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GEORGE SCHUTZ, Director . . . GUS BACOLINI, Associate Director RAY GALLO, Advertising Manager
AUTOMATIC VENDING
in the Theatre Merchandising Scheme
A survey of current practice and opinion among representative theatre operators on the use of coin machines to supplement refreshment stand service.
automation is still being viewed as an inevitable but uncertain quantity by many businesses. In recent years it has swept through the motion picture theatre refreshment industry, leaving behind long rows of flickering and flashing vending machines. Theatre managers, in considering the scope and effect of the mechanical dispenser in their experience have come up with some definite conclusions about its current status and its future.
Although automatic vending machines have been adopted by an overwhelming majority of theatres around the country, it is an extremely rare situation where they are in exclusive use. In nearly every case they are strictly supplementary to the concession stand and theatre managers do not see them ever replacing the attended counter.
The most cited advantage of mechanical dispensers is their ability to serve patrons at hours when regular stand facilities are
closed. The large number of theatre managers who expressed their views on the subject were unanimous on this point and the fact that during peak hours the machines lighten the pressure on the counter salesman and satisfy impatient customers with quicker service. Sometimes, too, they lighten overhead cost by permitting the manager to dispense with a salesclerk during unusually slow hours, such as dinner time.
DRINKS AND CANDY LEAD
Soft drinks and candy are by far the busiest items handled by vending machines. Ice cream was also reported doing brisk business in automatics. Drive-in theatres apparently handle the same stock as indoor theatres, but coffee and hot chocolate outrank the drinks in outdoor sales.
The managers declared an interest in
larger and more colorful machines that could dispense a greater variety of drinks and candy. A Stanley Warner Theatre official in Pittsburgh remarked that some machines already have “a sort of garish appearance” and suggested a neater taste in construction to make them attractive. All thought that greater capacities for the liquid dispensers would be advantageous.
Drinks and candy were mentioned specifically for the “bigger and better” machines because it was felt that other items can get better salesmanship if they are handled at the attended counter.
In some theatres cigarette machines have been installed. Managers using them maintain that this is by far the most economical way of handling the item. According to Oscar Nyberg, district manager of the Evergreen Circuit in Oregon, the vending outfits keep the cigarettes rotated and fresh in the machine,
BETTER REFRESHMENT MERCHANDISING
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