Boxoffice - October 2016

SHOWEAST
AWARDS
AL SHAPIRO DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
ROBERT BAGBY
President & CEO
B&B Theatres
You are the third generation in
the family business. What are your
memories of growing up at the
movies? Do you remember your first
job in the theaters?
We were living in a one-bedroom apartment
above the Park Drive-in in western
Kansas. Our apartment was above the snack
bar, and I remember as a kid that all my
friends wanted to come over because back
in those days we had a playground. Friends
would come over, hang out with me, watch a
movie, and play in the playground. We had
a big window in the apartment that looked
out to the screen, and we had a speaker built
in so you could watch the movies from the
apartment. That’s probably one of my first
memories as a kid; being able to watch movies
from the apartment.
My first memory working at our theaters
is from when I was about five years old.
Dad built me a little stool that I could
stand on to hand out boxes of popcorn at
the drive-in. A couple of years later I started
picking up trash. I must have been in first
or second grade and would come back from
school to clean up the auditorium of our
indoor theater. I remember always being
excited because every once in a while I
would find a quarter between the seats or
on the floor. Year later, my dad told me he
would plant those quarters there to keep me
motivated.
Did you always have the intention of
returning to the family business after
going to college, or did you have
other plans in mind?
When I first went to college I thought
I was going to do something completely
different and go into music. I played in a
band and took music courses, but after my
first summer tour with a band I realized that
wasn’t the life for me, and I started thinking
again about the business. I took my first
accounting course and thought, I get this.
I understand this. Pretty shortly after that
I got the bug—in this business, when you
get the movie bug, it’s hard to get out of
your system—so I took it from there. I had
actually managed a couple of theaters for
my dad when I was in high school; I did the
payroll, the scheduling, the ordering—everything.
These weren’t huge complexes; we’re
talking about a single-screen in a small town,
and they were running another theater down
the road. That taught me a lot. Our family
worked; I did everything from running
the projectors, putting the film together,
ordering supples—they taught me from very
young. My kids worked in the theater from a
very young age as well; I think it’s important
for them to know the company from the
bottom up.
How has that upbringing helped shape
the culture at B&B?
Most of the people at the corporate
office, not all but most, started out working
at theaters. It’s really easy for corporate and
operations to be at odds with each other. So
many people here have worked at theaters;
they know what the theater managers are
going through, they know the stress they’re
under, they’ve been there and done that. I
think that’s what has really helped build our
company morale. There’s a real understanding
from the corporate side on what the
front office is going through.
When you came on as CEO, B&B
was a 17-screen circuit. Today, B&B
has more than 400 screens. Was
there always this ambition to grow
to be one of the top circuits in North
America?
I never imagined this kind of growth.
We had a few theaters in the region, and I
thought from time to time that we’d pick
something up. In 1982 we had the opportunity
to double our size by buying another
small circuit, and that was a huge step for us.
We had a couple of challenging years, but we
turned that around and found ourselves in a
good place when other opportunities came
up. In those early days we were operating a
lot of old, classic downtown theaters. We remodeled
a lot of them when I first came on,
removing the balconies of these single-screen
theaters and adding more screens. The next
big phase was going out to the edge of towns
and building big multiplexes. We had many
situations where we donated the old theaters
to local historical societies and things of
that nature. It’s been gradual. We doubled
our size in 1982 and were adding one or
two locations per year, slow and steady, and
continued to grow the company as opportunities
came up. And then a couple of years
ago we did it again—we doubled our size by
acquiring another circuit.
How important is it, especially for a
family business, to keep innovating
and pushing forward with that
momentum?
What has always helped us is having that
younger generation to help push the older
generation to the newest and brightest thing.
My kids have pushed me, and we were one
of the circuits to have their own branded premium
large format, the B&B Grand Screen.
My son talked me into building our first one,
and it was hugely successful. Everywhere we
build a theater we’re adding one of those. I
remember pushing my parents to expand to
the outskirts of town to build multiplexes
and leave behind the idea of having old,
single-screen theaters downtown. I think
that has kept us pushing forward. The most
exciting thing going on in our business right
now has to do with luxury and reserve seating,
food and beverages, adding bars—we’re
getting comments from people who hadn’t
come out for years and are now visiting us
two or three times a month because of their
experience. It’s revolutionizing our industry,
and I’m very excited to see that happen.
Digital was revolutionary for us, but it didn’t
really move the needle for the customer like
this. The last time we saw that needle move
was when stadium seating came in and people
flocked to those theaters. I don’t know
what’s coming next, but hopefully I’ll be
around to do it; my kids are all involved in
the business, they’re the fourth generation, so
that’s pretty good for a family business. n
42 BoxOffice ® OCTOBER 2016