Silky Otter Cinemas: A story of pandemic-defying resilience

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THE CLIMAX of most movies occurs near the end of the story, however in Silky Otter Cinema’s story, the climax happens near the start.

Not long after the independent cinema chain opened its first theatre in Orakei, Auckland, in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic struck New Zealand.

Co-founder Neil Lambert says Silky Otter was in a growth phase, however social distancing and periodic lockdowns threatened to derail the company’s ambitions.

“For us it was incredibly tough to build a circuit of cinemas during a global pandemic —we had many struggles that we came up against,” Neil says.

“Probably one of the most important ones was cash flow and getting finance to do what we needed to do.

“We had a vision and a direction and we didn’t want to stop, so we kept going as hard as we could, head down and bum up, and we got through.”

Silky Otter Cinemas serves freshly cooked hot food, indulgent desserts, classic movie favourites and a wide selection of drinks — all delivered to your seat.

Neil credits this resilience in part to SilverChef’s willingness to fund the hospitality equipment needed by Silky Otter, which offers moviegoers a full kitchen and bar service.

“Back in 2020 when the world shut down, so did the banks. They turned around and said they weren’t going to be backing hospitality any more.

“The great thing about SilverChef was that SilverChef was hospitality and they understood hospitality, the pains and what we were going through at the time.

“They became vital in us being able to grow our business…and we couldn’t have done that part without them.”

Today, Silky Otter is not just surviving but thriving. It operates five cinemas and there are three more in the works, in Auckland, Christchurch, and Queenstown.

Neil is forecasting more than 1 million visits per year to the eight cinemas.

By providing not just movies but a “hospitality experience”, Silky Otter hopes to rekindle the “Multiplex generation’s” love of big-screen movies and create “new nostalgia” for younger generations of moviegoers.

Watch Silky Otter’s story