This South Jersey food company is betting on movie theaters, which have yet to fully recover from the pandemic

Dippin’ Dots, the futuristic ice cream shaped into tiny spheres, is coming to a theater near you.

J&J Snack Foods, the South Jersey company that owns Icee, the frozen carbonated drink, bought Dippin’ Dots last year for $222 million. Now, it’s trying to get the ice cream into movie theaters.

“I believe that there’s the opportunity for Dippin’ Dots to be in over 1,000 locations over the next year,” said Dan Fachner, the CEO of J&J Snack Foods, about the ice cream’s appearance in movie theaters.

Two hundred and fifty Regal Theaters have already welcomed the snack to their concession stands, and some AMC and Cinemark theaters are testing the product. The three companies are the top exhibitors of movies in the country, with the most locations and screens, according to a report from the Cinema Foundation, a nonprofit that publishes data about the movie industry.

The move from Dippin’ Dots might come as a surprise to some, as movie theaters haven’t been able to recover all of the audiences they lost during the pandemic. Philadelphia lost three Regal movie theaters in January as part of a nationwide closure of theaters.

According to the Cinema Foundation, the number of movie theater screens in the U.S was down 5.3% in 2022 compared to 2019. As of 2022, there were 39,007 screens in total across movie theaters.

But Fachner believes the future looks good for movie theaters.

“When there’s a good movie, we’re doing the same kind of volume that we did pre-pandemic. And so we think there’s still a great opportunity inside the theater industry,” he said.

Fachner, who attended CinemaCon in April, a global gathering of movie industry professionals, says that theater operators are predicting that by the end of this year, movie theater attendance will be up to 85% of what it used to be, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

And when movie theatergoers do go to the movies, they’re spending more money, says Fachner.

With some of J&J Snack Foods products such as Icee and SuperPretzel already in movie theaters, the company was able to test out how well Dippin’ Dots would do in that market.

In addition to movie theater sales, Dippin’ Dots, manufactured in Paducah, Ky., sells its ice cream across the country in amusement parks, sports stadiums, and zoos.

The ice-cold treat is currently available at approximately 30 movie theaters in the Philadelphia area, said a spokesperson for the company. The AMC Dine-in at Fashion District 8 offers Dippin’ Dots in Oreo, rainbow, and cotton candy flavors. The treat can also be found at Citizens Bank Park and King of Prussia Mall, among other locations.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story misidentified the location of J&J Snack Foods’ headquarters. They are in Mount Laurel.