In this week’s episode of the Boxoffice Podcast, co-hosts Daniel Loria, Rebecca Pahle and Chad Kennerk cover the latest exhibition news, including how Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation is helping those affected by the wildfires in Southern California. National Popcorn Day is just around the corner on January 19th and the team shares more chains with special offers. Check your local theater for National Popcorn Day deals near you.
In this week’s feature segment, Daniel talks to Matt and Amy Mader, the organizers of the Dine-In Cinema +FEC Summit, this year known as the Dine-In Cinema +FEC Summit, taking place February 3-7 in Austin, Texas. To register and learn more, visit dineincinemasummit.com
Give us your feedback on our podcast by accessing this survey: https://forms.gle/CcuvaXCEpgPLQ6d18
What does FEC stand for?
Amy Mader: FEC stands for family entertainment centers. We have found over the years that theaters are starting to segue into offering more attractions at their venues. Some theaters want to be called cinema entertainment centers. I think it depends who you talk to. We say FEC because the group of professionals that have come in to help us out with that portion of it say FEC. So we’re leaning a little bit more towards that, but FEC or CEC just means somebody that is doing a little bit more than just showing movies.
When did you notice that the family entertainment center concept was really taking off?
Matt Mader: I get alerted through different news feeds when there’s press releases in the FEC space. Not just the cinema entertainment center space, but any FEC. So it could be just a Pickleball family entertainment center opening up in Idaho. I get alerted non-stop that there’s a family entertainment center that’s gotten approval to take over an abandoned big box in some city. The family entertainment center business has gone crazy, especially the last couple years. I think what’s attributing to that are a lot of real estate developers or landlords that have square footage that they need to rent. Cinemas, now more so than ever, have decided they have to diversify a little bit. Cinema owners don’t need 15, 18, 20 screens anymore, right? We even have customers that have been given the opportunity to take over space in like a mall type environment that’s adjacent, or even across the parking lot from their cinema, and turn it into an FEC that’s connected to the cinema in some form or fashion, because landlords are trying to be as creative as possible with getting that space filled up.
We’ve also been told that it’s still not easy to get funding from a bank if you’re just going to do a cinema. There’s better luck in getting dollars to go fund your activity just because the family entertainment center is extremely popular now coast to coast. There’s many different opportunities and many brands out there that are quickly expanding–the key is going to be, how do you compete? Because we’re going to be seeing a family entertainment centers opening up three blocks from another family entertainment center. You’ve got to have a cleaner facility, you’ve got to have better food, you’ve got to have more attractions. It’s a whole other competitive landscape that is quickly spreading. I think that’s part of the reason why cinemas haven’t adopted so quickly. It’s because they’re realizing it’s going to be competitive. You can’t just put an FEC attached to your cinema and the world’s going to be fixed. Your economics and your business will be going to be off and running another direction. You have to stay competitive with what’s coming a mile, two miles down the road.
Following the opening night reception, the conversations that we’ve all come to really appreciate from this event start on Tuesday, February 4th. Let’s talk about some of those events and conversations, because the programming is very educational.
Matt Mader: Jon Lakefish has a very different perspective on AI and how AI can be used to effectively to change your business. If you’ve been to any cinema related show in the last couple of years, there’s always an AI session. It always comes across in a way that’s very educational, with a lot of information, but I think there’s pieces there that are still missing from how you present it. We introduced Jon to three or four FEC and cinema operators, so he’s worked with them the last couple months to build out his information that he’s going to share with everybody. That’s another unique thing that he does–he’s very good at adapting his knowledge to spur certain markets. He is going to tell everybody how AI can help this industry, specifically with some very real challenges [from exhibitors.]
It’s going to be one of the biggest talking points in this industry in the coming years. The better we understand it, the more we know what to take from it. What else do we have to look forward to?
Amy Mader: We have Michael Giacinto with Proctor Companies who is putting up a panel where he’s going to be discussing how to effectively use everything in your kitchen. He has a chef on his panel and some manufacturers of kitchen equipment. The company DFX is going to be doing our audio/visual this year and we’re going to be running concurrent programs in two different theaters. So if somebody looks at one particular presentation and they’re like, ‘Oh, that might not be applicable to me, I’m going to go over to the next theater.’ I truly believe you can learn something from everybody, but that has now expanded our agenda. We feel that was a change that we were ready to make in our seventh year.
Proctor is an interesting sponsor. They also have the cover of the magazine that we’re sending to the Dine-In Cinema Summit. They do a lot of design work and I think that’s going to be great for folks to see how that dine-in area can be integrated into the space itself.
