09 Apr ROLL OUT ROUND UP
By: Matt Silvers, Senior Vice President Real Estate and Brand Development
With the opening of Flix Brewhouse Des Moines on Dec. 17, 2014 we can all definitively state that the Flix “roll out” is officially under way. We have big plans over the next several years but it all starts with opening the doors of Unit No. 1. Technically, we did that in the summer of 2011 with our original location in Round Rock, Texas. That unit, however, is fairly different from our new Flix Brewhouse prototype and was opened without regard for its platform potential. It was only after Flix Round Rock performed so well that the folks who backed it decided it would be a great concept to expand nationwide.
Now with the opening of our second store we are officially on the board with a new prototype look and feel. Yes, the Flix Brewhouse expansion train has finally left the station. Flix Des Moines is doing phenomenally well and is exceeding our projections and expectations in almost every way imaginable. It has been hugely popular with Des Moinesians, so much so that our eight screen movie theater is now routinely performing at or near the top of the market. This is a significant achievement for a modestly sized, new-concept movie theater that has been in existence for only 90 days.
As we fine tune operations in Des Moines, collectively, we look toward our third store which is presently scheduled to open to the public in Carmel, Indiana on April 30, 2015. We also expect Flix Carmel to perform quite well, but you won’t read me projecting how it will do. I’ll leave that to our operations team. We have put everything we have into this location and the entire management and development team believes that what we are building in Carmel truly represents the future Flix prototype. It is a fantastic looking building, inside and out, and is emblematic of the Flix Brewhouse brand. Although I am not prognosticating, I will state on the record that Carmelites will like their Flix Brewhouse at least as much as Des Moinesians like theirs.
As we look ahead, through the end of 2015 and into 2016, we have a lot on tap. This summer we’ll add three screens to our first location in Round Rock, expand and augment the kitchen and begin the process of adding aesthetic enhancements to bring it more into line with our new prototype look. As you will read below, we have also announced a new deal in a large and very fast growing suburb of Houston, Texas called Sugar Land. We are hoping and expecting that it will be the land of milk and honey from a revenue generation standpoint! We are in the midst of lease negotiations with the landlord but expect that we will be able to move ahead with this deal sometime later this year, with an expected opening sometime in mid-2016. There are numerous other deals brewing presently, but I won’t divulge too much relative to geography except to say that they are predominantly in the Midwest, West and Southeast.
Looking ahead, we expect to expand by about three units per year. Within a reasonably short period of time, we will have grown from a one unit concept anchoring a community shopping center in suburban Austin, Texas to a national, well regarded innovator in the dine-in segment of the cinema industry. The growth here is palpable and with rapid growth comes growing pains. Yes, we’ve had a few of those. But we have already built a business that we are proud of and as we push toward our goal of 15 total units across the country, we believe strongly that we can achieve scale for our investors while bringing our guests a truly memorable, if not unique, experience. Stay tuned for more in the months ahead as we roll onward.
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