Customers may start feeling the effects as more and more people make their way back to the theaters. It might become less of a behind-the-counter issue as a summer blockbuster season kicks off with promising numbers. In a world where people are tending to spend more and go all-in after movie theaters were mainly off-limits during the pandemic, it's a logistical nightmare. This lack of containers and delays in getting items like soda flavors and candies stocked quickly would be enough on its own. There are reports of theaters scouring sites like Amazon, purchasing movie theaters that have gone out of business, and even using more expensive materials like plastic and metal to alleviate the stress of these shortages. Another part of the problem is that keeping the paper containers used to serve popcorn and other movie theater staples in stock is somewhat impossible. That means there is a possibility that there might be less corn produced compared to previous years. Some farmers are reluctant to keep growing corn, and people like Krug are trying to incentivize growing it with higher payment. It’s a corn/container/shipping/supply/demand issue. But, it's not necessarily just a corn problem.
"Popcorn supply will be tight," Norm Krug, the chief executive of Preferred Popcorn, which gets corn kernels from farms to theaters, told WSJ. And yet, experts believe that we are looming on the horizon of a popcorn shortage at movie theaters in the United States.Īccording to the Wall Street Journal, popcorn might be hard to come by this summer, as pesky supply chain issues continue to disrupt so many parts of daily life. Never in my life did I think I would be typing a sentence that included the words "United States," "corn," and "shortage." This country has built a corn empire that sparked a shift in American diets.