Planning a popcorn bar and trying to figure out how much popcorn you need to buy.
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There is no exact way to know how much popcorn each guest will eat. However the best way to guess is how much you think they will eat based on how much other food that is being served at the party. At a movie night popcorn bar guests may go back multiple times for popcorn but at a wedding with a full three course meal, guests may only have room for one serving if any at all.
Now that you have the number of servings you need, you can determine how much popcorn you need to buy. This is a simple chart based on a 2 cup serving, showing how much popped popcorn you will need.
#Here a popcorn calculator, which will help you determine how many cups or gallons of popped popcorn you will need. It also breaks it down to how many cups or ounces of popcorn kernels you will need if you will be popping the popcorn yourself.
Now you have the number of cups of popcorn you need but many times popcorn in sold by the weight. Frustrating, I know, but you may get lucky and they will tell you approximately how many cups are in the container.
If not you will have to guess the best you can. Just with Google I found that 1 cup of popped popcorn weighs from .28 to 2.24 ounces. That is quite a big range. I measured some pre-popped salted popcorn I had in my pantry and one cup weighed .7 ounces. I think the variance in how much a cup of popcorn weighs maybe do to how much butter, oil and salt is on the popcorn.
A few companies on Amazon who offered large bags of pre-popped popcorn listed how many cups are in their bags and they were in the .28 ' .3 ounces her cup range. It sounds like a small difference but with a 56 ounce bag, if one cup is .28 ounces you will get 200 cups of popcorn. If we go by .7 ounces weight per cup, you only get 80 cups of popcorn from the same 56 ounce bag.
Unfortunately I don't have a good solution to this problem. I definitely suggest if you can't speak with the company you are ordering popcorn from, over estimate and get more than you may need. Better to have extra than not enough.
Determining whether you need popcorn kernels or pre-popped popcorn depends on if you want to pop it yourself or prefer to have it already popped. My choice is pre-popped unless you are renting or happen to own a popcorn machine, like the ones you see at carnivals or the movie theaters. Normally at home I use an air popper to pop my own popcorn, which I tried to do for a party. Well I popped bowl after bowl the day before the party and packed it all away in zip-lock bags. A few hours later, that same day I tasted the popcorn and it was already going stale. So I tossed it all out and ran to the store and bought a giant bag of pre-popped popcorn. Frustrating but I definitely learned by lesson, that I prefer pre-popped popcorn.
Now you can do an air popper if you plan to run it during the party. You will probably need to assign someone to run it. Some things to consider, they usually only make a bowl full at a time, usually loud, and may need cooling down time between bowls. I don't have one to recommend, mine is really old but most stores that carry small kitchen appliances will have them or of course Amazon, they usually run $20-25.
Another option is to buy or rent a popcorn machine for your popcorn bar. I haven't tried a popcorn machine yet so I don't have any advice to offer on this option. However just from the few home-model popcorn machines I've seen on the market, I think I would be more inclined to rent one. It just seems like with a rental it would hopefully be a higher quality machine and you avoid having to store it.
My favorite option is to buy pre-popped popcorn. I prefer not to have to deal with running a machine or an air-popper during a party. The question is where to buy the pre-popped popcorn.
I think the best option to buy popped popcorn if you decide to go that route, would be to find a local popcorn company in your area and talk to to them to see if they could provide you with fresh popped popcorn for the day of your party.
Another option and the one I had to use last minute was buying it from a grocery store. At least at the grocery stores in my area, they only sold what they call party sized bags that feed a couple people. However I did find a giant party sized bag at Smart and Final, which was great.
You can also buy popcorn online. There are gourmet and specialty popcorn stores online. And of course Amazon carries pre-popped popcorn too.
If you decide to use a popcorn machine or an air-popper, you can find popcorn kernels pretty much anywhere, almost any grocery store carries them and they are usually pretty inexpensive.
The last thing to think about is how to serve the popcorn to your guests. Especially when setting up a popcorn bar, but this is the fun party. You will need some baskets/ buckets so the guests can scoop their own popcorn and something for them to eat it out of like popcorn bags.
