Fresh Scene: Dinner and Movies at Home

Some movie theaters have used upgraded foods, reserved seats and digital projection to raise revenues and differentiate their viewer experiences.

Some movie theaters have used upgraded foods, reserved seats and digital projection to raise revenues and differentiate their viewer experiences. They emphasize better foods that help create a comfy one-stop dinner-and-film twin bill.

Know what’s comfier still? One-stop dinners and movies at home, which is exactly what supermarkets can provide with flair. Especially with families wanting fun while still in savings mode, this is a home entertainment idea that can have repeated success.

Instead of paying $17.50 per movie ticket plus the cost of food – up to $19 for a New York strip steak sandwich at one Texas theatre, as reported by the Dallas Morning News – food stores can home deliver a hearty prepared food basket with a DVD or two (from the Redbox kiosk) for greater value that still leaves lots of room for margin.

The Lempert Report suggests further that the delivered food themes tie into movie themes such as Moroccan food with Casablanca, cold kegs and fraternity fare with Animal House, Italian cuisine with The Godfather, cocktail mixes with Sex and The City 2, and Asian dishes with the latest Jet Li action adventure. Multiply the sensory appeal and make people feel as if they’re on the scene of the movie.

While the National Association of Theatre Owners told the Dallas paper that one percent of theatres offer cinema dining, we believe this ultra-convenient, high-value, one-step-more-involved approach by supermarkets could attract a high proportion of families that have modern flat-screen televisions in their dens.

Think of the comforts: A pause button for the occasional bathroom break. A viewing space that’s truly comfortable and free of the wonder of who ate in the theatre seat at the previous showing; are the seats, armrests and floors truly clean, stain- and spill-free; are the food-handling standards the same as in restaurants? 

Ready. Set. Action.