KNOXVILLE Tenn. The nation's largest operator of movie theaters is going into the foodservice business, according to press reports. Regal Entertainment Group, operator of the Regal, United Artist and Edwards movie-theater chains, has reportedly formed a joint venture with Texas entrepreneur Terrell Braly to open a string of cinema/restaurant combination facilities called Cinebarres, starting with an outlet this June in Asheville, N.C.
Braly was previously chief executive and a principal in Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, the eight-unit chain of restaurant-equipped theaters based in Austin, Texas.
News articles note that Regal could convert units of its three theater chains to the new concept, which is being operated as a stand-alone business called Cinebarre LLC. The prototype will be converted from an existing Regal-owned multiplex in Ashville. One of the facility's six theaters will be turned into a kitchen, and couches, tables and chairs are being added.
The planned menu includes pizza, hamburgers and desserts, as well as an array of beers and wines. Tableservice will be offered, according to Cinebarre's website.
Regal, based here, experimented with a similar restaurant-cinema combo in the 1990s, but snapped off the projectors after the concept had grown to six locations. It operates 539 theaters in total, in 40 states.