KANSAS CITY, MO-AMC Entertainment Inc., based here, wants to expand the dine-in movie concept throughout California and Washington, but recently decided to outsource the expansion. The firm has hired the Jones Lang LaSalle Corporate Retail Solutions to choose new AMC sites in the two states.

The JLL team will work closely together with AMC executives in choosing existing properties to retrofit, or new sites on which to build new theaters, says Craig Killman , SVP with the retail solutions group. He has some background with the theater owner, having worked in the AMC real estate division for four years.

He tells GlobeSt.com that AMC wants to introduce two new concepts to moviegoers. One concept is called Fork and Screen, now being tested in Kansas City, MO and New York City. At this new theater, customers sit in seats more like a restaurant, and neighborhood fare is served with a full bar. Also being tried is Cinema Suites, where moviegoers can watch a film while sitting in a leather recliner while also enjoying light fare.

“A lot of other theaters have tried food, but AMC hired some top restaurant executives, and they do the food really well,” Killman says. Three of the theaters are open, with another eight under construction.

Killman says JLL will help AMC bring this concept out West. “We’ll be converting some of the existing theaters, and will build new where there’s a gap. There’ll probably be a requirement of about 30,000 to 55,000 square feet. We’d consider properties such as old Mervyn’s or Circuit City box sites, but the area has to be compelling. Just because the site is dead doesn’t mean we’d go in there,” he says. The movie chain, which has about 380 theaters in five countries, is also outsourcing this activity with real estate firms in other states.

Expanded food options, luxury and even the 3-D craze are trends that are here to stay with the movie-going public, Killman says. “Every theater that gets built will have 3-D, will have a food component with a bigger, more expanded concession than before, such as various popcorn styles, or an ice cream bar similar to a ColdStone offering,” he says.