Want more information on serving size for popcorn? Feel free to contact us.
In my shop I have wood slat popcorn baskets and metal buckets to serve the popcorn and a variety of paper bags for each guest to create their own popcorn creation. This shows how much popcorn each item holds.
Knowing how much popcorn you will be serving based on the number of guests and how much you think everyone will eat, you can better determine the size buckets or baskets you need to serve your guests. If you are planning on 200 popcorn servings, you know you will need 200 popcorn bags, 400 cups of popcorn and if you using three 8 quart popcorn baskets, you will still need to fill them each a little more than 4 times.
Example: 400 popcorn cups / (32 cups per basket x 3 baskets) = 4.2x each basket will need to be filled
As you can see from this example you will most likely need someone to keep refilling the popcorn baskets for you. If you are busying hosting maybe a family member or a friend wouldn't mind keeping an eye out on keeping these baskets full for you.
One last tip, if you are using pre-popped popcorn for your popcorn bar. Keep the bags sealed until you are ready to use them. In my opinion popcorn goes stale pretty quickly and fresh popcorn is so much better
If you're considering a popcorn machine for your home theater, school, or business, you've no doubt noticed that there's a huge variety of popcorn poppers available. It's important to choose the one that's right for your needs. To make the best choice, you might find it useful to think about some of the following factors.
How to Choose a Popcorn MachineWatch our video on how to select the right size popcorn popper for your situation. Professor talks about popcorn kettle size and why it's important to know the output you need to select the right equipment. He also speaks to your usage and how that will effect your decision on the popper.
This is the most obvious factor when making any purchase, and popcorn poppers are no exception! It's important to bear in mind that the least expensive machine may not be the machine that's best for you. This device will be making popcorn for you and your guests for a long time, so it's best to find a compromise between cost and quality, and make sure you don't regret passing up a popper that's a little better!
You'll notice that popcorn machines are available with a range of kettle sizes, from 4oz machines all the way up to 16oz. This is the amount of unpopped popcorn kernels the kettle can pop in one go. 1oz of unpopped popcorn makes roughly 2.5 cups of popped popcorn, so a 4oz kettle will make 10 cups per batch, and a 16oz kettle will make 40 cups! A 4oz or 6oz kettle is ideal for many home theater owners. If you're going to be making popcorn for a large family or a business, however, you may wish to consider a popper with one of the larger kettles. In general, we recommend popcorn machines in the 4-8oz range for home theater depending on how much entertaining you do in the theater. For commercial purposes like School events, we recommend 8oz to 16oz depending on the usage and output you need.
Machine Size 1 oz. Servings Per Hour Popped Cups Per BatchPopped Cups Per Hour 4 oz. 80-1 oz. 10 Cups 200 Cups 6 oz. 120-1 oz. 15 Cups 300 Cups 8 oz. 160-1 oz. 20 Cups 400 Cups 12 oz. 240-1 oz. 30 Cups 600 Cups 16 oz. 320-1 oz. 40 Cups 800 CupsPopcorn poppers come with a variety of features, each of which may or may not be something you desire in a popper. Some have their own lighting, and many feature doors, carts, or cabinets for oil and other popcorn supplies. A warming deck can keep popcorn warm until it's ready to be enjoyed, which is a good thing when you're hosting events. Kernel drawers, anodized non-stick kettles, push-button oil dispensers and popcorn supply storage are just a few of the many useful features to consider.
Last but certainly not least, poppers come in a wide variety of designs. Whether your home theater has a classic or contemporary feel, there's a popcorn popper that fits your decor perfectly. Your popcorn machine will be a very visible part of the room, so consider how its colors and design will fit in. Style matters!
Hopefully, this guide has helped you select the perfect popcorn popper. We retail the best brands including Paragon International, Benchmark USA, and Cretors. The best advice comes from our experienced staff, so if you have any questions about a particular model, or popcorn machines in general, just give us a call at 1-888-764- and our experienced staff will be happy to help!
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