"It's not bad", comments Gianmarco Gorni after tasting a popcorn in a cup bought € 3.50 at UGC.
“But I know the cost prices.
So I find it a bit expensive.
To demonstrate this, the chef of the Goguette restaurant in Paris has agreed to reproduce the recipe.
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The manufacturer of these popcorns, the French company Benoît, having refused to give us the slightest indication, the only mark the chef will have is the label on a cardboard box. "In 100 g of popcorn, there is 50 g of corn", explains the cook, reading the regulatory information. This comes down to 18 cents. 17 g of sunflower oil: 3 cents.
Everything is placed in a saucepan over high heat.
The popcorns explode under the lid.
Gianmarco Gorni adds the sugar, 33 g for 3 cents, and lightly caramelizes everything.
Then he tastes the original version of UGC and its copy: “Mission accomplished,” he says proudly.
The volume of 100 g made by the chef corresponds precisely to the 1.25 liter cup bought at the cinema.
He adds up the raw material costs: 24 cents.
“It costs 24 cents to produce a cup that will sell for € 3.50,” he repeats.
A sacred margin
The price of raw materials is therefore multiplied by 14.50!
In catering, this multiplier is called the coefficient and it generally turns around 3.5.
“And again,” he explains, “I calculated from the purchase price for me as a restaurateur.
A factory undoubtedly benefits from much more advantageous tariffs.
"
Between the raw material at 24 cents maximum and the cup sold for € 3.50, we must add many costs: wage costs, logistics, transport, packaging and margins for the manufacturer and the cinema… When the popcorn arrives in multiplexes and other small rooms, it is shaped like voluminous compact bricks under vacuum.
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In Chantilly, Rod Assous gets his supplies from a Dutch manufacturer called PCO. He puts the “block” of popcorns on the counter and reads the label: “98 liters”. “A 1.3-liter cup therefore costs us 84 cents including tax,” explains the owner of the independent cinema L'Elysée. And we will sell it for 4 euros. It represents a gain of 79% for me. "It seems huge, but that would be forgetting a detail:" We only earn 30% on the sale price of cinema tickets. Popcorn is the consolation prize for operators. If it weren't for the confectionery, a third of cinemas in France would undoubtedly close their doors. "
In short, popcorn is very expensive for what it is, but it would keep many independent theaters alive.
What about the big cinema networks like Gaumont and UGC?
Impossible to know because if we know the resale prices of their popcorn, they did not want to reveal their purchase prices to suppliers.
Taste-proof popcorn
And in terms of taste?
Is there a difference between the popcorn sold from one cinema to another?
"These have a slightly brighter, caramelized side," comments on UGC's popcorns Mélanie Lheritier, pastry chef at the head of the Sweet Garden, two shops in Paris and Cernay-la-Ville, in Parisian region.
It makes me want more but I don't know if it's good or not.
"
We will verify it by blindfolding him: "He tastes like cinema!"
»She wonders, not knowing that she has just put the popcorn she observed just before in her mouth.
The PCO popcorn at the Elysée in Chantilly?
“He has a more natural side.
Looks like homemade.
"As for that of the Pathé Gaumont cinemas:" It is not bad!
It has a little toasted side.
“It will be his favorite (5 euros for 1.25 l).
It is followed by popcorn from the Elysée cinema (€ 4 for 1.3 l) and those from UGC (€ 3.50 for 1.25 l).
Despite the spectacular coefficient of nearly 15 times the cost price, UGC's popcorn remains the cheapest for sale.
Mélanie Lheritier is still stunned: “It's incredible.
We multiply the price of our raw material by 3.5 and people sometimes find that our prices are too high!
"
So, should you buy popcorn at the cinema or not?
Everyone will now make their choice in all conscience - or almost.
Because if the rooms are not transparent on their margins, which is usual in companies, they are not transparent on the composition of what they offer to eat to their spectators: no indication appears on the cups. and the sellers, when asked about the ingredients, were often helpless.
