I am looking for up to date and fairly extensive data on the popcorn
customer in America. My goal is to be clear on who is the typical
buyer of popcorn and where this customer currently buys popcorn-IE
what outlets are currently available (not including movie theatures)
and what is the typical demographic of this customer. (where do they
live, sex, age etc)-Some additional inforamtion on the "snack industry
in general" may be included -but I want as much specific information
as possible on WHO THE POPCORN CUSTOMER IS!  I am most interested in
Retail outlets of fresh popcorn and not as much interested in stores
(supermarkets etc) that sell manufactured, pre-bagged  product (ie
cracker jacks, smart food etc)-thanks

Dear sameb,

Thanks for your question.  First, let me request that if any of the
following is unclear or if you require any further research – please
don’t hesitate to ask me for a clarification.

Let’s start with some generic data.

In 2001, the average American consumer spent $5.41 on popped popcorn
purchased at supermarkets.  This comprised 6.22% of his total
expenditures on snacks purchased in supermarkets.

Source: Progressive Grocer, 81 (13): 15(24), September 15, 2002


2001 Popcorn Sales by Category and Brand
_____________________________________

(all in $ millions)

Popcorn/popcorn oil	$615.80 
Microwave popcorn	$568.00 
By Brand:	
Pop Secret Homestyle	$35.20 
Orville Redenbacher Double Feature	$8.80 
Orville Redenbacher Pour Over	$8.40 
Orville Redenbacher Homestyle	$8.20 
Act II 2000	$4.80 
Orville Redenbacher DF/Pour Over	$0.50 
Act II Corn on the Cob	$4.20 
Jolly Time White & Buttery	$3.40 
Jolly Time Crispy N White	$2.10 
Jolly Time KettleMania	$1.30 
Weight Watchers 	$0.60 

Source: Stagnito's New Products Magazine, 2 (7): 36(2), July 2002


Stats on Ready-to-eat Popcorn Sales
_______________________________

Total sales in 2001 $466.9m, down 4.8% from 2000.
Volume in 2001 124.5m lbs, down 5.1% from 2000.

% Sales by volume by type of outlet:
            
Supermarket        30.9%
Grocery Store      11.5%
Mass Merchandiser  20.7%
Warehouse Club      1.2%
Drug Store          5.6%
Convenience Store  18.8%
Vending             3.0%
Foodservice         2.1%
Other               6.2%

Source: Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery, 91 (6): SI-61(2), June 2002.


Percentage of Americans in Four Generational Categories That
Frequently Snack on Popcorn
________________________________________________________________

Echos (under 20)  45%
Xers (20-35)         49%
Boomers (35-55)   56%
Matures (over 55)  48%

Source: 2001 Yankelovich MONITOR


When do Americans Eat Popcorn?
_____________________________

Americans Eat Most Popcorn During...
            
Home work Time             2%
Home/Leisure Time         23%
School/Office Time         3%
Party Time                 7%
Television/Video Time     64%
Meal Time                  1%
            
Source: 1998 Jolly Time Pop Poll


Information about popcorn consumption
_____________________________________

• Americans consume, on average, 58 quarts of pop corn per year, per
person.
• In 2001, Americans consumed more than 17 billion quarts of pop corn.
• Pop corn is big business in the U.S., ringing up $1.7 billion in
sales (2001 figures). Of these sales, $507.9 million represents the
pre-popped or "ready to eat" pop corn. The kernel pop corn segment
rings up $78.6 million, while microwave pop corn is the favorite with
sales that total $1.1 billion.
• The majority of pop corn consumed in America is eaten in the home
(70 percent). The remaining amount is enjoyed at (in order) movie
theaters, sporting events and amusement parks.
• America's favorite pop corn flavor is butter, followed by caramel
and then cheese corn.
• In the microwave pop corn segment, "double butter" and kettle corn
microwave pop corn varieties are driving category sales.

Source: http://www.jollytime.com/whatspoppin/whatspoppin.asp


The popcorn board has a lot more such relevant information at –

http://www.popcorn.org/frames.cfm?main=encyclopedia


I hope this response adequately addresses your request.  Please let me
know if you are in need of additional information concerning this
query.

Thanks,
ragingacademic-ga


Additional Links:

Some great information about popcorn
http://www.jollytime.com/Kidsclub/kidsclub_science.asp


Great sources for additional info offline:

·Brucken, Robert T.
BANG! The Explosive Popcorn Recipe Book
1983: Ballentine Books; New York 

·Hall, Carolyn Vosburg, et al. 
I Love Popcorn
1976: Double Day Books; New York 

·Hauser, Nao and Spitler, Sue 
The Popcorn Lover's Book
1983: Contemporary Books; Chicago 

·Herskowitz M.D., Joel 
The Popcorn Plus Diet
1987: Ballentine Books; New York 

·Lemon, Julianne 
Popcorn & Peanuts
1977: Nitty Gritty Productions; Concord, California 

·Smith, Andrew F.
Popped Culture: A Social History of Popcorn in America
1999: Smithsonian Institution Press 

