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US arcade / themed pizza entertainment chain From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chuck E. Cheese (formerly known as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza, and simply Chuck E. Cheese's) is an American entertainment restaurant chain founded on May 17, 1977 by Atari, Inc.'s co-founder Nolan Bushnell.[1] Headquartered in Irving, Texas, each location features arcade games, amusement rides and musical shows in addition to serving pizza and other food items; former mainstays included ball pits, crawl tubes, and animatronic shows. The chain's name is taken from its main character and mascot, Chuck E. Cheese. The first location opened as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, California. It was the first family restaurant to integrate food with arcade games and animated entertainment, thus being one of the pioneers for the "family entertainment center" concept.
| |
| CEC Entertainment | |
| Formerly |
|
| Company type | Private |
| Nasdaq: CHKY (1981–1984) Nasdaq: SHBZ (January 1989–1998, subsidiary) NYSE: CEC (1998 – January 2014, subsidiary) | |
| Industry | |
| Founded | May 17, 1977[1]San Jose, California, United States [a] |
| Founder | Nolan Bushnell |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Number of locations | 621 |
Area served | Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America |
Key people | |
| Products | Pizza Chicken wings Cheesy bread |
| Brands |
|
| Services | Arcade games Birthday parties Kiddie rides |
| Owner | Brock Hotel Corporation (1985-1988) Queso Holdings, Inc. (2014–2020) Monarch Alternative Capital (2020–Present) |
| Parent |
|
| Subsidiaries | Peter Piper Pizza |
| Website | chuckecheese.com  |
After filing for bankruptcy in 1984, the chain was acquired in 1985 by Brock Hotel Corporation, the parent company of competitor ShowBiz Pizza Place. The merger formed a new parent company, ShowBiz Pizza Time, Inc., which began unifying the two brands in 1990, renaming every location Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza. It was later shortened to Chuck E. Cheese's in 1994 and Chuck E. Cheese in 2019. The parent company, ShowBiz Pizza Time also became CEC Entertainment in 1998.
Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre was founded by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, who sought to expand video-game arcades beyond adult locations like pool halls to family-friendly venues.[3][4] His experience in the amusement park industry, and his fondness for the Enchanted Tiki Room[1]and the Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland, influenced his concept for Pizza Time Theatre.[5][6] He has said, "It was my pet project ... I chose pizza because of the wait time and the build schedule—very few components, and not too many ways to screw it up."[7]
Prior to founding Atari, Bushnell would drive around the Bay Area with Atari co-founder Ted Dabney looking at different pizza parlors and restaurants to brainstorm concepts. "Chuck E. Cheese was always his (Nolan's) passion project, even before Atari was a thing," said Dabney. "He wanted to start a business of family-friendly restaurants with amusement park midway games. I think initially it made no fiscal sense, so he shelved it for a while, but then when Atari took off, he had the means to pursue it, plus a built-in distribution model for Atari's new releases."[8]
When his first animatronic show was being assembled, Bushnell learned the costume he had bought for his main character, a coyote, was actually a rat, prompting him to suggest changing the name from "Coyote Pizza" to "Rick Rat's Pizza". His marketing team believed this name would not be appealing to customers and proposed "Chuck E. Cheese" instead. The company adopted the rat as their mascot.[9]
The first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre opened in San Jose, California, in 1977.[10][3][11] In 1978, when Atari's then-corporate parent, Warner Communications refused to open additional locations, Bushnell purchased the rights to the concept and characters from Warner for $500,000.[12] Gene Landrum then resigned from Atari and was made the restaurants' president and chief operating officer.[13][14] By the end of December 1979, there were seven PTT locations, six in California and one in Nevada (Sparks).[15] Its "Cyberamics" animatronics were produced fully in-house by PTT employees.
