-3 screens and only have one show a day during the week need not to.
But I never imagined not cleaning regardless on a daily basis!

What is your popcorn machine cleaning regiment?

Daily cleaning of the kettle and dumping any leftovers or the workers can take home the left overs.


[This message has been edited by jacker5 (edited July 30, 2007).]

That seems a bit extreme. I've never heard even the soda providers recommend such a practice. Considering the new lines are teflon-coated (you can now change flavors without also changing the lines), what's the point of flushing out the system each day?

The popper, including the kettle, gets cleaned daily. Pretty simple.

Do you clean the popcorn machine daily with Cretors powder or something else?

We clean the kettle at the end of each shift. We make enough for the opening of the next same day shift. We use cretors powder. The inside of the kettle is spotless as is the outside of the kettle. Much easier to keep it clean then try to get rid of huge amounts of old grease.
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We clean the kettle everyday by brushing and then wipe out. Clean all surfaces etc. We have two popcorn warmers with lids where we keep the left overs. ( try to have very little) We pop fresh each day and mix.

I have people tell me my popcorn is bad when they get it right out of the popper sometimes because they don't know that it is chewy then and if you let it sit in the warmer just a few minutes its much better.