But perhaps you did that in contravention of the theater policies; most theaters, if they have a concession counter, will prohibit people from bringing in outside food, but they don't search your bags or anything. In fact, one theater around here disallows bags entirely.
There is also the question of health code regulations. I know that in any restaurant which is inspected by County health inspectors, outside food is prohibited. So if you make a sandwich and you bring it into a McDonald's and you order a Coke and fries to go with your turkey sandwich, you will probably get kicked out. The main reason is because if something were to happen medically, whose food is to blame? Is it the food you prepared at home and brought into the restaurant? Even worse if you shared it to people who didn't know it wasn't prepared at the restaurant. The restaurant could potentially be liable for medical costs of people who got food poisoning, and their license to prepare food could be jeopardized.
Now, having said all that, this is not the case in airports or on airlines. They all allow you to bring in food you prepared at home, because an airport is not a "restaurant" with one kitchen where food is prepared. Aboard an aircraft, you could also eat your home-prepped turkey and Swiss sandwich instead of a delicious, hot, in-flight Kosher meal. If you get sick, well you get sick. I don't know if airlines can be liable for food poisoning, but they sure are cautious about peanut allergies these days.
Yeah, but a restaurant is specifically for food, so it makes sense that they would kick you out for bringing your own, but a movie theater is not a restaurant, like an airport or plane. I pay for the seat in the theater, and I'm not interested in their food.
They may have a policy against bringing your own food, but I don't think it's a reasonable policy and I don't see any reason to obey it if you don't want to and they don't enforce it.
If you want to make more money from the movie goers, just charge an extra buck for the ticket.
There is also the question of health code regulations. I know that in any restaurant which is inspected by County health inspectors, outside food is prohibited. So if you make a sandwich and you bring it into a McDonald's and you order a Coke and fries to go with your turkey sandwich, you will probably get kicked out. The main reason is because if something were to happen medically, whose food is to blame? Is it the food you prepared at home and brought into the restaurant? Even worse if you shared it to people who didn't know it wasn't prepared at the restaurant. The restaurant could potentially be liable for medical costs of people who got food poisoning, and their license to prepare food could be jeopardized.
Now, having said all that, this is not the case in airports or on airlines. They all allow you to bring in food you prepared at home, because an airport is not a "restaurant" with one kitchen where food is prepared. Aboard an aircraft, you could also eat your home-prepped turkey and Swiss sandwich instead of a delicious, hot, in-flight Kosher meal. If you get sick, well you get sick. I don't know if airlines can be liable for food poisoning, but they sure are cautious about peanut allergies these days.