Welcome to BigScreenBiz.com

Hello All,

Wow, got a lot of action since I been here last.

Ok, I think I found about 90% of what I am looking for in terms of supplier. Ironically most of the items can be had cheaply at Sams Club.

BECKWITH1--I am surprised to hear that you think that Sams is getting 'pricy'. They seem to be in line with other suppliers...at least with Candy. But their popcorn boxes, while very nice and traditional looking, they are a bit expensive. It is funny that you mention CJ Dannemiller. I pushed and squeezed the original owner and he manged to pop that name out has his popcorn supplier. So I decided that is my best move and factored them into my business plan. Glad to know I made a good move there. I have not heard of Clarke Products. Do they have a website? I will check them out.

RODEOJACK--funny you should mention drive in's there is one up the block, but it is very rarely open. I guess some retiree must run it and just runs it on weekends 'when he feels like it'. From the current theatre owner he says the guy is tight lipped and mean. So I am going to steer clear from that place. I don't think he is going to stay in business too much longer. Who knows, if I do good with this theatre. I may eventually buy that one too.

BURNEYFALLS---NICE POST!! I will keep that information in mind and check out those sites.

So far things are progressing well and I am in purchase agreement right now. I hope to get into the theatre by late summer, but things are going pretty slow and I may not get in until Fall.

Thanks again all!

OH! I forgot (sorry about the double post)

Where is a good hot pretzel supplier in the Ohio area? I cannot find one for the life of me!

I thought CJ Dannemiller had them, but the don't .

Thank You.

Try Lorain Novelty in Lorain for the pretzels and also their penny candy (aka fundraiser packages). Telephone number for Clark Products is (440) 347-9527. You need their prices on candy and paper goods to compare with others. They sell all the theater standards that Sams doesn't.

Clark foods supplies theatres, so they should have everything you need. They also will carry pretzels. Sams club also sells the King Size SUPERPRETZEL which you could sell.

Clark does not have pretzels on their pricing list which they send to all of us theaters. They do offer nachos however.

Hello BECKWITH1

I went to CLARK's website, but could not find any kind of pricing list. I know I had the right sight, but it could be I don't know the specific link for product pricing.

There is another good candy site I found. Groovycandies.com. They have the candy in several sizes AND they also have the popular theater candy. But I would like to compre them to Clark's prices.

Also, when it comes to Nachos. I noticed that CJDannemiller has something called a 'Portion Pack'. Using these, there would be no guesswork to properly serving accurate servings and on top of it, I wouldn't have to buy a cheeze warmer. Has anyone used these portion packs? What is your opinion on them?

Thank You,
JG

Clark may just sell pretzel bites, not pretzels. Promotion in Motion is another candy supplier you can check, they will send you samples of candy if you request it. Portion pack nachos may work if you don't plan to sell many, but they are a LOT more expensive.

We buy our nacho chips, cheese and salsa in portion packs from Dannemiller. We tested other varieties and found these to be the best tasting and best price for us. We put them into standard kids pack trays which we buy from PMG as closeouts. Customer acceptance is excellent with this method. We had an unused popcorn warmer so we warm up the cheese and chips in it during the day.
I believe that someone mentioned before that most distributors that do not sell to the general public don't list prices on their website. You have to be an authorized retailer to get their pricing. Clark doesn't sell to the general public so they don't make their pricing available to the general public via website. Perhaps you can figure out that they don't want the general public to know how much markup you are putting on their stuff.

[This message has been edited by BECKWITH1 (edited May 30, 2006).]

Don't they also have different prices for different customers?

Could be different pricing for different customers, but then I'm not sure their front office could get the bills correct if they were too squirrely about it. I've currently got a case of Regal 170 oz popcorns that they sent me instead of the 170 oz I ordered. I'm sure that Regal pricing is different from mine but they are also a special order item for Clark to stock. Eventually they will be picked up and switched for the non competitor advertising ones.

[This message has been edited by BECKWITH1 (edited June 01, 2006).]

Hello,

TRACKFOOD--Thank you for the tip on Promotion In Motion. I will check them out. As for the Nachos, I am mainly interested in the portion packs because I would like to try them out. But I see your point, if they turn out to be a HUGE hit, then I could get a cheese warmer and buy bulk materials. I just want to try it this way first.

BECKWITH1--Nice to see that the portion packs do work well with you. I would have to really get down with the math to see the difference in price from the old way to the portion packs. One reason why I am leaning towards the portion packs is clean up and prep. There are no extra steps. The cheese dispenser undoubtably requires cleaning. In the beginning, I just want to make things as simple as possible and this sounds like a good way to go. Oh, in terms of Clark, I found out what you were saying and just abandoned them for now. As I said I need to make a business plan NOW so I always can look into them later on. If the prices are a little higher from another company and I put them in my business plan, then that is a good thing if I find a cheaper source later.

JG

Promotion In Motion website appears to be 'broken'...Bummer.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, helvetica">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jukingeo:
<B>The think I can't squeeze out of him is the costs.
JG</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Just a tip that is applicable to buying ANY business. There is a process generally called "due dilligence" wher you sign a confidentiality agreement stating basically that your information requests are for the purposes of determining the viability of buying the business and they, in return, will open their books and records to you. The clauses in this agreement protect both parties leagally and the penalties for using their information are stiff as well as the penalties for them not allowing you access to every aspect of the business. Any business that will not do that, regardless of the industry, is hiding something.

Just a tip from someone who has gone through this in other industries.

Sov

Hello SOV,

I am going through purchase agreement right now . I am 'assuming' once I pass this stage that they WILL show me their books. It will at least give me a jump on my business plan because I can just look up all their suppliers and have all the costs at my fingertips. It would speed up the process.

However, while I may be running a similar business there will be many differences. For one, the owners are non-profit. While I MAY go down this road, I probably will not be able to do it right off the bat. For one, is who I would want for board members. So that is a major consideration. The biggest challenge for me is making sure that there will be enough business to cover costs because in addition to the current building expenses there will be the loan payment. The current operation may not support this and I may need to book larger acts in the building. Movies may very well be deligated to only off weeks and weekdays. Basically a schedule filler. But at this stage of the game, I do have to get concerts, bands, and other town events booked. I need something that I know that I can sell the building out for one or two nights a month. It is a fairly large building for a small town...and I would consider it too big for just movies. But I am mainly after it's live performance capabilities. With a really 'A' kickin' sound system...this place will rock.

But thank you for the tip. I will keep that in mind especially if they still do not want to show me the books upon purchase agreement.

JG