Business & Tech

Council: Full-Service Bar at New Dinner Theater Not a Great Idea

Bridgewater's AMC theater will serve as a test venue for a new dinner theater venture.

Dinner and a show is about to take on a whole different meaning when it comes to Bridgewater with full course meals, a feature film and a full-service bar.

And it is that last option that has officials concerned.

AMC Entertainment is experimenting with a new way of enjoying movies with its new dinner/entertainment theater that it is planned to open at the Bridgewater Commons Mall in November. This will be in place of the theater that is currently there.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

The new style of theater, called "Fork and Screen," will have 150-seat auditoriums with guests seated at tables to enjoy a full-service menu and full-service bar while watching the film.

"This is brand new to the northeast, and one of the first venues is Bridgewater," said Rich Nasca, attorney for AMC Entertainment, when he and General Manager Jim Lyons went before the Bridgewater Township Council Monday to request a liquor license. "It will be in-theater dining."

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Bridgewater is actually one of three test markets for this type of theater, with another, in Kansas City, already proving viable.

The venture will cut theater sizes in half to make room for the tables at which guests will have the opportunity to enjoy a full-course meal after paying for a ticket at the door to get into the movie. Nasca said there is no box office, so reservations will have to be made in advance.

But it was the full-service bar that left the council members hesitant about approving the liquor license, and Councilman Dan Hayes opted to vote against the resolution to grant it.

"I am concerned about the liquor license, and trying to envision how it will work with pass-offs (of drinks)," he said. "I don't think this is a community service we need. I don't really see our community needing to experiment at the mall."

According to Nasca, no one under 18 years of age will be allowed in the theater without a parent or guardian, and, of course, only those over 21 years of age will be allowed to drink.

"My question is what about those 18- to 21-year-olds," Council President Matt Moench said. He asked how the theater will prevent any 21-year-old from getting a drink and passing it along to an underage friend in the darkened theater.

"You are ID'd when you order," Nasca said. "And the lights are not as dim as in a regular theater."

There will be extra aisles in the theater, Nasca said, to allow servers to walk around, and lighting levels will be 50 percent higher that in most theaters, in addition to extra lighting in the aisles.

Nasca added that all servers will endure rigorous training to ensure that no one under 21 years is ordering or being served an alcoholic drink.

"And we will have an alcoholic beverage monitor to check for violations," Lyons added.

Township Attorney William Savo recommended that, if the license was approved, the council require reviews from the police within the first six months after it opens to evaluate if there are many reports of underage drinking at the theater.

Before approving the license in the 3-1 vote, the council agreed that this would be a condition of the approval.

Aside from the alcohol issue, Councilman Howard Norgalis asked whether there would be a great deal of extra noise in the theater from people eating their meals during the movie.

Nasca said the bulk of people in this kind of theater in other areas of the country finish their meals before the movie starts, so that is not usually an issue.

"It is a restaurant, and that is part of the experience," he said. "The main part of the meal comes before the movie starts, so most people, in tests, finish before the movie, and it is just about having a drink or popcorn once it starts."

With the theater entertainment, Nasca said, AMC is attempting to promote families, and will still show Disney and Pixar films among all others.

"It's really not just a theater anymore," he said. "It's dining with theater entertainment."

But Councilwoman Christine Henderson Rose questioned whether that is really a viable business model anymore to create family entertainment.

"How many 15-year-olds will still go to the movies with their parents?" she asked.

Still, Nasca said, this change in the theater is an attempt to alter the business and make it more viable for the future. He said the company is currently testing the model in several different locations in the country, and Bridgewater was chosen as one of the appropriate territories to test.

"Ticket sales are down and, to make Bridgewater a viable location, this is where we are going with the theater," he said. "We really need this concept to make the theater profitable."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here