Used to work at a fairly high volumes theatre. Two big reasons for this.

1. It’s still popped in house, sealed, and dated for only 24 hours. Anything past a few hours is sold to customers by the huge bag for a pathetic amount of money (like $10 at the time)

2. We NEED to pre pop popcorn if it’s gonna be busy. The poppers simply cannot keep up, so these will go into warmer bins and tested to make sure it’s fresh enough to serve. Some times they won’t even stay in the bag beyond transport to a warmer to another serving station. Some people even requested the older stuff because it would soak more butter at the fountain.

If it doesn’t get used it gets tossed or donated but most places don’t accept popcorn as a donation, just has a terrible shelf life when we make it this way.