Matt Mader: With the theaters that we do business with through Venue Valet, we’re working with our customers as they’re building out their location, sometimes even as they’re designing the location, and then after they open, our system is a big part of their operations. One of the biggest challenges has always been how to design the best kitchen for your needs. As the dine-in market grew and still is expanding, it’s still up for discussion. You walk into some kitchens and you’re amazed that they can handle the demand on a Friday and Saturday night because of the way the kitchen is designed. Then there’s other kitchens you walk into, and you’re like, ‘Holy cow, this kitchen could service 1,000 people simultaneously.’ It turns out that kitchen design is extremely critical. At the same time, and Michael will tell you this during his his session, having the perfectly designed kitchen doesn’t mean you’re going to have the best food, service, and operations.
Cisco is another sponsor. They are doing a big presentation on Thursday that talks about how to use Cisco to be more successful. Don’t just tell them you want chicken and salad and place your order. They have a team of people that can help you build a better menu and can help you make the best use of your dollars when you’re buying food and and concession material.
Design and logistics seems to be a one-two punch when we talk about this sector, not only the dine-in space, but also the FEC space. You’ve also got sessions from JKRP on architect case studies in design and putting some of these builds together. Creative Works is talking about the FEC model and how that applies for cinemas. You’ve also got some marketing sessions, one from our colleagues at The Boxoffice Company, Scott Hanlon, who is going to be talking about SEO.
Amy Mader: Yes, and then his wife is going to be following him, talking about effectively marketing movies within your theater. Do you use your employees for TikToks? Do you make balloon garlands, or do you subcontract that out? Traci works for Cinergy, so she’s going to be bringing in her ideas, and she’s also bringing with her Kristen Wheaton, from Alamo Drafthouse. And yes, Scott Hanlon is going to be talking about SEO–what your placement is and is your website working for you?
On Wednesday, you have a great focus on the gaming part of the entire FEC enterprise–that strategy of making sure that you integrate and amusement and entertainment side of things to your cinema is going to be crucial.
Amy Mader: I feel like years ago the theater philosophy was you just have to get butts in seats to watch a movie and then have them keep ordering food. Whereas I feel like now, it has segued more into get them into your building and how long are they going to stay in your building? One thing that Betson is going to be jumping all over is how to finance and how to make this work for you. One thing I did not know, if a game is not working for you–return it and get one that will work for you. A game that’s going to work in Wisconsin might not be working as well in Texas. All gaming companies want you to succeed as much as you can, because that just means more revenue for everybody all around.
Of course, we can’t forget about the movie part of the situation. Brandon Jones from FilmFrog is going to be talking about marketing those small to mid range budget movies and how to make sure you get the most out of your alternative content programming. I will be there myself, talking about movies as well on Wednesday, answering some of the biggest questions that we’ve been hearing from exhibitors. Then on the point of sale side, everybody always wants a better POS. On Thursday, you’re getting all of the providers together to address those challenges directly to their customers and potential customers.
Matt Mader: We know from doing this for, now our seventh time, that the point of sale and tech part of running a cinema is always very well attended by our audience. They’re very opinionated and they’re very needy about what they want from a point of sale. Point of sale doesn’t just mean selling tickets or selling food and beverage–it now means complete systems around loyalty and customer preference tracking. What did this person eat last time they were here? What kind of movies do they like to go see? It is much more than just selling tickets or selling food and beverage.
Now, you add the FEC element where you want to be able to sell game cards for video games or to buy bowling. All these different systems have to work in an ecosystem together so that the cinema and FEC operators can keep a pulse on their business. We’re very lucky to have good participation on the vendor side in this space. Anybody that’s been to our show knows this is one of the more interactive sessions, where the way that it’ll be run will be very much audience driven, because we’re trying to help solve this very, very difficult to solve problem, which is building the perfect point of sale system to help run your business.
There are still spots available for exhibitors. What’s the easiest way for movie theater operators to join us in Austin?
Amy Mader: They just go to our website at www.dineincinemasummit.com and right at the top of the page is registration and it will take you through all the things that you need to do to get here. All of the sponsors have really stepped it up this year. We’re very grateful for that, because all of our sponsorship dollars do go back into the summit. Matt and I, we do our labor here as a contribution to the industry that is our livelihood. I would be remiss if I did not mention Spotlight Cinema Networks. They’ve been our presenting sponsor for many years now, and they’re always willing to jump in and help us out. So we’re very grateful for them and all the other sponsors who have stepped up to help us out.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The Boxoffice Podcast is your #1 resource for news and analysis about movies and the movie business. We’ll be your guide through these evolving and sometimes disruptive times. While breaking down film headlines, exploring box office results, and chatting with studio & cinema executives, we’ll discuss all aspects of movies and entertainment. By movie lovers for movie lovers!
Share this post