De Pere Cinema premiers pizza/popcorn delivery van

Matthew Day

Staff

June 29, 2026

DE PERE – The De Pere Cinema’s concessions are stepping into the spotlight with a new delivery service that brings freshly made pizzas, buttery popcorn and other theater favorites straight to customers’ doors.

As of last month, Owner Mike Radue said nearly all the theater’s food and drink options (excluding beer) are available for order within a 15-mile radius of the 417 George St. location.

For now, Radue said delivery is only available on Saturdays, but the schedule is set to expand. 

Per getreelcinemas.com – the website for the De Pere Cinema and its sister cinema in Chilton – the menu includes: 

• Movietyme Pizza 
• Hamburgers, cheeseburgers and grilled chicken sandwiches 
• Appetizers, including fries, nachos and garlic bread 
• Popcorn 
• Candy and Dippin’ Dots ice cream 
• Sodas, slushies and other soft drinks 

Following a few minor electrical upgrades, Radue said the cinema’s transport van has been effective at keeping food and snacks fresh and at the proper temperature during transport.

“It works – 20 minutes in the van and everything’s still piping hot,” he said. 

As with the table-and-chair cinema itself, Radue said his goal for the new service is to provide the Greater Green Bay area with “high-quality, wholesome options” as enjoyable as they are affordable. 

“A little bit of [the appeal] is having it when you’re at the theater – that’s kind of the novelty of it,” he said. “But [the food] is made fresh, and we keep the prices really reasonable.” 

Radue said orders require a $25 minimum purchase, though the cinema does not charge a delivery fee to help keep costs down for customers.

Whether customers are ordering for a home movie night or simply for a meal, he said “people are just loving it.” 

“We want you to come to the theater,” he said, “but if you’re going to stay home, we’ll bring the concession stand to you.” 

Reeling in the years 

Despite the rise of streaming services and increasingly large home televisions, Radue said the continued appeal of the De Pere Cinema can be summed up in one word: nostalgia. 

“I think the younger generation is starting to realize there’s a lot of nostalgia in an older theater,” he said. 

Radue said the old building has a lot of history, even predating its time as a theater. 

“This was, believe it or not, a carriage-repair shop and sales floor back in the early, early 1900s,” he said. 

Radue said it ultimately became a theater in 1933. 

Since then, he said he’s just the third owner of the cinema, having purchased it in 2000. 

“The table-and-chair setting – I didn’t come up with the idea,” he said. “I bought it 26 years ago and it was set up like that. I’d like to say it was my idea, but it wasn’t.” 

Radue said his own ideas have influenced the cinema’s evolution as technological and industry changes have contributed to the closure of many theaters.

When U.S. theaters needed to make the switch from projecting movies on reels of 35mm film to going digital in 2014, he said “4,000 screens went dark – they couldn’t make the digital switch.” 

COVID-19, Radue said, led to even more closures. 

To keep the nearly 240-seat De Pere Cinema afloat during the pandemic, Radue said he turned to carryout sales, offering the theater’s proprietary Movietyme Pizza along with its other popular concessions.

“The community was amazingly supportive,” he said. “We did takeout, and we were selling takeout pizzas just constantly.” 

From there, Radue said the cinema began outsourcing pizza delivery via services such as EatStreet and DoorDash. 

The popularity continued to climb, he said, and even after the cinema resumed showing films – second-run, at the time – it continued to sell concessions beyond the theater itself. 

Not long after, Radue said the De Pere Cinema opted to become a first-run theater. 

Though no longer technically a “budget” theater, he said prices are still lower than those of larger multiplexes:  

• $8 for adult admissions (after 5:30 p.m.) 
• $5 for children 11 and under 
• $5 for seniors 62 and older 
• $5 for all matinees (shows before 5:30 p.m.) 
• $5 for all Tuesday admissions 

Becoming a first-run theater, Radue said, meant “we had to really rebrand ourselves.” 

He said there’s also a misconception the theater only shows animated children’s movies, which, though popular, are only a portion of what is screened at the cinema. 

Not only does the theater show adult Hollywood movies, but Radue – a lifelong actor and filmmaker – said he also screens independent films once a month. 

Unfortunately, he said the cinema no longer broadcasts live Green Bay Packers games, a popular tradition that featured free admission and quarterly prize giveaways.

Radue said that ended around 2016 after the NFL sent a cease-and-desist letter.

The notice, he said, was “really disappointing,” as the only explanation given had to do with the size of the theater’s screen. 

No matter what’s shown at the cinema, though, Radue said the concessions have always been the big draw. 

“For us, that’s where we live and breathe, because anywhere from 60-70% of the tickets’ [revenue] goes to Hollywood…,” he said. “That’s really how we survive.” 

By expanding its ability to sell beyond the cinema itself, Radue said the theater’s future is all the more solid. 

Further, he said by handling its own deliveries, there’s greater assurance the orders – particularly the homemade pizzas – will arrive in a manner that “still represents our product.” 

Viva cinema 

Radue said the new delivery van/service follows a number of recent investments for the De Pere Cinema. 

“We just did a big remodel job here last year,” he said. “We remodeled the inside of the theater and put in a new kitchen… I really redid the women’s bathroom.” 

Radue said the cinema’s new, three-phase oven will help keep pace with any increases in demand for pizzas. 

As delivery orders add to the demands of serving theater guests – “it’s not unusual to do 20 pizzas” during a single movie – Radue said a second kitchen behind the big screen is on his summer to-do list.

This additional space, he said, will also feature a cotton-candy machine, adding to the in-house and delivery order options. 

Radue said the De Pere Cinema’s success is driven by its dedicated staff. 

Though several family members work at the theater in various roles, he said all of its employees feel like family.

“Our staff is phenomenal,” he said. “We have people who have worked for us for probably 20 years. We have some who have worked here [for] 10, 12 years, come back from college, get married and still want to work once in a while.” 

Methods to boost theater attendance are also in the works, Radue said, as he explores options for movie ticket promotions tied into orders or, in the future, with wholesale frozen pizzas. 

Much like the resurgence of vinyl records, Radue said he believes the desire to experience movies in theaters has simply skipped a generation.

Theaters, he said, offer advantages that homes cannot easily replicate, including acoustically optimized sound and massive screens.

“There is something about it…,” he said. “You’ll never see the numbers where they were pre-COVID…, but the people will come back if you do it right.”