Food helps Sathyam dish out a better movie experience

You're watching a particularly riveting scene from a blockbuster movie. Eyes transfixed, you reach for another fistful of caramelised popcorn. To wash that down, a long glug of cold beverage and maybe a rich chocolate doughnut after.

Feeding oneself and family well is all part of the movie experience, says Mr Tan Ngaronga, Chief Operating Officer of the Chennai-based Sathyam Cinemas, which runs a chain of multiplexes. That insight led Sathyam, a few years ago, to enhance its offers at its food counters. With its own bakeries dishing out rolls, pastries, muffins and other freshly baked stuff, Sathyam Cinemas earns as much as 25 to 35 per cent of its revenues from food and beverage, depending on the theatre location.

Says Mr Ngaronga, a New Zealander, “Today people want a quality cinema experience and food is an integral part of that experience. And, they are willing to pay. We changed a lot of our F&B concepts along the way.”

Sathyam Cinemas' frenetic expansion in the next year or two will also see this carried forward. “We will have bakery facilities in-house to service all of our locations. Chennai locations will be supplied by our central kitchen / bakery. Other city sites will have their own in-house facilities,” he explains. With many multiplex chains coming up in various cities, Mr Ngaronga says F&B can be a differentiator. At its landmark Sathyam Cinemas it runs a premium eatery, Ecstasy, as well as a restaurant, ID (idli-dosa) which dishes out South Indian fast food. Ms Monica Umesh, a software professional, who frequents Sathyam, says the theatre has created its own ‘brand' of food which is not available elsewhere. And, for the convenience of ordering food online (which is delivered to the seats at the interval) along with the tickets, she says she's willing to pay a premium.

Revamped multiplex

The Sathyam chain will shortly open its revamped three-screen, 1,500-seater multiplex in Nellore. Opening soon will be a six-screen 1,566 seater multiplex at Brookefields, a new mall in Coimbatore. In Chennai too it has ambitious plans. The cinema company recently took over two old theatres, Theagaraya, and once a city landmark, Casino, which, Mr Ngaronga says, will retain its old art deco style and be revamped to make it contemporary while retaining its old world flavour.

By next year it will also have a nine-screen multiplex at Vadapalani, a Chennai suburb, with 3,500 seats in all. Also, at the Sathyam Cinemas complex, it is awaiting permission to put up two 350-seater theatres based on Imax's “immersive” motion picture technology. The overall expenditure for these expansions, says Mr Ngaronga, would be between Rs 50 crore and Rs 80 crore. A modern multiplex screen costs approximately Rs 2.5-Rs 3 crore a screen.

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