[quote]The theaters must let people bring from the outside the types of food and beverages that are sold by the cinemas, such as soft drinks, coffee, popcorns, hotdogs, etc., the GIO said.
Businesses, however, can make their own lists to ban strongly-flavored food such as durian, betel nuts, stinky tofu, fried chicken, Taiwanese chicken nuggets, alcohol or “noisy” food such as watermelon seeds. [/quote]
Hmm, I wonder if alcohol will be on the banned list? Would be great to be able to bring an ice cold sixpack into the movie theater
Well I understand the rationale. I don’t want to buy the (sweet) popcorn or the stupid hot dog they sell. And instead of coke I’d rather sippity sip on a pearl tea. It’s a good thing but no noon or 6.30 PM shows for me. Don’t want to sit next to piantang eaters.
I never once saw a movie in Taiwan without bringing in my own outside snacks. And nither did anyone else in the theator. Of course, I also usually went to the second run theaters, but not always.
I guess I’m the only one who sees this as an unreasonable infringement on private property holders’ rights. Shouldn’t the property holder have the right to stipulate what food can or cannot be consumed by guests on their premises? I hate overpriced popcorn as much as the next guy, but theaters are private businesses and as such should have the right to set reasonable rules on their own properties.
Theatres are pvt. film showingbusinesses, they shouldn’t try to control F&B too. It’s like saying, you can’t enter a restaurant in Mitsokushi, if you have shopping bags from Sogo.
I agree with Toasty. I’ll be happy to take in my own food now, but this will absolutely kill the revenue for the movie theater’s concession stand.
Where do you draw the line? What about all those restaurants that have signs saying “No outside food or beverages allowed”? I can imagine how upset the movie theater owners must be right now.
I don’t think the Sogo shopping bag analogy fits this situation perfectly, although I can’t really think of a better one off the top of my head.
A better analogy might be one of those cheap airlines or a pub. They both (can) serve food also, but it’s not their primary business.
I agree that it’s a stupid law. Obviously food is overpriced at a cinema, but it’s part of the revenue stream and keeps the tickets lower. The cinemas will need to increase ticket prices, although in practice, everyone already brings food in.
years and years ago, when we could take food in cinemas, tickets would be dirt cheap too. But hey, actors and directors and movies weren’t making THAT much money either.
