Marcus Theatres adds new items to the menu

How about dinner and a movie? Yes. At the movies. So convenient. Yes. Marcus Theaters is adding some new additions to the menu. Yes. Brian Cramp is at the Marcus Majestic Cinema out in Brookfield, getting a firsthand look and a firsthand taste at some of the new options. You know, Cramp, we know that going to the movies is not what it used to be. The seats are way comfier. They've got a lot of places have wine and beer now. I mean, they're really making an effort to bring people in and fill seats. Yeah. Filling seats is one thing. Keeping them here. That's a complete other thing I think you want to get here early. You're probably going to watch a movie. You might even stay for a drink afterwards. Marco, thanks for joining us. Thanks for inviting us, too. You know, as a guy who's been in the industry for 20 years, started part-time, what was that first food item that you remember going to the movie and having? Was it popcorn or was it something else? So my go-to would have been a nachos with cheese and then extra jalapeno. Solid choice. But that was also two decades ago, right? It was. And things have evolved a little bit, wouldn't you say? and you guys with Marcus do a great job of switching things up not just based on the movies that are in the theaters but also seasonally as well and I don't remember there ever being a tomato parmesan focaccia but that's what that first sandwich is right there when you guys are doing the menu how do you start do you start with what your your guests are wanting or do you start with your own tastes it's kind of a mix of all of those things and this process starts really early in the game for us so today's the debut day for these items and some other ones you know today october 14th but we start this process gosh probably going back to march really yes getting customer feedback employee feedback um seeing different trends that are happening at other restaurants and concepts and just finding our own unique fun ways to put spins on things it's interesting you said restaurants too because a lot of people don't consider the theater a restaurant but you're serving restaurant style food and quality food absolutely you know you You know, Marcus Theatres has been around for 90-plus years now. We just celebrated 90 years last year. Yeah. And you learn to adapt over time, right? So we've come a long way from, and you'll still have them, popcorn, soda, nachos. But now we get to offer all these great expanded food and beverage offerings that we're really excited to talk about. Well, and I'm excited the fact that we can get it on a plate. But I'm also excited as a parent that's dealt with kids trying to hold food in a movie theater. Sure. That I'm inherently holding all of the food and all of the stuff. so he can eat that this is just sitting right on the lap. Absolutely. So, you know, for today, obviously, we wanted to make sure that we presented some of the items on some actual plateware, but also show you how you're going to get it presented to you in the auditorium. You know, a greaseproof box, you don't have to worry about it sitting in your lap and then leaking through, and avoid some of those messes that you're talking about. Yeah, I mean, I'm checking out that chicken. So what's the second one here? Is that a buffalo chicken sandwich? What is that? Yeah, so that's a buffalo chicken sandwich. And, you know, in some of the research that we've done, We found that buffalo as a flavor has really resonated with our guests. You know, we offer a buffalo chicken wrap right now, some other ways on a pizza or tossing your wings. And we just wanted to find another way to offer that flavor profile to the guests. And that's how we came across this sandwich on a sesame seed bun, some lettuce, some banana peppers, and really just tried to keep it simple so that that buffalo flavor could come through. Right. And, yeah, we're really happy with how that turned out. The seasoning on the menu says sizzle seasoning. Does that mean it has a kick? No, I'd just say it has some flavor to it. A little pizzazz. Yeah, I don't think anyone needs to worry if they're worried about spicy necessarily. You're not going to be sweating after you take a bite. No, not at all. I mean, the buffalo will have a mild kick to it, but yeah. But you do have peppers on things, too. Banana peppers don't have too much of a kick, but I love the fact that you're kind of throwing this together in a hoagie bun, but that's definitely not a hot dog. That's chicken as well? Correct, yeah. So this is our bird dog. And so, again, doing some of the research, we found that, you know, chicken tenders are the number one appetizer that we sell by far. And we wanted to find a fun and different way to kind of present it to the guest. And this is what we came up with. So it's a chicken tender placed into a split top hoagie Hawaiian roll bun with some mixed cheeses on top, some bacon, banana pepper, honey mustard sauce. So think of, you know, the format of a hot dog, but kind of kicked up a notch with some different ingredients. And this is what we came up with. And, yeah, we're really excited with how this went. I like that you can kick it up flavor-wise and still it can be approachable for all palates. Sometimes it can be a little intimidating to see a pepper on top