Do you sneak food into the movie theater?

[nugov2]

I bring in candy and buy popcorn and drinks. I have to have movie theater popcorn!! I've never seen a sign posted, but I still feel fairly confident it is against the rules, but admittedly it is one I will violate.

 

[Disneylover99]

I don't think there is any written policy at my theater or at least I have never seen it, but I have seen people come in with soda bottles/cans and candy in hand where they have asks them to go leave that in the car or they were not being let in.

I have never noticed anyone just walking in with food/drink in their hands. Most people carry a bag. Bags never seem to be an issue.

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

I always bring candy and soda in-- even when I still worked there! I have no problem with people bringing food into the theater. Sure, they lose some money, but they make up for it by never paying their employees a dime over minimum wage-- the biggest raise I've seen was ten cents. Even the managers only make $1-$2 at the most over minumum. Mmm popcorn is good, though. I always buy popcorn from them. But yeah, please, don't feel guilty at all. Worked at a huge theater for 2 years. Literally no one cares as long as you keep it in a bag or something.

 

[Minnesota!]

Yes. The same candy is $1 at the store down the street. So, I put candy and pop in my purse. We do buy popcorn there, though.

 

[aprilchem]

I guess I'm one of the few - absolutely not. There are signs in the movie theaters here prohibiting it, so we do not do it. I feel that it is dishonest.

When my father was alive, though, we did talk to the manager once to ask if we could bring in some special food that he could eat, as he was unable to eat anything that they sold there because of his illness. We did get approval to do that.

 

[Jaime4004]

I almost always do, if i'm planning on bringing in candy or water. Can't pay 4-5x as much as it is worth, that would hurt too much. Always buy popcorn though, yum! DS9 is a rule follower and he gets disturbed if there is a "no outside food or drink" sign. So I always buy his. No need drag him down to my life of crime....

 

[Stinkerbell92]

I have never noticed anyone just walking in with food/drink in their hands. Most people carry a bag. Bags never seem to be an issue.

Some people I guess just don't think. I always carry my big over the shoulder bag when I go to the movies. I could fit the kitchen sink in there if I wanted to.

 

[scrapquitler]

I didn't want to do a poll, because I'm curious as to how many people will actually admit it.

I am ashamed, but we do! Target is in the mall where our movie theater is & we will often stop in there & buy a trail mix & a bottle of water. We will also typically buy a fountain soda at the movie snack bar. We have also been known to sneak in a sandwich on occasion (nothing stinky!)

Anyone else want to come clean??

No. The movie theater only gets something like a quarter from the ticket price of a brand new movie, the rest goes to the studio. The concession stand is the only place that the theater actually gets to make money. Because we are lucky enough to have a really fabulous locally owned (and independent from the big chains) theater in our community, we DO buy snacks at the concession stand because we want to help keep them in business. That said, we only go to the movies on Tuesdays, when the theater has all movies for $5 all day. Because we are saving on the ticket prices, we don't mind spending on the popcorn and drinks. DH and I can still have a date night with popcorn and soda for $20. If we had one of the big chains, we probably would bring our snacks in from an outside source.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Maybe if they lowered the prices of M&Ms to something under my monthly mortgage payment, less people would be sneaking food in!!

That's got to be an awfully low mortgage payment.

I don't count it as sneaking. The cinemas where I live don't have big signs up saying it is not allowed. I think the rules (not well publicised) are just around hot food for the sake of smells and also alcohol which must be purchased at the cinemas that are licensed and not brought to the others - obviously for liquor license and law reasons.

If it's a chain, odds are bringing your own food is prohibited.

I always bring candy and soda in-- even when I still worked there! I have no problem with people bringing food into the theater. Sure, they lose some money, but they make up for it by never paying their employees a dime over minimum wage-- the biggest raise I've seen was ten cents. So, that's a dime :confused3 Even the managers only make $1-$2 at the most over minumum. Mmm popcorn is good, though. I always buy popcorn from them. But yeah, please, don't feel guilty at all. Worked at a huge theater for 2 years. Literally no one cares as long as you keep it in a bag or something.

Probably theater owners care. Is it possible the costs of running a theater are extremely high, especially in relation to revenue?

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Only if it's something I can buy at the theatre.

Most of the movie for tickets go back to major studios. If you have an independent theatres or drive ins in your area, the only way they make money is through concessions.

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

That's got to be an awfully low mortgage payment.

If it's a chain, odds are bringing your own food is prohibited.


Probably theater owners care. Is it possible the costs of running a theater are extremely high, especially in relation to revenue?

"A dime over minimum wage" is a metaphor. And it was basically implied that no one ever received raises, thus the "ten cent raise" was very rare. Lol. Again, popcorn is tasty so I buy it at the theater. Popcorn is the main money maker, they make an insane profit off of it, and I don't know many people that would actually sneak in popcorn. Never as good as the real stuff. The candy is a ripoff, and they actually don't make much money off of it.

Usually, if anyone was ever caught "sneaking in food", which was really rare, they would make a big scene, curse at us, then get a higher up manager to come over. 9.9 times out of 10 the manager would just let them in because they're causing a scene and they want them to return.

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

I understand it's how theaters make much of their money, but it also comes down to pretty basic game theory. If they would moderate their prices, they would sell more product. Instead, they raise them to ridiculous levels, to the point where the one person buying a box of candy and a popcorn is subsidizing the entire theater and their prices drive more and more to bringing in outside food and drinks. They should refine their business model, as some are doing, and they would likely generate more revenue, but in the interim I think it is economically foolish to pay $6 for something I can buy next door for $1.

Also, the ticket revenue sharing model is not usually what people are stating in this thread. Typically it works on a sliding scale, where the studios get nearly all the revenue from the first week or two weeks (the split is higher for big budget movies and smaller for movies with smaller audience appeal) and then the share to the theater increases fairly dramatically as time goes on, to the point where it can become a 50/50 split after a movie has been out for a while.

 

[NFLDERS]

No. However, on occasion I've had an fortune cookie in my pocket if we've come from dinner to the theatre, and almost always I'll eat it during the movie.

 

[JennaDeeDooDah]

I don't for a combination of reasons. The primary reason is that I really enjoy the pretzels at our movie theater, especially with that horrible plastic cheese-like product that probably rots my insides. I get that and a cherry coke and am in seventh heaven. The secondary reason is because it is against the rules and I am an avid rule follower almost to the point of ridiculousness. The tertiary reason is because I would feel bad due to the fact that movie theaters make their money off of concession sales (as a previous poster pointed out) so if you bring in outside food, profits go down, so costs go up, and eventually, if people don't buy stuff to offset the loss that the theater is taking, it will end up closing.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

The only time I bring in outside food is when we go to the theater in the mall. They don't have Cherry Coke on fountain(which is my go to for movie drinks) so I bring in an Orange Julius. They've never said anything.

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

Regal stopped carrying plain M&Ms (why? WHYYYYYYYYY?) so if I remember, or have enough time beforehand, I'll grab a bag of those from Wawa or Target or something. But I always get my popcorn and soda there. In fact, if I actually go with someone else, I will get one for each person: I don't share my popcorn.

The Loews near me still has plain M&Ms and also you can add your own fake butter, so obviously it is the greatest theater in the world.

 

[bluezy]

I understand it's how theaters make much of their money, but it also comes down to pretty basic game theory. If they would moderate their prices, they would sell more product. Instead, they raise them to ridiculous levels, to the point where the one person buying a box of candy and a popcorn is subsidizing the entire theater and their prices drive more and more to bringing in outside food and drinks. They should refine their business model, as some are doing, and they would likely generate more revenue, but in the interim I think it is economically foolish to pay $6 for something I can buy next door for $1.
...

Exactly! Our little local theater charges $2.00-$2.25 for most of their boxed candy. At that price, I think most people are willing to skip the stop at the Dollar Tree a mile down the road and just buy their candy at the theater. A large soda is $2.00 and a bottle of water is $1.50. Again, probably not worth making an extra stop to save a few dollars. I've probably gone to close to 50 movies at this theater over the last 6 or 7 years and I can count on 1 hand the number of people I've noticed bringing their own snacks/drinks. I estimate that over 80% of the people who go to our little local theater purchase food and drinks there -- there's always a line at the concession counter. Fortunately the counter is actually *in* the theater so you don't even have to miss any of the movie if you're still waiting in line when it starts.

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

Exactly! Our little local theater charges $2.00-$2.25 for most of their boxed candy. At that price, I think most people are willing to skip the stop at the Dollar Tree a mile down the road and just buy their candy at the theater. A large soda is $2.00 and a bottle of water is $1.50. Again, probably not worth making an extra stop to save a few dollars. I've probably gone to close to 50 movies at this theater over the last 6 or 7 years and I can count on 1 hand the number of people I've noticed bringing their own snacks/drinks. I estimate that over 80% of the people who go to our little local theater purchase food and drinks there -- there's always a line at the concession counter. Fortunately the counter is actually *in* the theater so you don't even have to miss any of the movie if you're still waiting in line when it starts.

That sounds awesome! I'd definitely purchase from this theater and not bring anything outside. Sounds like a great place to see a movie Wish they had small theaters like that were I live.

 

[mikehn]

Im just shocked three pages have gone by and the dis police hasn't come by to bust everyone.

 

[nugov2]

Im just shocked three pages have gone by and the dis police hasn't come by to bust everyone.

Just goes to show you breaking movie theater policy OK...breaking WDW policy stealing, teaching your child to be a theif/liar, lowest form of scum.