Beer and a movie? It’s coming to Germantown

You’ll soon be able to have a cold one along with your box of popcorn while watching a movie at Malco’s Forest Hill Cinema in Germantown.

The Memphis-based theater chain won approval from the city’s aldermen on Feb. 13 for on-premise beer sales at the theater near Forest HillIrene and Poplar Pike, the first step in offering a wider range of food and beverage options that eventually will include wine as well.

Larry Etter, senior vice president of Malco, said the company is moving toward an in-theater dining experience that follows a trend already well underway in theaters across the country.

“There’s been a significant evolution in theater movie service,” Etter noted in saying Malco first brought beer to Studio on the Square in Overton Square in 2000. Other Malcoowned properties, such as some Arkansas theaters, also offer beer. “A number of our brethren on the east side of the state have started doing intheater dining,” he said. “Servers will actually bring you food. Our intent is to move in that direction.”

Etter said the company is aware of how the process works in the restaurant business and will not serve alcohol to anyone younger than 18 or allow employees younger than 18 to sell it.

“We understand how restaurants operate,” Etter said. “We will check IDs.”

The bottom line, Etter said, in selling the request to Germantown officials, was “keeping Germantown moviegoers going to movies in Germantown.”

Alderman Dean Massey the only one of the five aldermen to vote against the request, questioned whether the applicants received only local background checks for violations or if information was checked nationwide. Police Chief Richard Hall said the application was vetted locally according to requirements and no violations were found.

Alderman John Barzizza, a retired wine and liquor distributor, supported the application and said he was comfortable with the level of scrutiny the application would have received from the state if Malco will be selling wine.