To expand beyond California and the west coast, Bushnell began to franchise, resulting in a co-development agreement between himself and Robert Brock of Topeka Inn Management in June 1979.[16] The agreement handed Brock exclusive franchising rights for opening Pizza Time Theatres in sixteen states across the Southern and Midwestern United States,[12] while also forming a company subdivision, "Pizza Show Biz", to develop the Pizza Time Theatres.[12]
Late in 1979, Brock became aware of Aaron Fechter of Creative Engineering, Inc. and his work in animatronics. In November 1979, he scouted Fechter's business and concluded that Creative Engineering's animatronics would be too strong a competition for Bushnell's work. Brock therefore requested that Bushnell release him from their co-development agreement, wishing to develop with Fechter instead.[12]
In December 1979 Brock and Fechter formed ShowBiz Pizza Place Inc., and Brock gave notice to sever his development relationship with Bushnell.[12][17] ShowBiz Pizza Place was conceptually identical to Pizza Time Theatre in all aspects except for animation, which would be provided by Creative Engineering.[12] ShowBiz Pizza Place opened its first location on March 3, 1980, in Kansas City, Missouri.[11]
Upon the opening of ShowBiz Pizza Place, Bushnell sued Brock and Topeka Inn Management over a breach of contract.[12] Brock immediately issued a counter-suit against Bushnell, citing misrepresentation.[12] The court case began in March 1980,[12] and the courts ruled in favor of Bushnell after he successfully argued that ShowBiz was imitating his unique concepts.[18] The ruling forced Brock to pay Bushnell a percentage of annual revenues from the first 160 locations he opened.[18] Topeka Inn Management later changed its name to Brock Hotel Corporation, and in 1982 moved its headquarters to Irving, Texas.[12] Both restaurants experienced increased success as the video game industry became more robust.[12] To maintain competition, both franchises continually modified and diversified their animatronic shows.
Pizza Time Theatre went public in 1981.[12] Unlike ShowBiz, Pizza Time focused less on food quality, which was being offered at premium prices.[18] The company placed more attention on the video game aspect of the business, but the popularity of arcades was beginning to decline in the United States.[18] As a result, Chuck E. Cheese revenues began to fall by the end of 1982.[18] The video game market crashed in 1983, and by the middle of the year, Pizza Time was operating in the red.[18] Bushnell's debts became insurmountable, and Pizza Time Theatre Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 28, 1984,[11] reporting a loss of $58 million incurred in 1983.[19]
The floundering company was then purchased by Brock in May 1985, merging the two restaurant companies into ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc.[11][20] Both restaurant chains continued to operate under their respective titles, while major financial restructuring had begun.[11]
In January 1989, ShowBiz Pizza Time became a public company, trading on Nasdaq with the ticker symbol SHBZ. Beginning in June 1990, ShowBiz restaurants began converting their stage shows and rebranding their storefronts to Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza.[21][22] By September 1990, Creative Engineering officially cut ties with SPT. By 1994, all ShowBiz restaurants had rebranded into Chuck E. Cheese's restaurants. The name was then shortened to Chuck E. Cheese's by March 1994 after a redesigned concept.[11][23]
During the mid-1990s, the character Chuck E. Cheese began to see significant design changes. His vest (or tuxedo suit) and derby hat were changed for a baseball cap, casual shirt, and optional sneakers in an attempt to appeal to a younger audience.[24]
In 1998, ShowBiz Pizza Time renamed itself CEC Entertainment, Inc. to reflect the remaining chain brand, alongside moving their stock to the NYSE with the ticker symbol CEC.[25][11] CEC Entertainment has since acquired additional family restaurant properties, including 13 locations of the now-defunct Discovery Zone in 1999,[26] and all locations of Peter Piper Pizza in October 2014. Peter Piper Pizza still operates under that name.[27]
In 1981, the restaurant opened its first international franchise in Australia under the name Charlie Cheese's Pizza Playhouse. The name change had to do with the common meaning of the word "chuck," which in Australia is a reference to the phrase "to throw up.". The first location, located in Surfer's Paradise, Queensland, relocated in 1982 to a location in Carina, Queensland. In January 2024, it was announced that Chuck E. Cheese would be making its return to Australia with a multi-unit franchise partnership with Royale Hospitality Group. [28] [29] Consecutively, Pizza Time Theatre, Inc. also opened at least one restaurant in Hong Kong and Singapore, which both closed shortly thereafter as a result of the initial company's 1984 bankruptcy.[28] Two locations in Puerto Rico franchised by Santa Rosa Enterprises would open in 1983: one in San Juan, Condado[30] in September of that year,[31] and one in the Santa Rosa Mall in Bayamón which would open in either November or December of that year.[32] Both stores would be short-lived and would approximately close by the end of 1985. Pizza Time Theatre also opened a location in Creteil, France in 1984 and planned to open a location in Ealing, England in the mid '80s, but the plan failed.[31]
In 1994, nine years after ShowBiz Pizza Time was formed, the first new international location would open in Lo Barnechea, Santiago, Chile. More restaurants would open in the country, with 13 total stores as of 2023. In the late 90's, there was a plan to expand to Israel, 1998 saw the plan of expanding to Japan first opening in Tokyo. These never materialized. An expansion for the Philippines was planned, and the first location would have opened by 2000. However, these plans (like Pizza Time Theatre's plans for future expansion) never materialized. In the Middle East, locations would open in Saudi Arabia beginning in 2001, the United Arab Emirates in 2008, Jordan in 2019, Bahrain in 2021, Qatar in 2022, and Kuwait in 2024. Three new locations would open in Puerto Rico between 2003 and 2008. Another plan to open in the Glorietta mall complex of Makati City, Philippines, was greenlit in January 2013 but that also never happened.[33]
