Soaring movie theater attendance causing popcorn shortage

With theaters dealing with record-breaking attendance for films like Top Gun: Maverick, which drew the highest-grossing Memorial Day weekend crowd ever, the industry is now worried about a popcorn shortage.

When the Covid pandemic forced movie theaters to close, America was left with a popcorn surplus, with suppliers debating how to get rid of the 30 percent of popcorn consumed away from home.

Popcorn's problems stem from a variety of factors, including increased fertilizer costs cutting into farmer profits, a lack of truckers to transport kernels around, and even supply issues with the linings that protect popcorn bags, as with many other current shortages.

It was difficult to get canola oil for the popcorn a few months ago, according to Ryan Wenke, director of operations and technology at Connecticut's Prospector Theater, and it wasn't because they didn't have enough oil. It's because they didn't have enough glue to seal the box in which the oil bib is stored.

It's also been difficult to find packaging for moviegoers. Cinergy Entertainment Group, which owns and operates eight theaters, is having trouble getting popcorn bags, according to Jeff Benson, the company's founder, and CEO.

Norm Krug, CEO of popcorn supplier Preferred Popcorn, is concerned that the farmers he works with will switch to more profitable crops, and is already paying farmers more for the popcorn they are growing. He also believes that as the war in Ukraine drags on, fertilizer costs will rise, reducing the profits from growing popcorn.