Let’s all go to the lobby, to get ourselves a (theater-branded) treat!
AMC says the supply-chain issues of last year have prompted it to start making its own line of candy, which it will offer to moviegoers for less than what they normally pay for Milk Duds and Twizzlers.
AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron said during an earnings call late last week that the chain hopes to roll out the AMC candy later this year or in early 2024.
“We noticed recently, as a result of the pandemic and the supply-chain shortages, that candy manufacturers had increased their price to us by a huge amount,” Aron said, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha. “Some candymakers [are] increasing their cost for wholesale candy as much as 33% in a one-time bump. That’s kind of [got us] thinking very hard about our candy. And we realized that we could manufacture a private label brand of candy to very high-quality standards. Price it less expensively than our current candy is priced and have a higher profit margin.”
The chain says it will continue to carry name-brand candy “for the people who want it.”
Food and beverage spending is critical to the bottom line of AMC. Aron teased second quarter numbers in the call saying, “The food and beverage per patron spending in April is higher than what it was in the first quarter. We are killing it in F&B…Our F&B spending per patron pre-pandemic was around $5.60. In the first quarter, it was $7.99.”
AMC’s branded candy would follow the rollout of AMC Perfectly Popcorn in Walmart stores nationwide. The company has also introduced an AMC Visa card in recent months.