Regal theaters are going to be dishing out a new product, well, a new idea at least, this coming Friday. Cheetos-dusted popcorn supplemented with Cheetos will be making an appearance at theaters everywhere on the 15th and to be quite honest it might sound like a good idea and it might taste like a good idea, but honestly and truthfully it won’t make a lick of difference in concession sales. How do I sound so certain? Have you seen a Regal concession menu lately? What they make from popcorn, soda pop, and candy could be easily eclipsed by the other items they offer, which includes alcohol and actual cooked meals, if people started ordering them at every screening.
Granted it’s a different idea, and likely something that a person at home came up with all on their own by thinking that it would be a great bit of fun to combine two of their favorite snacks. The idea of cheese-flavored popcorn is nothing new, but adding in the Cheetos aspect of it might seem like a novel idea to some people and could possibly get some attention just for being so innovative. But obviously it’s going to be up to the moviegoers to really make the call on this. I can recall a lot of ideas that have come and gone in theaters over the years that wouldn’t even be considered again.
Remember the plastic water bottles that Pepsi pushed back in the day? They were humongous and of course they cost a lot to get, but they had free refills. It’s about the same idea of giving a person a gallon of soda pop per serving in this day and age, but back then just as now people cashed in on this again and again. Now obviously the theaters don’t worry about the cost of soda since they just give it away after the first purchase, but the cost of the cups obviously wasn’t something they were willing to take because after a while they went away without an explanation.
I can also remember a time when ice cream wasn’t a big thing in the theaters and then it was and then it wasn’t again. Now the theaters have such an extensive menu that you might as well be doing dinner and a movie in the same place. Throughout all this I don’t see how Cheetos popcorn is going to make much of a difference, especially since it’s bound to be knocked up in price as a special and prone to being ignored by people that don’t care about the novelty of but instead just want something to chew on while they watch their movie.
I could be completely wrong and people might find this to be an awesome addition to the already extensive menu, but really paying top dollar for something that you can make so easily at home for much less seems like an idea that wasn’t given a whole lot of thought. Here, let’s dump cheese dust all over the popcorn. Now let’s toss a bag of Cheetos in there for good measure.
Voila, another menu item that costs too much.
