While mobile ordering continues to roll out, there’s an organized resistance from the ranks of Alamo's workers—and it just might be working!

Drafthouse United and the Alamo Collective—the unions representing the servers and ushers who frequent patrons know by name, have advocated to protect the guest experience in bargaining meetings. Thanks to their pushback, the full switch-over to mobile ordering in unionized cinema locations has been delayed until March. 

Union members aren't just fighting for their jobs; they are fighting to keep the Alamo cinema culture alive. They fight for friendly hosts and servers, distraction-free screenings, and the kind of human service that doesn't require a second screen. The union’s message to management has been clear: forcing guests onto their phones isn't "efficiency innovation"—it's a disruption to the show.

Mobile ordering, and the staff cuts that come with it, have already proven devastating to service quality. In Denver locations, customer satisfaction scores reportedly plummeted by thirty percentage points during the soft-rollout. Staff are being expected to wear more hats, serve more guests, and somehow "police" phone use while everyone has a phone in their hands. Alamo’s workers actually care about the guests; the corporate overlords at Sony who should care, don't.

The unions have written the disruptive issue down on an order card, stuck it in the rail, and pressed the call button. As Alamo CEO Michael Kustermann has been warned, one more violation and he should be escorted from the theater without a refund. Hey, we didn’t make the rules.

"If you can’t change your behavior and be quiet (or unilluminated) during a movie, then we don’t want you at our venue. Follow our rules, or get the hell out and don’t come back until you can." — Alamo Founder Tim League, 2011.

Be sure to thank your friendly neighborhood Alamo staffer today. Thanks to them, we’ve got a fighting chance at forcing a rollback and saving the sanctuary.

This Alamo. Must. Not. Fall.