Staffed popcorn cart hire for exhibitions, trade shows and brand
activations.
Staffed Popcorn Cart Hire
Our popcorn cart is a red flight-case unit on castor wheels with a
commercial glass-cabinet machine and a warmer lamp built in, and it goes
out with one of our own team in uniform to run it. A neon popcorn sign
sits across the front, the cabinet glows when it's full, and the smell of
fresh popcorn does the rest of the selling for you. People look for this
hire under all sorts of names - popcorn machine, popcorn maker, popcorn
stand, popcorn wagon - and it's the same cart whichever words you use.
We built it for exhibitions, trade shows, corporate promotions and brand
activations, where a free box of popcorn is a dependable way of slowing
people down long enough for a conversation. It has run a student night at
the Trafford Centre, a voter registration campaign at a students' union
with the campaign banner printed across the cart front, and giveaway
stands at UNiDAYS freshers fairs in shopping centres under our carnival
popcorn sign. If your stand needs footfall,
it tends to earn its keep.
The cart works a stand the same way every time. Our team member pops in
batches ahead of the rush and keeps the glass cabinet stocked, the warmer
lamp holds the back stock so servings go out quickly rather than one
batch at a time, and guests walk off with a striped box - printed with
your logo if you've had them done.
What you do with the resulting pause is up to you. At the Trafford
Centre student night the cart sat in front of a backdrop carrying a QR
code, and the sign-ups happened while people waited for their box. On a
shell scheme the same pause usually fits a demo, a flyer and a badge
scan. A box of popcorn costs a few pence, so it's an inexpensive way to
keep a stand busy across a full show.
Power and Space
The machine runs off a normal 13amp socket and needs to stand within 25
metres of it, which a shell scheme supply or a stand socket usually
covers. The cart sits on castor wheels, so once it's off the van it rolls
into position, and a fold-out side wing gives you a serving counter with
somewhere to stack the boxes.
Generators supplied where there's no mains on site.
Suitability
Indoors on Artificial Grass
Indoors on Hard Surface
Outdoors on Grass
Outdoors on Hard Surface
What's Included
The cart, the glass-cabinet machine and warmer lamp, and the neon
popcorn sign
A uniformed member of our team to pop and serve for the duration
The popcorn and the striped boxes and bags it's served in
Allergen notice displayed at the counter
Delivered in our own vehicles and set up by our own team before guests
arrive
Full £5 million public liability insurance as standard, with indemnity
to principal cover when our staff are supplied
Risk assessments and method statements emailed to you or your venue
before the event
The cart's front panel takes a printed banner, and the boxes and tubs
can be printed to match through our in-house branding team.
Years Trading
25+
Kit Owned In-House
95%
Insurance Cover
£5M
Food Hygiene
L2
Where We Deliver
The cart goes out from our 25,000 sq ft warehouse in Rotherham, five
minutes from the A1, M1 and M18. Most weeks that means runs to the big
exhibition venues - the NEC Birmingham,
ExCeL London and Manchester
Central - alongside the rest of a
stand's kit, on one delivery and one invoice. It's just as much at home
in a shopping centre, a campus foyer or a high street activation, and we
cover the whole of the UK.
If you're building a bigger presence, it sits happily alongside the rest
of the fun food and catering range or the
exhibition games - a free giveaway on
the aisle and a game to play on the stand is a pairing we send out
together fairly often.
Gallery
The cart with the neon sign lit and the glass display case stocked full
A students' union voter registration campaign with its banner on the cart's front panel
Branded student night stand at the Trafford Centre with printed tubs and a QR sign-up backdrop
The cart set up outdoors with the neon sign and display case of striped boxes
Striped boxes stacked in the warmed cabinet under the neon sign
Hot N' Fresh striped bags lined up along the serving counter
Flat-packed striped bags stocked ready at the serving window
Related Products
The popcorn cart pairs well with anything else that slows people down on an aisle. If you're building a stand and want a second draw alongside the free popcorn, get in touch and we'll suggest a combination that fits your floor space.
Yes. The cart's front panel takes a full-colour printed banner, which is how a students' union ran a "Be a voter" registration campaign off the front of it, and the boxes and tubs can be printed with your logo. At the Trafford Centre student night the machine carried a campaign wrap with matching printed tubs. Our branding team works from a logo file or a brief.
We're exhibiting - can we hand the popcorn out free?
That's how most stands use it. The cart comes with a uniformed member of our team and the popcorn is usually given away rather than sold, because the point is the pause in front of your stand rather than the takings. One thing worth checking early is that some exhibition organisers reserve food handouts for the venue's own caterers, so confirm with yours before you book.
How does it keep up with a busy stand?
The machine pops in batches ahead of the rush and the glass cabinet holds the back stock under the warmer lamp, so servings go out from the cabinet rather than waiting on each fresh batch. Our operator keeps the striped boxes filled and stacked at the counter, which keeps a queue moving through a show's peak times.
Hire the Popcorn Cart
Send your dates, venue and roughly how long you need the cart staffed
for, and we'll come back with a quote. Want branding on the banner or
the boxes? Mention it in the message and we'll include it.