On March 6, 2012, the first Chuck E. Cheese's in Mexico would officially open in Monterrey. "Ratón Chito," an unofficial character, previously represented Chuck E. in the country during the 1980's. This unique incarnation appeared throughout the ShowBiz (and later, Boomis) Pizza Fiesta chain of establishments, conceived as a result of closing Pizza Time Theatres in the United States. Assets from several store closures were shipped to the Mexican franchisees, with the intention of retrofitting the Pizza Time Players to better suit the country's market demographic.[34] Sally Industries of Jacksonville provided the controller equipment for these retrofits, as the animatronics arrived without their original control systems required for operation. The Ratón Chito aspect of ShowBiz Pizza Fiesta was later spun off into Boomis, separating itself from the rest of the company. These stores managed to successfully remain in operation until the 2000's, with one in Aguascalientes auctioning off equipment (including the retrofitted Chuck E. Cheese animatronics) as late as October 2018.[35]
In August 2022, it was announced that the first Chuck E. Cheese in Egypt would open in Sheik Zayed's Royal Mall, with the location opening in February 2024.[36][37]
In February 2023, a third Chuck E. Cheese location opened in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, after the Chaguanas location in 2014, and the San Fernando location in 2016, although the San Fernando location closed sometime in January 2023.[38]
At the time of the Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago opening, Chuck E. Cheese had planned additional international locations to open in Jamaica in late 2023, Guyana in 2024, and another in Jamaica by 2025. [38]
As of October 2024, CEC Entertainment owns and operates approximately 465 Chuck E. Cheese locations in the United States and Canada, with 96 franchised locations in the US, Puerto Rico, and 16 countries around the world, as well as 96 Peter Piper Pizza restaurants in the US, and 13 in Mexico.[39][40][41] The company also owns and operates Fun Spot Arcade, a chain of mall arcades that has 2 locations in the United States.[42] The company's locations are located in 45 states domestically and in 16 foreign countries and territories around the world. As of 2024, franchising is only available for markets outside of the United States.[43][44]
By 2012, CEC was struggling with decreasing revenue.[45] They ran a rebranding campaign, changing the Chuck E. Cheese mascot into a slimmer rock star mouse who plays electric guitar. Voice actor Duncan Brannan, who for 18 years had characterized Chuck E. as a hip and young mouse, was replaced with Jaret Reddick, the frontman and guitarist for the pop punk band Bowling for Soup.[46][47]
In February 2014, Apollo Global Management acquired CEC Entertainment, Inc. for $54 per share, or about $950 million.[48][49] In October 2014, under Apollo Global Management, CEC Entertainment announced that they would purchase their Phoenix-based competitor, Peter Piper Pizza from ACON Investments.[50]
In August 2017, the company began to pilot a new design concept at seven remodelled locations (three in Kansas City, three in San Antonio, one in Selma, Texas), branded as Chuck E. Cheese Pizzeria & Games (also known as the Chuck E. Cheese 2.0 remodel by fans). These locations feature more upscale decor with a "muted" interior color scheme, an open kitchen, the "Play Pass" card system to replace arcade tokens, and the animatronic stage show replaced by a dance floor area. These changes, along with expansions to food offerings, were intended to help the chain be more appealing to adults and encourage family dining as opposed to primarily hosting parties.[51][52]
In 2019, the corporation announced it would go public on the New York Stock Exchange through a shell company, Leo Holdings Corporation, of which Apollo will still own 51%.[53] Bloomberg also reported that after going public, Chuck E. Cheese would no longer have animatronics as part of the entertainment.[54] The proposed merger between CEC Entertainment and Leo Holdings Corporation was terminated on July 29, 2019.[55]
In April 2023, the company began testing a small trampoline zone for children at the Brooklyn, New York location. As of 2024 it is installed in most of the company-owned United States and Canada locations.[56][57]
In June 2024, the company began testing a small obstacle course called the “Ninja Run” at the Grand Prairie, Texas location. Beginning in 2025 it will be installed in more locations in the US.[58]
In August 2024, the company announced a national tiered membership program.[59]
The COVID-19 pandemic had been financially damaging to the parent company during 2020, and with an estimated $1–2 billion in debt, the possibility exists of all CEC properties being forced to close if bankruptcy refinancing fails.[60] CEC Entertainment solicited $200 million in loans to finance a restructuring under bankruptcy protection.[61] They also filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on June 25, 2020.[62] In December 2020, CEC Entertainment, the owners of Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza chains, emerged from its June bankruptcy under the ownership and selling of its lenders led by Monarch Alternative Capital.[63][64]
In 1983, Pizza Time Theatre would create a Christmas TV special, titled "The Christmas That Almost Wasn't", produced by animation company Kadabrascope, a Pizza Time Theatre subsidiary. The special centers around Chuck E. Cheese and Jasper T. Jowls as they travel to the North Pole to save Christmas.
