A Reddit thread has gone viral after a customer shared an image of their popcorn order from Vue – and it’s safe to say the revelation has left many online users stunned
Cinema buffs were left gobsmacked after discovering the truth behind their favourite movie snack at some of the big chain theatres.
A Reddit thread showed how popcorn is served up, revealing it often comes pre-popped and not freshly made on-site, leaving some fans utterly dismayed. The revelation came to light when a post on r/CasualUK was posted: “This is what a popcorn delivery at Vue looks like,” alongside a photo showing numerous large containers brimming with the snack.
The snapshot sparked quite the debate online, with one user lamenting: “Hang on, they don’t pop the kernels themselves, childhood ruined.” While another chimed in: “Some places still do. This is clearly cheaper for the chain… but I’m not sure how much it must save.”
They added: “As far as I can tell you still need to do the food hygiene stuff, this way costs more to transport. The only thing I can think of is this is more consistent flavour.” Ex-cinema employees also joined the conversation, sharing insights into the logistics of popcorn production and the reasons behind serving pre-popped corn.
One former worker shared: “I worked at a cinema who phased out popping their own salt popcorn while I was still working there.” They explained: “The reasons they did it was: A. Why have a member of staff train, pop and then clean the machine when you can have an extra hand out front serving customers or even better just not have to pay an extra person at all.
“B. the cost of the running and maintaining a specialist machine designed to do one thing comes out of the budget of the cinema which is basically nothing.” Hence, the original poster delved into the dramatic history of our movie munching habits, tracing it back to America’s Great Depression era in the 1920s.
They penned: “It was the Great Depression what did it. No one had any money, cinemas were on their knees, so they replaced traditional snacks (chocolate, sweets etc.) with popcorn, purely because it was one of the cheapest foodstuffs around. Became the cinema snack for the next five years or so, during which time cinema started to really boom and here we are today.”
