The past two years have been horrific for the movie theater business—unless you’re Mitch Roberts. While most venues remained shut, he expanded, transforming a mundane trip to the movies into Evo Entertainment’s memorable mix of bowling, arcade games, comfort food and booze.
When Texas Governor Greg Abbott allowed the state’s Covid-shuttered movie theaters to reopen at 25% capacity on May 1, 2020, most operators took a pass. Never mind the possibility of hosting a superspreader. With no new releases and few patrons, the economics just didn’t make sense. Mitch Roberts disagreed. Only 25 years old, he had built Austin-based Evo Entertainment up to six sites in Texas with 57 screens, 38 bowling alleys, full meal service, 200 arcade games—and a hefty million in debt. When his operations had to close six weeks earlier, he says, “My initial reaction was fear. My immediate second reaction was, let’s get ready for reopening.”
Roberts began showing cult classics like Grease and The Goonies to sparse indoor crowds and rented out idle auditoriums to gamers who wanted to play Fortnite on a 65-foot screen. He improvised new revenue streams: painting the exterior of two multiplexes white to serve as drive-in screens, turning 9 acres of cow pasture into paintball courses and packaging gallon jugs of margaritas and at-home movie night snack kits for pickup and delivery. While many competitors remained shut, he generated buzz with a summer drive-in film festival and a faux pumpkin patch offering horror flicks and Halloween milkshakes, both spiked and alcohol-free. “[Others] took the batten-down-the-hatches approach,” he says. “We took the remind-people-there’s-a-place-for-you-here approach.”
As the pandemic has dragged on, a handful of chains announced permanent closings while others, such as Austin-based Alamo Drafthouse (which pioneered serving booze to moviegoers a quarter-century ago) reorganized in bankruptcy. But Roberts went into expansion mode, scooping up four darkened Texas facilities including Southlake Town Square in Dallas, which he is now turning into a flagship with seven dine-in theaters, heated recliners, laser tag, bumper cars, mini-golf and an indoor ropes course. “No one is buying cinemas and concert venues. But they’re not going away,” Sheffield says. “When lockdowns are over the pent-up demand will be serious.”
Now with 16 locations, 148 screens and 108 bowling lanes, Roberts expects more than 5 million in sales this year. And he’s still tweaking his pandemic-era model. “We’re experimenting with pods,” he says. That’s a love seat for two, with distance and privacy from fellow moviegoers, be it for Covid protection or other benefits.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2022/02/15/the-pandemic-crushed-most-movie-theaters–but-this-27-year-olds-chain-doubled-in-size/?sh=5fa5326f1dfb
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
More info on How This 27-Year-Old Doubled His Movie Theater Business Despite The Pandemic | Forbes
How This 27-Year-Old Doubled His Movie Theater Business Despite The Pandemic | Forbes - BingNews
Search results
-
How ‘Young Sheldon’ Successfully Rode the Turmoil in TV
The seven-year run of the hit series, which ends on Thursday, mirrors the story of the television business during that time.
-
11-year-old boy accidentally shot, killed by older brother, police say
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WWSB/Gray News) - An 11-year-old was accidentally shot and killed by his older brother on Friday, according to authorities. St. Petersburg Police said Amir Williams was at ...
-
Heavyweight boxer dies at 27 after spending three weeks in coma due to knockout
A 27-year-old boxer died on Thursday after spending three weeks in a medically induced coma from his last fight. Heavyweight Ardi Ndembo was knocked unconscious during his April 5 bout against ...
-
Samardzic: How Juventus can snatch Udinese talent for free
Despite the transfer market noise and ... on a free transfer in the summer due to a clause in his contract with Udinese. The 22-year-old is allowed to leave should the club suffer relegation ...
-
A 110-year-old man says he's never had back pain and still drives his car every day. Here are his 6 longevity tips.
especially after he lost his wife. "Every day, he would go to the fire house from 3 to 5, and all the old guys would sit there and hang out," Lista said. "That was like his family." Dransfield ...
-
Confessions of an 82-year-old hitchhiker
So there I was, standing beside the road in southern Bavaria last year at the age of 82 ... I told the middle-aged driver where I wanted to go while his teenage passenger looked on with some ...
-
Zendaya, O’Connor and Faist on ‘Challengers’: Tennis movie includes steamy love triangle of the year
When it’s pointed out to Guadagnino that the tennis scenes are essentially his movie’s sex scenes ... into more mature screen roles for the 27-year-old who from a young age as a Disney ...
-
10-Year-Old Boy Calls 911 to Report Quadruple Murder-Suicide of His Entire Family
Content warning: This story discusses murder and suicide. A 10-year-old boy woke up to "carnage" in his Oklahoma City home, with both his parents and three older brothers dead, according to police.
-
Authorities: 41-year-old man killed by his own dog in Longwood
The NYPD says officers responded to Simpson Street by Home Street and found the dog biting the 41-year-old man's throat ... friend's neck and entire body inside of his apartment.
-
Firefighters say 6-year-old was protecting his 3-year-old brother when they died in house fire
Firefighters say the eldest child, 6-year-old William, died trying to protect his younger brother. “As soon as he was born, he was like, ‘Oh, no. I’m going to love him. I’m going to ...
-
Firefighters say 6-year-old was protecting his 3-year-old brother when they died in house fire
Firefighters say the eldest child, 6-year-old William, died trying to protect his younger brother. “As soon as he was born, he was like, ‘Oh, no. I’m going to love him. I’m going to protect him,” ...
-
A New Police Force Chased a 17-Year-Old Boy to His Death. Then It Vanished.
It was November 24, 2020—half a year into the pandemic ... his car was struck by a train. More than two years later, on a Sunday evening in May 2023, Braven’s mother, Blossom Old Bull, took ...