In 1999, Chuck E. Cheese's would release a direct-to-video film, titled "Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000", produced by FUNimation Entertainment. The movie follows Chuck E. Cheese and his friends as they travel to a distant planet to win money to fix Charlie Rockit's aunt and uncle's tractor engine.
In September 2020, CEO David McKillips would say that the company had recently launched an entertainment division, the goal being to produce movies and TV shows featuring the CEC cast of characters.[65]
In January 2024, CEC Entertainment would announce a game show, being developed by Magical Elves. The series will feature adults competing with larger versions of classic Chuck E. Cheese arcade games, such as pinball, air hockey, and Skee-Ball.[66]
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Since the company's inception, one of the primary draws for the business has been its video arcade offering inside restaurants.[3][25] Within the arcade, customers can play card-operated video games or redemption games, the latter of which involves games of skill that reward players in the form of tickets based on score. Tickets can be redeemed later for merchandise, such as candy and toys. In late 2020, paper tickets were retired and replaced with electronic tickets, which are stored on the Play Pass cards.[67][68]
The coin-op games originally accepted brass tokens issued by the company, stamped with various logos and branding that evolved over time. The company experimented with a card access method as a replacement for tokens in the late 2000s, which allowed customers to load credits onto a card that could then be swiped for access at arcade games and refilled later. It was tested under different names, including "Chuck E.'s Super Discount Card" and "Chuck E. Token Card.". In late 2016, a new card system known as "Chuck E.'s Play Pass" was introduced to replace tokens throughout the chain, utilizing a similar method of gameplay as the Token Card.[69][70][71]
In September 2024, the company launched a chain of mall arcades called Fun Spot Arcade at the Trumbull Mall in Trumbull, Connecticut. The arcade lacks Chuck E. Cheese branding, although it uses the Play Pass card system and electronic tickets like the Chuck E. Cheese restaurants.[72][73]
![Thumb](#/media/File:Chuck_E._Cheese_Animatronics_"1-Stage"_Cantagallo_Chile.png)
Another primary draw for the centers since their beginning through the mid-2010s has been their animatronic shows.[74] There have historically been several different styles of animatronic shows in use within the company, details of which would vary depending on when the location opened, whether it was renovated, available room for animatronic stages, and other factors.[75] Over the years, these animatronics have often been supplemented by (and in recent years been completely replaced by) costumed characters.[76]
When the first location opened in 1977, the animatronic characters were featured as busts in framed portraits hanging on the walls of the main dining area. The original show featured Crusty the Cat (the first character to face retirement as he was soon replaced with Mr. Munch in 1978), Pasqually the Singing Chef, Jasper T. Jowls, the Warblettes, and the main focus of the show, Chuck E. Cheese.[77] By 1979, many restaurants had also added "cabaret" shows in separate rooms of each restaurant.[3] One of the early Cabaret characters was Dolli Dimples, a hippopotamus who played the piano and sang in the blues/jazz style of performer Pearl Bailey.[78][79] The in-house control system, which consisted of a 6502-based controller in a card cage with various driver boards, was called "Cyberamics".[80][81]
While Fechter separately produced the Rock-afire Explosion animatronics for ShowBiz Pizza through the early 1980s, Bushnell and Pizza Time Theatre continued work on characters for their portrait format and newer Balcony Stage shows under the umbrella of the Pizza Time Players.[82] Development on Cabaret concepts slowed greatly after Pizza Time Theatre Inc.'s bankruptcy in 1984 and its purchase by ShowBiz a year later. From 1985 to 1990, the merged company kept their brands (and their respective animatronic shows) mostly separate.[83] After Fechter refused to sign over the rights to the Rock-afire Explosion to Showbiz Pizza Time, Inc., "Concept Unification" was undertaken beginning between 1989 and 1990 and continuing through 1993 to eliminate Fechter's characters from ShowBiz locations and replace them with that of the Chuck E. Cheese's characters.[84] The animatronics built by Creative Engineering for their Rock-afire Explosion band were retrofitted as "Munch's Make Believe Band", with new costumes and cosmetics.[85] The exact year of when Concept Unification started is debated by fans. At first, the existing Pizza Time Theatre Cyberamics did not coincide with the character update, but they were later reconfigured and costumed to reflect the updated Munch's Make Believe Band character designs.[86]
