Mumbai, Nov. 1 -- New multiplex chains are taking a page from their larger peers' playbook.

From serving lamingtons in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore to premium coffee in Himachal Pradesh's Paonta Sahib, these new entrants are betting on top-tier gourmet offerings to lift margins in tier-II and tier-III towns, as movies alone struggle to draw crowds.

For instance, two-year-old Roongta Entertainment, which runs 12 screens across Gujarat's Surat and Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad and Muzzafarnagar, and Broadway Cinemas, which runs a nine-screen luxury theatre in Coimbatore, have in-house teams of chefs.

Dhishoom Cinemas, which started in 2019 and has eight screens across Indian cities, including Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu and Himachal Pradesh's Paonta Sa...