The older format works just fine for Alamo as waiters and waitresses move around each theater during shows, taking orders and delivering food and drinks.

The Lake Creek Festival was virtually empty when Alamo closed the deal with Lincoln Property Co. The theater seats had been removed, concession stands were gone and screens had disappeared. "The only things left were carpet and the curtains," Blandford says. "The curtains were not in great repair and we ripped out the carpet."

Blandford declines to say how much money Alamo is spending to finish out the theater for its needs, but says it does add up. "It can be very expensive buying all the kitchen equipment, plumbing, everything that goes into doing a kitchen by itself," he says. "And on top of that, going in and buying theater seats, curtains, screens, projectors, everything to make it a theater." The remodeling will bring the loss of one screen in order to add the kitchen.