In November 1990, ShowBiz Pizza Time debuted a new stage show for future CEC locations called the "Road Stage", being the first Cyberamic stage to use the Munch's Make Believe Band format to coincide with Concept Unification. The Road Stage featured a full-bodied Chuck E. Cheese Cyberamic standing on a platform, while the rest of the half-bodied band characters were set on buildings. The first location to install this stage opened in Jonesboro, Georgia in November 1990, and the last Road Stage location opened in June 1992 in Sun Valley, California. In February 1992, the Cyberamic 2-Stage debuted at the White Settlement, Texas location, featuring Chuck E. and the band on two separate stages. The last location to install a 2-Stage was in Florence, Kentucky between 2002 and 2003. In March 1992, the 1-Stage debuted at the Waldorf, Maryland location, featuring all characters together on one stage. The last location to install a 1-Stage was in Citrus Heights, California between 2014 and 2015.
In August 1996, a test stage at the Valley View Mall/Montfort Drive location[87] in Dallas, Texas, was created—the first attempt at a single-character animatronic stage, The Awesome Adventure Machine. This animatronic show consisted of neon flashy lights and items around the show. This stage took over what is commonly referred to as a "3-Stage" (an animatronic show converted from a former Rock-afire Explosion show from Showbiz Pizza Place). This animatronic show was never installed in any other location and was removed by late 1997 or early 1998 and replaced by Studio C.[88]
Beginning in December 1997 with the Brookfield, Wisconsin location, a new animatronic show began being installed in new stores, referred to as "Studio C", consisting of a single 32-movement Chuck E. Cheese animatronic character created by Garner Holt alongside large television monitors, lighting effects, and interactive elements.[89] Studio C eventually served as the replacement for Munch's Make Believe Band stages, with the last MMBB location opening in Mentor, Ohio in July 1998. Following the discontinuation of MMBB shows, the Studio C series of stages continued to evolve, starting with the Small-Town Studio C 2000 in early 2000, the "Studio C 2000" in late 2000, and the Small-Town Studio C 2003 in July 2003. The last new Chuck E. Cheese's location to receive a new Studio C 2000 stage opened in Concepción, Chile in August 2012, and the last existing Chuck E. Cheese's location to receive a Studio C 2000 was in Cincinnati, Ohio around 2014.[90]
In late 2009, a new single-character stage was conceptualized by Westerville, Ohio-based brand agency Chute Gerdeman[91] for Chuck E. Cheese's, and this idea became the "Star Stage". The Star Stage debuted in April 2010 as a test stage at the new Valley View Mall/Montfort Drive location in Dallas, Texas, replacing their Studio C 2000 stage. The Montfort Drive location's Star Stage reused the 32-movement Chuck E. Cheese animatronic, and the scenery included 2 side vertical video walls, curtains for the main stage, a cut out background, and 2 lowering recording studio and sports stadium backdrops. Chuck E.'s stage and the "APPLAUSE" and "ON THE AIR" signs were recycled from Montfort Drive's Studio C 2000 stage. The stage curtains would be removed by late April 2010 and side video walls would be replaced with flatscreen TVs in early 2012. Former CEC entertainment director Jeremy Blaido ordered for the show be removed in 2012 due to internal controversy with new entertainment director Robert Gotcher at the time, leading to Gotcher being fired that year. The Star Stage at the Dallas, Texas Chuck E. Cheese's location ended up being removed in August 2012 after over 2 years in operation.
