From hits to hot dogs: PVR Inox serves fine dining and gaming to woo Gen Z

PVR INOX now offers in cinema dining and gaming.

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Cinemas are no longer just about popcorn and a big screen. PVR INOX is reimagining theatres as full-fledged experience hubs—rolling out fine dining restaurants inside multiplexes, introducing gaming zones with AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality), and even planning live game streaming on the big screen.

The idea: turn a movie outing into an all-day Gen Z hangout and boost footfalls beyond film releases. Hence, Aamer Bijli, son of Ajay Bijli, the founder of PVR INOX has made two of the multiplex chain's new properties more Instagram friendly.

The exhibitor recently launched Megaplex at Sky City Mall in Mumbai along with 8-screen multiplex at Mahindra Millennium Mall, Bengaluru.

Popcorn to platter

In one of his first bets, Bijli will turn cinema into a fine dining restaurant along with the big screen movie experience at Bengaluru's Mahindra Millennium Mall.

"It's our first multiplex concept with a dine-in auditorium launching on August 28. The screen is an LED screen. Therefore, the ambient lighting surrounding the dining experience won't bother the quality of the content that's playing. Consumers will be given a table essentially with closest friends and family," Aamer Bijli, Lead Specialist – Innovation, Film Marketing & Digital Programming, PVR INOX told Moneycontrol.

In two ways, audiences can enjoy food and films. "One will be a general dine-in experience while watching a particular film of the consumer's choice. The other experience would be programmable dine-in. Let's say it's a food-first film like Ratatouille, for instance, or any film that highlights food then the menu in the cinema will be curated according to that film."

Ordering for in-cinema dining will be via an on-call butler under which the cinema staff will directly get notification. The second option is through the PVR INOX app to order food to the seat.

The property in Mahindra Millennium mall will also blend the cinema chain's first food court cinema concept where movie watching will be as incidental as consumers want it and eating as first priority as they want it, Bijli said.

"The way the cinema is designed, it encourages a full flow of a cafe, where people walk in, there's food court experiences on both sides. A lot of our in house brands that we have been trying to grow over the past years have finally come to reality. One is Dogfather. Hot dogs are something that is associated with cinema watching and movie watching as much as popcorn and nachos and it's an extremely underserved market. So, we created a gourmet hot dog brand for both inside the cinema and outside. M5 (cinema in Mahindra Mall) marks one of our first depictions and portrayals of what a physical outlet of a Dogfather would look like."

Other F&B (food and beverage) brands include Crosta, which is the cinema chain's take on Italian pizza, quick, easy to go bites. "We have a Frytopia, In Between, which is a burger, sandwiches, wraps brand. There is Cine Cafe, which is essentially bite-sized treats of everything that is available inside the cinema. There is Chinese Oriental along with Local Streat, which highlights all the local dining elements of each catchment that we are present in. Dogfather is our most rapidly growing brand and available in about 10 of our locations across the country. We will be expanding these F&B brands in food courts of other cities as well."

Bijli also plans to launch an ice cream brand soon.

Bijli estimates about 10 to 12 percent of the upcoming screens in the next two years to have immersive formats including dine-in and gaming, both in cinema and outside.

On the cost for getting the newer formats, he said that their current capex (capital expenditure) per screen is anywhere between Rs 3.5 crore to 5 crore. "These concepts are well within that range."

PVR INOX's F&B segment has been growing rapidly with the multiplex chain considered as one of the biggest food brands. Last financial year, cinemas saw many lows impacting footfalls. However, while the sale of movie tickets decreased by 10 percent or Rs 315.8 crore in FY25 versus FY24, the impact on F&B revenues was lower as the income from the sale of Food & Beverages decreased by 8 percent or Rs 152.9 crore.

Fuelling footfalls

As business bounced back in this financial year, it reported Rs 491.9 crore revenue from sales of F&B in the first quarter of FY26. Footfalls also recovered at 3.4 crore versus 3.04 crore during the same period a year ago.

To boost footfalls further, the second generation at PVR INOX is eying the gaming audience.

"We are going to be investing in ease of programming, to bring gaming, live events to the auditorium. The front space essentially between the front chairs and the screen is large enough to accommodate live bands, speakers for TEDx events and more. The primary objective to use the space is for dine-in to curate an extremely well-rounded dining experience for our consumers but because of the nature of the building, we can use it for much more," Bijli said.

He added that the more they expand on immersive tech and LED screens, the more the audience will be able to play games on the screen. "Gaming and Esports events are becoming really big and we want to capitalize on them. The in-auditorium gaming will pilot in M5 property this year."

Within the foyer of the M5 property, the exhibitor has carved out certain locations for gaming zones with VR and simulation related games, AR augmented technology.