of a sandwich, but that's going to be more on the sweet side than on the heat side. Correct. And the menu, my goodness, I know that you have other ones that you're going to show later on today, but it's not just sandwiches and apps. I mean, you're doing, aren't you doing some breakfast items too? Or don't you have some? Are they? Not right now. Not right now. I thought I heard the rumor of breakfast. but you guys do have some beefy salads here for sure. And talk about these crinkle cut fries. I see a little bit of a seasoning on there. Are they all seasoned? Yeah, so they're all seasoned. That's that sizzle seasoning that you talked about. Let me see. Right? Yep. Got a nice crunch to it. Yeah. It's our proprietary blend, so I'll have to keep that close to the vest as far as what's in it, but. I would say a little pepper, salt for sure. Maybe in a very slight amount, maybe of a chili or something like that. I'd say you're pretty darn close. Paprika or something like that? Yeah. For you, this has got to be fun. And knowing that you started in the industry, what was your first job, by the way? I was an usher at our Orland Park location in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. Yeah. So now as operations manager of food and beverage, corporate side, I mean, the potential, did you think that it was ever going to be there? That you'd be running the show and it came to the food that you're going to be eating while you're watching the movie? It's hard to say that you ever see this coming, right? You know, you get this part-time job in high school just thinking it's going to get you by to pay your cell phone bill, get you gas to get from A to B, and then, yeah, here you are 20 years later, and you're presenting food to an audience that, you know, you had a big hand in helping develop along with Chris, who's our corporate chef for Marcus Theaters. And speaking of Chris, Chris just came out earlier on. That was him, right? He brought this giant pizza. We're not going to get to it yet, but I'm just going to tell you guys. Now, this is a theater group that has Zafiro's Pizza. But wait until you see what they did with the Zafiro's crust and topped it with some very special things. We're going to show that coming up next. Some more food items, obviously. Marcus Theater is here. We're at the Majestic in Waukesha. Guys, I think that tomato parmesan focaccia bread is probably my go-to out of these three right here. But we're going to see what the next batch looks like when we come back next. Marco, thanks. Sounds great. Thanks so much. What a great story. I am impressed. Of Marco. That looks delicious. Yeah. All right, guys. Coming up, spooky and safe. We have some Halloween tips and reminders from families coming up next. Welcome back to Real Milwaukee. We are at the Majestic here, Marcus Theaters in Waukesha. This is a Zafiro's pizza box. But inside, it's no ordinary pizza. My goodness. Look at this pizza. as we open it up oh right i mean just the sight of that alone makes you want to dig into it now Marco, you didn't have to do this but you did and it's going really well so tell me what this pizza is called sure so this is our uh smash up pizza okay and we're featuring it as a limited time offering uh that started when the Avengers Endgame re-release came out earlier this summer and we're going to run it all the way through the end of the year uh with Avengers Doomsday So you can get it now until the end of the year, and it's kind of a twist on the movie. You know, they're bringing all these alternate universes together, and so we're kind of doing the same thing. Like, what if a burger and a pizza came together? What would it look like? And this is the fantastic. I mean, it smells amazing. I think the lettuce would bring a nice crunch. It smells a lot like a big... Yeah, actually, you know, it smells a lot like a Big Mac. I'm just going to say that outright. But that sauce on there is underneath all of the ingredients. What is that? Yeah, so this pizza in particular does not feature our traditional red sauce. This is actually a garlic parmesan base on the bottom. I mean, I love the smell of that. That thing is going to get devoured a little bit later on. So is this a limited run for the pizza then? Correct, yes. So you can get it today through Avengers Doomsday, which comes out on December 18th. We'll run it through the end of the year, basically. So plenty of time to take advantage of it. I love that you guys are leaning into the movies again, too. And by the way, some big blockbuster movies are coming to theaters soon. Just give me a few that you guys are looking forward to. Sure. Well, I mean, it starts this weekend. There's Street Fighter that's coming out. It'll play on that very popular video game series. There's a Cat in the Hat movie that's coming out. There's a Meet the Parents sequel coming out around Thanksgiving. And then, you know, everything leads up towards December 18th, where we've got Dune 3 and Avengers Doomsday coming out on the same exact day. Fun times. And you throw a Godzilla movie in the mix there. absolutely all of that let's get to these these sliders my goodness that looks amazing so yeah this is uh this is actually an interesting thing for us because depending on the movie the market theater that you've been to in the market you may have already