THEATER SNACKS LikeUms: a sweet success?

The idea began after the founder wondered why theaters didn't sell cookies.
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Stop dreaming about nibbling on Nicole Kidman and just do it.
And then, decapitate Leonardo DiCaprio. He'll smile all the way down.
Nicole and Leo are among six Hollywood stars whose caricatured likeness can be found in boxes of LikeUms, a new snack that brings the animal cookies concept to the movies.
The other baked box-office stars are Jack Nicholson, Renee Zellweger, Halle Berry and Jackie Chan.
Chuck DiRocco, president and founder of Chuck D's Cookies, introduced LikeUms at movie theater concession stands this year.
LikeUms are being test-marketed by three movie chains: Lincoln, Neb.-based Douglas Theatres Co., Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Theatres Corp., and Knoxville, Tenn.-based Regal Entertainment Group.
DiRocco, whose company is based in Chevy Chase, Md., came up with the idea of making celebrity-shaped cookies while he was at the movies.
Browsing the concession stand, he saw popcorn, candy bars, licorice whips, nachos the usual array of movie munchies. But, hey, no cookies.
DiRocco wondered why the ever-popular cookie couldn't break into the movies. "And, hey, cookies are snacks, too" has become the mantra of Chuck D, cookie entrepreneur.
His background
The cookie business is something new for DiRocco, a former investment analyst with a master's of business administration degree from Johns Hopkins University. But "I've always been entrepreneurial," says the 32-year-old businessman, who founded Chuck D's Cookies in 2002. It took him 16 months to develop his first and only product, LikeUms, which debuted in January 2004.
The cookies come in 2-ounce boxes and sell at Regal theaters for $2.75. The red boxes are decorated with the star caricatures that are found in cookie form inside. The back of the box contains trivia about the six stars.
The box is labeled "1st Edition." If LikeUms catch on, DiRocco plans to box six new movie stars every year.
"People have been going to the movies and eating popcorn and sodas for many years," DiRocco says. "Now they have the opportunity of trying something different. Who doesn't like cookies?"