The service is the first cooperation between Major and McDonald's following the takeover of McThai, McDonald's local franchisee, by Major Cineplex chairman Vicha Poolvaraluck last October.

Under the service, which will be fully operational in August, McDonald's home-delivery customers will also be able to buy movie tickets for Major Cineplex and affiliated theatres, including EGV, Esplanade Cineplex and Paragon Cineplex.

"We and McDonald's share the same group of customers - young adults and family members with kids," said Anavach Ongvasith, Major Cineplex's chief cinema business officer.

"With the home-delivery service, we can encourage those McDonald's customers who have never seen movies to become moviegoer members. McDonald's in return can enjoy our large base of customers, who can be their clients in the future."

"We expect the home-delivery service to contribute about 2 per cent of our ticket sales next year," Anavach said.

Major Cineplex sold over 30 million tickets last year, of which 90 per cent were walk-in purchases and 4 per cent were divided equally between electronic ticketing machines and Internet booking.

Anavach said Major Cineplex would approach other quick-service restaurants about similar cooperation.

McThai chairman Hester Chew expects McDonald's to grow its home-delivery business by 50 per cent this year with the help of the new scheme.

"We are now serving between 60,000 and 70,000 home-delivery orders per month," he said.

McThai operates 97 McDonald's restaurants around the Kingdom. It will increase its number of delivery centres from 37 to about 50 by the end of this year. It has a share of nearly 20 per cent of the Bt1.3-billion home-delivery market operated by major quick-service restaurant chains.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation