Article contributed by Danielle Fantasia, Sales & Marketing for Motion Technology Inc.
Concession sales at a movie theater are some of the most profitable dollars coming through the door. With profit margins on ticket sales being razor thin, concession sales are critical to keeping a theater in business. Most theaters offer at least popcorn, candy and soda as part of their concessions sales strategy, but what’s stopping them from offering more? Usually its infrastructure and an inability to build a functional kitchen. Thankfully, ventless kitchen equipment is changing the way cinemas are able to provide movie fare.
Today we highlight the reason for expanding your concession offerings. From increased profits, to happier consumers, expanding your concessions to prepared foods is a no brainer, especially when you realize you can do it all with just one machine!
Most theater operators will tell you only about 40% of guests buy something from the concessions stand. Which means only 2 out of every 5 patrons are purchasing something other than a movie ticket. To increase the number of patrons who buy concession foods, you have to consider what facts may have prevented the sale in the first place. Did they already eat? Do they find prices too high for the type of food their buying? Do they not like popcorn?
What if you could answer each of those problems with a single machine solution? Ventless deep fryers allows you to cook and serve delicious fried food options without any hoods or venting or even the need for additional staff. With a ventless fryer like AutoFry, you can entice people to eat dinner AT the movies instead of before the movies. Additionally, you can offer high profit items like chicken tenders and french fries, that guests won’t mind spending their money on. With ventless kitchen equipment you’re offering much more than just popcorn!
When looking at ventless fryers, the AutoFry brand offers four sizes of fully automated, fully ventless fryers that are completely enclosed. This means the equipment does all the hard work for you without any additional updates to your kitchen space. Simply plug in your fryer and watch it get to work on increasing your concession sales. As a fully automated machine, it doesn’t require additional staffing, or someone to watch over the fry process to ensure proper cooking. AutoFry will shake and dump your food out at the proper intervals to ensure perfectly cooked food every time. As with all ventless machines, AutoFry doesn’t need to be placed under a hood system – saving you thousands on installation costs. And as a completely enclosed unit, AutoFry eliminates contact with scalding hot oil, this means a safe environment for workers!
Whatever concession equipment you go with, you can be sure that the addition of hot prepared foods will be a highly profitable venture. From mozzarella sticks to movie tickets, cinemas really can do it all!
