Popcorn anyone? Gardner movie theater to cook up curbside kernels

GARDNER — With everyone stuck inside and binge-watching TV during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown, Gardner Cinemas is providing residents a way to enjoy an aspect of the theater experience in their homes.

The cinema at Timpany Plaza will make real movie popcorn available for curbside pickup on Friday, April 17, and Saturday, April 18, between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. The theater’s candy and ice cream sandwiches will also be available at the event. Owner Chris Daigle said other theaters across the country have enjoyed success selling theater popcorn to moviegoers who are looking for ways to support their local cinema.

“People love their movie popcorn, so we figured we’d try it here in Gardner and pop up some fresh popcorn and bring it to people in their cars,” Daigle said.

It’s not unusual for residents to buy popcorn at the cinema even it they’re not going to see a movie. Daigle said the theater has plenty of “to go” customers already.

“It’s relatively popular; we do get a lot of people who come in and just want to bring (the popcorn) home,” Daigle said. “We also have people who come to see a movie and then refill their popcorn on the way out so they can take it home. It’s popular enough that we have takeout bags.”

Gardner Cinema’s popcorn has a loyal customer base, according to General Manager Cheryl DesRoches Johnson.

“We get people from all over the place that say we have the best popcorn around,” Johnson said. “I have tried other theaters also (because sometimes we don’t get all the movies I want to see) and we, by far, have the best popcorn ever. You can’t get it anywhere else, and you can’t reproduce it at home.” She said she would often post videos online of the popcorn popping to entice customers who were planning on watching a movie or game at home to stop in and get some to go.

Johnson added that the theater’s popcorn is so popular that for a few years she would donate some to a local woman who would then put it in packages and send it to her son while he was serving in Afghanistan.

Customers are not the only ones looking forward to munching on some real theater popcorn this weekend, according to Johnson.

“My entire staff is missing popcorn right now because we’re used to getting it every day,” she said. “So everybody is missing their bag of popcorn.”

Daigle, who has about 25 employees, said some of his regular customers have been reaching out to him looking for ways they could still support the cinema during the shutdown. He said he is doing his best to pay his employees while the theater is closed.

“They are predominantly high school and college kids (and) most of them don’t qualify for unemployment, but they do have cars and bills, so we’re trying to help them out,” Daigle said.

Johnson said she is pleased to see the cinema’s employees being taken care of during the shutdown, mainly because her staff — both current and former — are very loyal to their place of employment.

“It’s really devastating not to be working, and as soon as they saw me posting to curbside popcorn event online, they wanted to volunteer their time to help out,” Johnson said. They’re pretty dedicated. They’re high school kids and they miss their friends.”

Johnson said her staff enjoys their work so much that sometimes former employees who left years ago to go to college often come back just to work another weekend shift.

“There was actually a comment on my Facebook page from a girl who has not worked there in almost 20 years who said she would love to come back and pop the popcorn for free this Friday,” Johnson said. “Most of our employees are awesome and leave here saying what a great job it was.”

Daigle said he and some members of his family will handle the event this weekend because he is not sure how many residents will turn out for it, and he wants to work out the details of social distancing and other public safety precautions. But he added that if the sale proves successful enough he will likely invite some other employees to assist during future events.

“It will be more of a family thing at first because we’ve been quarantined together so we know there’s no issue with being together inside the theater,” Daigle said. “But some of the other theaters that have done this have been so busy they’ve had to bring in extra employees to help out.”

Daigle said events like the curbside popcorn sales might be necessary for the foreseeable future because movie theaters will likely be among the last places to fully open even after the shutdown is lifted. He said that even when films come back to the screens, audiences will probably take some time getting used to sitting together at the movies again. But he said, like everyone else, he is hopeful the country will reopen for business sooner rather than later.

“Our target is June,” he said. “If we could open by then it would certainly be helpful for us.”