W ith its comfy sofas and a menu of gourmet treats including Béarnaise smash burgers and trendy Whispering Angel rosé wine at £47 a bottle, Everyman has thrived as the go-to chain for a luxury cinema trip. Yet a quarter of a century after reinventing the movie-going experience, growing from a single venue in Hampstead in London to a national player with 49 sites, the arthouse chain finds itself struggling as rivals ape its successful formula . Everyman issued a profit warning in early December, prompting rattled investors to wipe almost a fifth off its market value, and days later the company’s finance director disclosed that he was leaving. By the end of the month Alex Scrimgeour, the former boss of Côte restaurants who joined in 2021 tasked with leading a post-pandemic recovery, had resigned as chief executive with immediate effect – capping, in the assessment of one analyst, “a year to forget” .…