Theater INDUSTRY INSIDERS up every time? … How do you get rid of all the residue that you’re going to find in the chairs?” The barrier to entry for making home recliners, Fred adds, isn’t particularly high: “Can you buy fabric? Can you buy mechanisms to [recline the seats]? Can you buy a staple gun?” Telescopic Seating Systems, they decided, would be a “technology-based company,” says Fred, at its core one innovation designed to better the customer experience: “How to power a roomful of recliners. How to network recliners together in a link.” Since then, the technology has evolved, adding such features as the ability to lift only the seats that have not been cleaned since their last use and a red light/green light system so the customer can know their seat has been freshly cleaned. All of that, of course, positions Telescopic Seating Systems to meet exhibitors’ needs during Covid. They are one of a handful of companies that have introduced new products since March 2020 designed to increase theaters’ ability to maintain standards of cleanliness and sanitation. For Telescopic Seating Systems, that product is the Seat Suite, a single-use partition that can be put between seats, creating a physical barrier between customers and their neighbors. (As an added bonus, the shields can also serve as ad hoc ad spaces.) As with Telescopic Seating Systems’ rocker system, their Seat Suite was originally designed for one purpose, until changing exhibition realities shifted the company in another direction. While they’re marketed now as a way to increase “guest confidence in social distancing,” they were originally envisioned as a less-expensive, more flexible way for Telescopic Seating Systems customers to adapt to the increasingly popular “pod” concept, adopted at luxury chains like iPic. “It’s something that we had been working on for four or five years,” Fred recalls— “but it was for privacy,” not safety. For the Jacobses, the needs of the customer—and the flexibility required to meet those needs—remain top of mind, now as when they first started Telescopic Seating Solutions. That’s why, though the cinema seating industry has moved somewhat toward high-tech seats boasting heaters, USB ports, and other bells and whistles befitting the luxury recliner experience, TSS still sells trusty rockers in addition to their other products. “I think that, ultimately, it’s easy to be blinded by the glorious, luxurious installation” of high-end chairs, says Jacobs. Ticket price being the same, most moviegoers would prefer a luxury recliner to a ’90s-style rocker—but price usually isn’t the same, and while the shift to recliners has driven occupancy rates in theaters, in some places “a basic rocker chair is all the market can afford.” On top of that, there are some theaters—for example, those with older, sloped floors and a programming lineup that caters to families with small (age-wise and height-wise) children—where a shorter, more compact chair makes more sense. “We really try to work with a customer to understand their business and their market,” says Fred, “rather than selling the fanciest puppy in the window.” In 2016, Denise retired from the automotive world, where she’d worked at Magna Mirrors, to devote her energies to Telescopic Seating Systems. “When I came on board, that was exciting for me, because for the first time I could start traveling with Fred” to all the regional shows, in addition to the major ones she’d been able to attend before. That, now, is temporarily on hold—but the couple looks forward to the day when they can once again “pack up the trailer and go out and hit the road and visit customers!” Says Fred, “the exhibition industry is really blessed with that personal connection. There is certainly tough competition between chains, but most chains understand and respect one another. … That civility, within the exhibition industry, is good to be maintained.” “We really try to work with a customer to understand their business and their market, rather than selling the fanciest puppy in the window.” 72 <strong>Q1</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 70-72_Premium-Seating-<strong>Pro</strong>s.indd 72 12/02/<strong>2021</strong> 12:38
Change with the Changing Times #UpgradeTo info@galalitescreens.com | www.galalitescreens.com Follow us on : /galalitescreens <strong>Q1</strong> <strong>2021</strong> 73 73_AD-Omniterm-Galalite.indd 73 12/02/<strong>2021</strong> 12:38