The problem
Food and drink is where a cinema makes its margin, but the counter is where guests decide it isn’t worth the queue, or the trailers they’d miss. In a premium, sit-down auditorium, table service has its own limits: it caps how often guests order and how much they spend, and staff end up carrying trays through a dark screen.
Selling food and drink digitally sounds simple. The hard part is that every order has to reach the right kitchen or bar, for the right seat, at the right time, and go through the ticketing and payment systems the venue already runs.
Everyman: from seat to kitchen
Everyman wanted to grow food and drink revenue without pulling guests out of their seats. We designed and delivered at-seat ordering across the estate, end to end, from sourcing the hardware to installing it and rolling it out.
- A QR code on every seat. Every seat in every screen has a brass plaque with its own engraved QR code.
- No typing, no leaving the seat. Scanning it opens the menu with the screen, row and seat already filled in.
- Straight to the kitchen and bar. Orders go through Vista and land on kitchen and bar screens instantly, with nothing re-keyed by hand.
- Members and fast payment. Members log in for their discounts and pay by Apple Pay or card, through Adyen.
The result: +12% food and drink spend per head.
VOX Cinemas: food and drink in the booking
For VOX Cinemas, across 600+ screens in eight countries, food and drink is part of the booking itself:
- a quick-add concessions component inside checkout, so guests add food and drink in the same payment as their seats
- concessions ordered on screen to reflect local habits, cinema by cinema
- AI recommendations suggesting food and drink to each guest (see Personalisation and recommendations)
- Prepare now (2019): guests tap it as they arrive at the mall, and their order is ready by the time they reach the cinema foyer
- in-seat delivery (2020), bringing the order to the guest’s seat
The same flow runs on the website and in the iOS, Android and Huawei apps, in English and Arabic. Because the apps share the web booking flow, a new menu, offer or step goes live everywhere at once, with no App Store release. See Mobile App Development.
How it works
- Built on Vista. Menus, prices and availability come from the back office each cinema already uses, and orders go back into it.
- One basket, one payment. Tickets and food are paid for together, with the same loyalty, member discounts, vouchers and bank offers. See Payments.
- Tied to the seat and the showing. The kitchen knows the screen, the seat and when the film starts.
- Built for the rush. The busiest ordering minutes are just before the biggest film of the week starts, and the platform is load-tested for them. See Peak traffic and launch days.
Beyond cinema
The same parts work wherever people book a seat and then want to eat or drink: theatres, stadiums, comedy and music venues, theme parks and leisure. We’ve written about what restaurants can learn from cinema in Service, Scaled.
Related
- Services: Vista Cinema Integrators, Software Development, Mobile App Development
- Case studies: Everyman seat ordering, VOX Cinemas, Everyman Cinemas
- Specialist site: Can Factory Cinema
Frequently asked questions
Does this work with Vista?
Yes. At Everyman, orders go through Vista and straight to kitchen and bar screens, and at VOX the concessions come from Vista for each cinema.
Can you supply and install the hardware?
Yes. For Everyman we sourced, installed and rolled out the seat plaques across the estate, as well as building the software.
Can it work outside cinema?
Yes. Any venue where guests have a booked seat or table works the same way: a menu, a location, a time and a payment. Only the back office changes.
