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How much do you cater to the college crowd? If you are near to campus try specialty items with school logos. Someone is probably suppling the campus and might like to sell to you also. Maybe food isn't the answer. We do gangbusters with games at our family theatre .. pinball and hunting. We go after the college crowd from three different campuses. Arty and cult movies at midnight on Fri and Sat are big but took time to build. Most everything that sells at our family theatre sells well at the art theatre plus some of the fancier stuff... chocolate covered almonds. The lobby and concession stand are way too small for the games. Yes they do sneak food and liquor in but we do try to enforce prohibitions.

Ever thought of trying a free popcorn night? We do this every Monday night. Not only has it increased our attendance (Monday is now one of our big nights now, right after Friday and Saturday) but our Monday per cap is often better than the rest of the week!!! We make up for the loss of popcorn income on drinks, etc. True, I know popcorn has the highest profit margin (by a long shot!) but it is also very cheap to give away. We give away 46 oz. popcorn cups and refills are free as long as they bring the cup back.

Also, what about trying self-serve soda stations? Many theatres are reporting good results with this. We will be trying it ourselves soon.

I've found that college students enjoy getting something for free, and will spend money when they do get something for free.

Rance

A little bit of an update... I have tried the large drink, large popcorn combo and have some success with it. Also, for those of you that pour Coke, they have a new product called Flavor Rage (Bag In The Box vanilla and cherry syrup) that has been kind of popular. We charge a quarter more for the flavoring, but it gives the customers a much greater selection of flavors (Diet Cherry Coke for example). Anyways, thanks for all of the replies. I think I'm going to try some more new things as well.

Have you tried Hot Dogs? Those big hunken football players love Hot Dogs. I've seen one guy eat two at a time!