seen these these are our chipotle chicken sliders uh we've offered them at select locations but as of today any expanded food and beverage location you can get these now too so we've we've brought it everywhere that we do um you know uh expanded food and beverage and just because of the popularity we thought it was it It was a slam dunk for us. Yeah, smart, too. You know, also smart, serving a good cocktail. Or shall I say a mocktail? Which one do you have? Which one do I have? This is the watermelon cooler. You've got the mango passion spritz. So for us, this is just meeting the customer where they are. You know, drinking habits have changed. It's very refreshing. Let me say that right away. It was like something that was a burst of flavor. And with no alcohol in there, I bet you a lot of people are gravitating towards these, too. Yeah, absolutely. You know, drinking habits have changed. So we just need to make sure that we have all the offerings that we need to meet the guests where they are. And I think we've achieved that with these, featuring them for the first time on a menu. That's a fun taste. But you guys do have some other interesting cocktails as well. Just grab that real quick. I just want to point out this one right here, which immediately spoke to me. The Maple and Peanut Butter Cold Brew. Oh, yum. That, right? Tell me about it. After a drink like that, I might have to take a nap. Seriously. Seriously, inside though, let's not be confused, there's actually a peanut butter whiskey, is that correct? Correct, yeah. So that one features Screwball peanut butter whiskey and then Mr. Black, which is a cold brew liqueur. And some of these drinks you might have had before. Now, the dessert. You have to have a little dessert when it comes to, you know, a good solid meal as well. And this one, I can't believe that the ice cream hasn't melted yet. What's all going on with this? So this is our Apple Blossom Crumb Cake. It's a new dessert. Again, as of today, you can get it at your favorite Marcus Theater. and this is just it's a different flavor profile for us on desserts you know we've typically been very rich and indulgent this is a little bit more fruit forward with some baked apple wrapped in a pastry dough folded kind of like an apple like a blossom or a flower and then a touch of indulgence with some ice cream and with I love it you get you have to give props to your team yes I mean because there's a lot that can be done in a movie theater that sometimes isn't done but you guys are doing it yeah you guys are putting together a menu that is seemingly fun you can come here and grab a meal and not even go to the movie i mean that's i mean you're going to want to do it absolutely we'd love that but if you come to this area because clearly there's space right come and grab a drink and have a little bite to eat but also we can order and then take it to our seats which is the fun part yeah i think that's you know one of the great parts about what we do and how we offer the movie going experience now to guests is you can do it any way you want so if you want to come in here an hour before your movie and have some dinner and then go to the show that's great do the movie and then have some drinks after do that too or you know if we've got a big sports game on on the big tv that you could want to come watch you don't even want to do the movie come do that and hang out in one of our great we appreciate you putting real milwaukee on tv that yeah that's a bonus that's well okay so for the pizza normal pizzas also when i say normal pizzas i mean Zafiro's pizzas there's nothing normal about Zafiro's pizza but you have those as well uh you got this one this the smash pizza bringing that burger and the pizza together That one goes through the run of that Marvel, excuse me, the Marvel movie. Avengers, yep. Avengers, that's coming up in December. When does this stuff end, though? Is it just going to be for the season? Are you rebooting it in 27, or how long can we expect some of this to be? Yeah, so we typically will look at revising our menu once a year right around this time. Just trying to get ahead of the holidays and make sure that we have all our gaps covered and, you know, make any tweaks to existing menu items. So, no, these items, you know, aside from the pizza, which is, again, only through the run of Avengers Dune to you know through the end of the year yeah everything else that we've presented today will be on the menu at least for another year there you go until this time next year I'm gonna close this box up nice I heard you guys ooh and a now and about it bring it back to the team put it safe in the car in the backseat so it doesn't slide so you For real Milwaukee only side as well. Marco, thank you. Thanks so much, Brian. Congratulations on the rollout on the new menu here. Marcus Theaters, majestic out here in Waukesha, guys. Yeah, they have a little bit of everything for all the different flavors and tastes of your family. Awesome stuff. I love the creativity. Yeah. And then it cuts out going to dinner elsewhere before the movie. It's like all in one spot. It's a big date night spot. How about that? All right. In the meantime, sticking with the movie theme here, Gino's in next with an interview on a documentary that's being called a must-watch. We'll explain why next.