If you’ve ever tap-danced through a dinner menu worrying if the servers will get you your meal on time so that you can make the 7:45 showtime at Celebration! Cinemas of Benton Harbor, you’ll be happy to know that coming one of these days you will be able to have dinner and drinks right at the theater before you head into the movie thanks to approvals from Benton Charter Township this week.
Steve VanWagoner is Vice President of Marketing & Public Relations for Grand Rapids-based Celebration! Cinemas. His team is working hard to revolutionize the movie-going experience system-wide through major renovations, improvements and enhancements, including not only the amazing new recliner style seating currently being installed in Benton Harbor, but also bar service and a larger menu of offerings.
Once the makeovers are complete, the motion picture experience at Celebration of Benton Harbor could change dramatically. Benton Township officials this week moved VanWagoner’s ball down the court toward allowing for adult beverages to be served at the multiplex on Cinema Way fronting I-94. On a 4-3 vote Tuesday, Township Trustees granted approval for the theater’s plans to apply for a liquor license from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission in Lansing.
It’s not the first, by any stretch, inasmuch as half a dozen of Celebration! Cinemas other movie complexes offering expanded menus and alcohol on site.
The intent isn’t to convert the theater into a bar, it is simply to advance the idea of a full night out with light dinner and drinks right on site before heading into a movie. VanWagoner says that the adult beverage offers have been extremely well received in other Celebration markets including Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Lansing, and Portage, where they have also expanded their food offerings.
He’s playing menu changes close to the vest for now, but wants movie-goers to know that the full deal experience is very much a goal, and is all part and parcel to the reasoning behind the current installation of the large recliner style seating underway. By the end of next week, VanWagoner says that Celebration of Benton Harbor will have eight theaters outfitted with the new seating, and by the end of June all 14 of the local theaters will feature those seats. The $1.8-million project is advancing on schedule.
There is no current guesstimate as to when the liquor license will be approved and service can start, but would likely coincide with menu changes coming your way. Stay tuned.
