iPic Entertainment has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to an article published recently in Variety:

iPic Entertainment, the luxury theater chain that helped popularize the concept of dine-in moviegoing, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It hopes to restructure its debt and has engaged investment banker PJ Solomon to pursue a possible sale.

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“It’s business as usual,” said [iPic CEO and founder Hamid Hashemi]. “We’re going to continue showing movies. We’ll have the same management team. The same membership program. Our guests can expect the same level of service. This is a restructuring of our balance sheet. It’s not an operational issue.”

Hashemi said that the two million members of iPic’s loyalty program will not be impacted and stressed that the company will honor gift cards and will continue to uphold its advertising partnerships on its pre-show programming. He acknowledged, however, that its 444 holders of the company’s common stock risk losing some or all of their investment.

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Hashemi blamed the company’s financial issues on increased competition in the luxury theater space. In recent years, AMC, Regal, and other chains have followed iPic’s example by outfitting locations with recliner seats and by offering alcoholic beverages and high-end food items at certain venues.

“When we started this business back in 2007 there was nobody doing this type of dine-in, affordable, luxury experience,” said Hashemi. “Eventually the rest of the industry woke up. Our model inspired others to upgrade their circuits and the competition became more fierce.”

He also said that the company had struggled to build new venues at the pace it had anticipated. It initially wanted to open 25 locations in four to five years, but fell short of that goal. Hashemi noted that iPic had hoped that construction on its locations would take two years, but iPic theaters in New York City and Delray Beach, Florida took five and six years to build, respectively.

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While the company says that it will not affect operations, if you have iPic gift cards, it's probably a good time to use them. If they are sold, they may not be honored by the company that acquires iPic, and gift cards are usually considered unsecured debt, and become worthless if the bankruptcy proceedings go even further.

iPic Entertainment currently owns/operates movie theaters in nine states:

Arizona

• iPic Theaters - Scottsdale -- Scottsdale

California

• iPic Theaters - Westwood -- Los Angeles
• iPic Theaters - Pasadena -- Pasadena

Florida

• iPic Theaters - Boca Raton (Mizner Park) -- Boca Raton
• iPic Theaters - Delray Beach -- Delray Beach
• iPic Theaters - North Miami Beach -- North Miami Beach

Illinois

• iPic Theaters - Bolingbrook -- Bolingbrook
• iPic Theaters - South Barrington -- South Barrington

Maryland

• iPic Theaters - North Bethesda (Pike & Rose) -- North Bethesda

New Jersey

• iPic Theaters - Hudson Lights -- Fort Lee

New York

• iPic Theaters - Westchester -- Dobbs Ferry
• iPic Theaters - Fulton Market (South Street Seaport) -- New York

Texas

• iPic Theaters - Austin -- Austin
• iPic Theaters - Fairview -- Fairview
• iPic Theaters - Houston -- Houston

Washington

• iPic Theaters - Redmond -- Redmond

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