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I'm looking for a new concession supplier,which delivers to midwest states,particularly Wisconsin. Any recommendations?

I am working with Concession Services out of Chicago. Not sure if they deliver to Wisconsin, but definitely worth a try.
www.csi-chicago.net/

Jay

Do you mean actually physically send a truck to drop off or ship to?

I find that if you use just one supplier, you will be limited in what is available to yo. There are many out there that will ship to you. We are currently using about 5-6 suppliers.

I have used Farner-Bocken out of Carroll, Iowa. They deliver an have about everything you want with good prices. They may service Illinois. Give'em at call at 712-792-3503.

We have used Marjack now known as Vistar/Marjack. They have distribution centers nationwide. 800-880-9900
www.marjack.com/

We use Myers Cox out of Dubuque. They go into Wisconsin. They were about 15% cheaper then Farner Bocken was and they didn't have a $500 minimumum order like Farners so we switched over. Just went to their food show last month and got some new ideas. Check them out (563)583-8200

We use gold medal that is located in Chicago. They are fair in pricing. I don't know if they service Wisconsin. www.gmpopcorn.com/

CCSI (www.ccsicandy.com)(800) 516-0090 can supply nearly anything to any theatre in nearly any state. They are good about helping with rebates and new products.
I'd respectfully disagree with Rufusjack. (I usually think he's dead on.) Use one supplier and enjoy the volume discounts and the loyalty from one vendor.
CCSI can also supply Coke at national account pricing when you set things up with Coke.
They use ProStar for cleaning supplies and you'll save a fortune with their cleaning chemical mixing station.
One order, one delivery day, one check to write
AllenD

AllenD,

It depends on what you want to accomplish. Most chains only carry 10-12 skus. We carry approx. 45. For us fo who we have available to us, we need to use 4 suppliers. We could eliminate Sam's Club as a candy supplier if we wanted to but we have to go their anyway for other things and Sam's is cheaper on many of the smaller candies which we sell a bunch of in our kid combos. We seem to be far far away from getting any greater discounts. A year supply at a time in fact. I have no desire to keep that much candy on hand.

I use CCSI as my main supplier
But my situation is similar to rufusjack.
I do not do enough volume to get any of the
rebates or anything.
So while CCSI has competitive prices on most
things, there are many items that I can
get cheaper at Sams or other suppliers.

It all depends on your volume.

I live in the real world so I know that Sam's is believed to be the best option for many small operators.
Sam's has killed the hundreds (thousands?) of small candy and sundry suppliers that once were in every city of every size and visited nearly every small town theatre, grocery store and c-store.
I hate to give them any more power.
Plus, it takes time to drive to a Sam's and haul stuff back.
Another thing to consider: stocking candy from Sam's makes your selection no different from the park and rec snack bar or the 4 H county fair stand.
I don't say this to be mean, just to share a point of view.
The popcorn Sam's sells is one of the poorest on the market for commercial popping. I've had to use it in an emergency. I have no experience with their oil.
By the way, some of the candy rebates are not based upon volume but selection.
ABC Candy company, for instance, may rebate on any amount of sales as long as (for example) five of their candy selections are featured. For these rebates you need the usage reports from a supplier.
Any good candy supplier can help with this information. CCSI, their sales people or Adam will be glad to review this with a theatre, I'm sure.
AllenD

Allen,

How many skus do you carry?

The last time we checked with CCSI, they were no where near stocking the candy that we needed. Plus they did NOT run a truck in my area (that seems to be big) and they were more expensive than our others.

We used to buy our corn from a popcorn farmer in SE MO (our own state) but had to stop because price had gone way up. No one blinked an eye after we switched to ACT II popcorn. None of our staff could taste a difference. Not we still use Odells classic blen oil and flavocal.

We also operate a FEC (Family Entertainment Center) with mazes, bounchehoueses etc. We stock about 50+ skus on drinks. Water and juice our big sellers and are significantly cheaper than any other supplier. For us, Sams is a pretty easy trip. Love their click n pull service.

Trust me, our selection in our concession stand is pretty damn good and kicks most theater's ass. Not impressed by a concession stand that only stocks 12 skus of candy.

Trust me we have done our homework. We use: General Candy in St. Louis but does not carry all candy skus. We use Farner Bockan but dittos. We also use Roma and Vistar (use Roma for out pizza supplies). Vistar is like the rest and do not carry all of our skus. And we buy oil direct from Odells as we can not get the oil we like from any of the others. And we other suppliers as well for cotton candy supplies and sno kone supplies.

Would I like to use just one? you bet, but we would have to cut back our offerings dramatically.

BTW, our local candy supplier, gold medal supplier, etc buys from Sam's and resells it.

Rufusjack:

I try to keep between 17 and 20 candies on hand, depending upon the season.
Also on hand, soda (of course), cotton candy, theatre nachos (Rico cheese machine and loose chips) and dogs.
Some of the "big boy" chains keep the candy line up under 10 but also have ice cream, smoothies, ICEES, pretzels, pickles and other items.
I think the more on hand the longer the lines from customers trying to make a decision plus the cost of stocking candy.
Most of our sales are popcorn and soda.
I thought that CCSI had routes everywhere; at one time they serviced all Blockbuster stores.

I'm surprised to know, in this day and age, of a "supplier" using Sam's. Do you use them knowing that?

Additional question on this same subject. How many drink choices do most theatres have? We've offered up to 16 flavors, but the cost of stocking and syrup going bad caused us to cut back to eight. We get few complaints and the lines move quickly.

AllenD

No I do not use that supplier. I did at first but prices were too high and stock outs were plentiful.

We carry over 30 theater size candies & over 20 of the traditional smaller size. Lines go pretty quickly most the time, but we do have up to 5 concession lines. We also sell cotton candy, dogs, nachos, pretzels, & pizza during busier shows.

We stock 14 different flavors of fountain. Only diet caffiene free pepsi sells poorly. Customers have responded well To having 4 diet choices. We also sell 5 different energy drinks, 3 bottled teas, & of course bottled water.

Try Valley Popcorn from Neenah, Wisconsin. Valley Popcorn has a regular delivery route on specific days of each week for routes in Wisconsin. 920-722-2676 Valley Popcorn.