Beginning next year, you won’t have to visit your local movie theater to buy a bucket of perfectly buttered popcorn.
AMC Theatres, the nation’s biggest movie theater chain, is expanding its business outside of the traditional theatrical exhibition industry and plans to sell its popcorn in shopping malls around the country. AMC is also preparing to partner with home delivery services in 2022 to allow customers to order from a nearby AMC location. Down the road, the company intends to have a presence at supermarkets and convenience stores with pre-packaged and microwavable AMC Theaters branded popcorn.
The global popcorn market is a multi-billion-dollar industry, one that experts expect to grow significantly in the coming years. It is estimated to reach $6.24 billion by 2028, according to a report conducted by Million Insights. AMC says the company’s expansion into the sale of popcorn on a retail basis outside of theaters is a “natural extension of AMC’s core business.”
“The announcement that AMC will become a competitor in the multi-billion popcorn market is so natural and logical, one wonders why the idea has not been tried before,” Adam Aron, AMC’s CEO and chairman of the board, said in a statement. “Needless to say, AMC knows popcorn ever so well. On our busiest days, AMC Theatres currently pops in the range of 50 tons of popcorn per day. But the popularity of popcorn extends well beyond the doors of our movie theatres. With this new AMC initiative, we expect to reach entirely new segments of the U.S. population with our popular AMC Theatres Perfectly Popcorn.”
For AMC Entertainment, which endured a devastating period during the pandemic, it’s an opportunity to create a new revenue stream. AMC initially plans to launch up to five “AMC Theatres Perfectly Popcorn” stores, counters and kiosks in U.S. shopping malls in the first half of 2022. The first locations will likely be in malls that don’t already have AMC theaters. The idea is to have up to 15 retail stores by the end of next year, with significantly more locations expected to pop up in 2023 and beyond. The menu will consist of traditional and gourmet-flavored popcorn (to be popped on-site), candy and other concession stand treats, Coca-Cola Freestyle options and bottled water.
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