Theaters

When motion pictures arrived in the early twentieth century, they drew huge audiences, which were prime targets for snack food sales, but theater owners refused to sell them. To some owners, vending concessions was an unnecessary nuisance or “beneath their dignity.” In the rowdy burlesque days, hawkers went through the aisles with baskets, selling snack foods such as Cracker Jack and popcorn, which were tossed in the air or strewn on the floors. In addition, vendors were often slovenly dressed and did not always follow the most hygienic practices preferred by the middle classes who frequented movie theaters. These were not the images most theater owners wanted to cultivate for their upscale venues. Other owners considered the profits on concession sales to be negligible compared with the trouble and expense of cleaning up spilled popcorn and scattered boxes and sacks. Many movie theaters had carpeted their lobbies with valuable rugs to emulate the grand theater lobbies. Operators were not interested in having their expensive carpets destroyed by spilled sodas and other confections. Until the 1930s, most theater owners considered snacks to be a liability rather than an asset.
Theater owners shifted their perspectives dramatically during the Depression. Snacks, which cost 5 or 10 cents, were an affordable luxury for most Americans and movie theaters needed the profits to survive. At first, independent concessionaires leased lobby privileges in theaters. Vendors paid about a dollar a day for the right to sell snacks. Because many theaters did not have lobby space, operators leased space outside the theaters. This suited the vendors because they were able to sell both to movie patrons and passersby on the street.
However, when theater owners saw their customers entering the theater with snacks, they quickly saw the light. Independent movie theaters were the first to capitulate to the financial lure of snack food. By the mid-1930s, movie chains started to crumble, too. Popcorn was the main snack attraction. It sold so well because of its aroma—the same smell that some theater owners had reportedly despised earlier. The aroma was maximized during the popping process. As soon as popping machines were placed in the lobbies, business picked up. Popcorn and other confections were progressively introduced into more theaters as tales of snack bar-generated wealth circulated. These experiences and stories, whether or not accurate, convinced even more theater operators to examine the reality of snack food profits. To control expenses, the managers required concession stand operators to account for the boxes and sacks. The net weekly profit on some confections was about 70 percent.
In some small, independent theaters, concession stands paid the entire overhead. In other places it grossed more than admissions. Snack bar sales dramatically increased with movies aimed at children. The highest sales were counted during Abbott and Costello comedies, while the lowest were generated with horror films. As baby boomers grew up, so did their worship of movie stars. During the 1950s, Elvis Presley was the movie star who generated the highest snack bar sales. Bob Hope, a close second in 1958, triumphed the following year.
Movie theaters not only sold snacks in the lobbies; they also advertised them. At drive-in theaters, snack foods were even more important. In 1946, only about 300 drive-in movie theaters existed in America. By 1958, this had dramatically expanded to over 6,000. Because these theaters were designed from scratch, large cafeteria interiors were originally constructed to accommodate thousands of people during the 18-minute intermissions. Advertisements for snack foods appeared on-screen before the show began. The speaker in the car blared out, “At the snack bar now!” As sales increased though advertising, indoor theaters also advertised snack foods before the main feature was shown.
Likewise, when snacks appeared on-screen in films, sales at snack bars also increased. This gave product manufacturers and filmmakers the idea for product placements in movies. Product manufacturers paid filmmakers for the placement of their product in the film. The best example of product placement for a snack food was Reese’s Pieces, which consequently received huge national visibility in the blockbuster film ET, The Extra-Terrestrial (1982).