·Woodside, Dave
What Makes Popcorn Pop
1980: Atheneum Press; New York

---

Request for Answer Clarification by sameb-ga on 01 Apr 2003 09:36 PST

Thanks for your responce-Your in the ball park-I am however looking
for more specific information on the customer-paticularly with regard
to "what is the typical demographic of this customer. (where do they
live, sex, age etc)"  (I am asking for this research because I am
interested in what mall in which city would be the best place to open
a flavored popcorn store).  Understanding who is making the buying
decisions is important (mom, dad, child) the info below is helpful but
not specific enough!
Echos (under 20)  45% 
Xers (20-35)         49% 
Boomers (35-55)   56% 
Matures (over 55)  48% 

If possible I would also Like to know the 100 best malls in America
(in terms of food/snack sales per square foot-Annies pretzels is a
great indicator) but in fairness to you this is a different question
-so I will be glad to pay u for this info as well!  thanks

---

Clarification of Answer by ragingacademic-ga on 01 Apr 2003 20:40 PST

Sameb -

Thanks for your clarification request.
I will get to work on it.

I'd also like to point out that some of the data indicates some
distinct characteristics that should help you immensely in planning -
I'll point out exactly what when I post my clarification.

As for malls - can you post an extra question and refer it to me?  For
example, subject would read "100 best malls - for ragingacademic" -
please note that compiling such a list will take a couple of hours.

thanks again,
ragingacademic

---

Request for Answer Clarification by sameb-ga on 02 Apr 2003 09:40 PST

looking forward to your clarification and ....."I'd also like to point
out that some of the data indicates some distinct characteristics that
should help you immensely in planning -I'll point out exactly what
when I post my clarification"-
Thanks!!  More to come!!

---

Clarification of Answer by ragingacademic-ga on 02 Apr 2003 12:23 PST

Dear sameb,

Here is some clarification – I hope this helps put you further on
track.

I am sorry to report that I have not managed to uncover any additional
information about the character of the average popcorn customer –
given the popularity of popcorn and the number of databases I have
used, this is quite surprising.

Nevertheless, based on the following statistics that I had provided
earlier I would like to offer you the following assessment (first
statistics, then assessment…)

Percentage of Americans in Four Generational Categories That
Frequently Snack on Popcorn
________________________________________________________________

Echos (under 20)  45%
Xers (20-35)         49%
Boomers (35-55)   56%
Matures (over 55)  48%

Source: 2001 Yankelovich MONITOR


When do Americans Eat Popcorn?
_____________________________

Americans Eat Most Popcorn During...
            
Home work Time             2%
Home/Leisure Time         23%
School/Office Time         3%
Party Time                 7%
Television/Video Time     64%
Meal Time                  1%
            
Source: 1998 Jolly Time Pop Poll


Information about popcorn consumption
_____________________________________

• Americans consume, on average, 58 quarts of pop corn per year, per
person.
• In 2001, Americans consumed more than 17 billion quarts of pop corn.
• Pop corn is big business in the U.S., ringing up $1.7 billion in
sales (2001 figures). Of these sales, $507.9 million represents the
pre-popped or "ready to eat" pop corn. The kernel pop corn segment
rings up $78.6 million, while microwave pop corn is the favorite with
sales that total $1.1 billion.
• The majority of pop corn consumed in America is eaten in the home
(70 percent). The remaining amount is enjoyed at (in order) movie
theaters, sporting events and amusement parks.
• America's favorite pop corn flavor is butter, followed by caramel
and then cheese corn.
• In the microwave pop corn segment, "double butter" and kettle corn
microwave pop corn varieties are driving category sales.
Source: http://www.jollytime.com/whatspoppin/whatspoppin.asp
So, here’s my assessment –
+ first, based on the generational data, and as I would have thought
intuitively anyway, there isn’t much variance in popcorn consumption
by age; the numbers show that between 45% and 55% of Americans in any
age group are frequent consumers of popcorn – this translates into
roughly one in two individuals.
+ second, and, again, this comes as no surprise to me – about two
thirds of all popcorn consumed is eaten while watching a movie.  The
percentage eaten while, say, walking around a mall is very very
negligible.
+ third, most popcorn is actually eaten at home (70%)
+ fourth, flavored popcorn is far from the most popular

Based on this, and given your desire to open a flavored popcorn store
in a mall-based location, I would think that you should open that
first store as close to a movie theater as possible – since 50% of
mall goers anywhere are potential popcorn customers, exact
demographics are not very relevant – what is relevant is that the
desire to eat popcorn is very closely associated with the desire to
watch a movie.  Movie theaters, on the whole, do not provide flavored
popcorn – so moviegoers would be able to purchase your popcorn on the
way into the theater.  However, I would suggest that you also offer
the more popular varieties, e.g. fresh-popped buttered popcorn, and of
course caramel and cheese corn.  You should not find it difficult to
compete with the theater on price since theirs are so outrageous…

I hope this response adequately addresses your request.  Please let me
know if you are in need of additional information concerning this
query.

Thanks,
ragingacademic-ga


Additional Links I have found in this further round of research:

Excellent, thorough info on popcorn, but more from an agricultural and
commercial perspective –
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/popcorn.html

Links to Major Popcorn manufacturers and distributors
http://www.badgerpopcorn.com/$spindb.query.listall.badgerview

The Snack Food Association’s State of the Industry report may provide
you with more detailed demographic information
http://www.sfa.org/publications.html

Link to a book you could purchase for $6.95 that may have more
relevant info
http://www.charlesbridge.com/popcorn.htm