In September 2010, a new stage titled the "Chuck E.'s Make Believe Band" stage (also known as Concept Unification 1-Stage by fans) was tested at the Whitehall, Pennsylvania location. It reused the Concept Unification animatronics from the 3-Stage and put them all together on a single stage with new backdrops. On this show, Munch's Make Believe Band would be renamed to Chuck E.'s Make Believe Band, likely as an attempt to make Chuck E. Cheese more of the star. 2 more CU 1-Stage shows would be installed at the Springfield, Illinois and Columbus, Georgia locations in 2011 before it was retired. The Chuck E.'s Make Believe Band stage is Chuck E. Cheese's latest stage featuring the full band to date.
On April 26, 2011, a new test stage titled the "Galaxy Stage" debuted at the new Chuck E. Cheese's location in West Melbourne, Florida. The Galaxy Stage was themed around a futuristic city, and was the first stage not to use the Studio C name. It did not expand beyond its test location, and was removed in April 2023 during the West Melbourne location's 2.0 remodel renovations.
Following the removal the Dallas, Texas (Montfort Drive) location's Star Stage in August 2012, a new stage premiered at that location, referred to as "Circles of Light", utilizing the animatronic Chuck E. Cheese produced by Garner Holt for the previous Studio C series of stages. The stages were manufactured by Corman & Associates and the control system for the new stage type was produced by Weigl Controls, developing a custom version of their ProCommander series of controllers for CEC.[92]
In July 2020, the Darien, Illinois location replaced their 3-Stage animatronics and props with the Studio C 2000 backdrops and 16-movement animatronic from the Joliet, Illinois location which had remodeled in early 2020. Another installation of this unique stage would be installed in November 2020 at the Chicago, Illinois location on Kedzie Avenue. The Darien location would remove their stage during their remodel in June 2023, and the Chicago (Kedzie) location would remodel and remove their stage in August 2024.
For stores still featuring animatronics, updated programs for Munch’s Make Believe Band stages were generally distributed on DVD between 2007 and 2022. Studio ‘C’ stores ran off of 3 DVDs and a floppy disk from 1999 to 2022, previously having used LaserDisc. Weigl (Circles of Light stages and Dance Floors) stores use a USB and a MicroSD card.
In mid-2022, a new system for running the animatronic shows (3-Stage, Cyberamics, and all Studio ‘C’ and Weigl shows) was introduced that would, instead of using physical media such as DVDs, function using the store's Wi-Fi connection. The implementation of said device caused a problem for the Studio C shows, as their previous show system(s) had special file formats for programming signals; therefore the switch to the new system would cause no animatronic movements to happen, except for a "Random Movements" program. The Munch's Make Believe Band stages (CEI and Cyberamics shows) were not affected by this change of systems, although programming of new songs would cease in 2023 due to budget cuts.[93]
In 2002, Chuck E. Cheese's opened three locations, two in Waco and Lake Jackson, Texas, and one in Dover, Delaware, experimenting with a new type of format featuring a smaller layout, a buffet, no play structures, no animatronic stage (albeit featuring a "blue screen" from the Studio 'C' stages), and a constant presence of the Chuck E. Cheese costumed character. All three "Chuck E. Cheese's Buffet" locations would remodel to standard Chuck E. Cheese's and receive "Small-Town Studio 'C'" stages with an animatronic between 2003 and 2006.[94]
In September 2012, The "Circles of Light" stage at the Montfort Drive location in Dallas, Texas removed their animatronic, initially using the stage platform for costumed character performances. Beginning in early 2013, Circles of Light stages began being installed in newly opened stores without an animatronic, although a few Circles of Light stores would open with an animatronic from 2012 to 2018. In 2014, the Montfort Drive location would test a prototype of the "Chuck E. Live Stage" in their gameroom.
In August 2013, the newly opened Montgomery, Alabama location was the first Chuck E. Cheese's in 11 years to open without any animatronics, as it opened with a Circles of Light stage with no Chuck E. animatronic. Circles of Light would also replace 4 older animatronic stages in CEC locations between March 2014 and September 2017. The first being a 3-Stage in San Antonio, Texas in March 2014, a 1-Stage in Rohnert Park, California between late 2014 and early 2015, another 3-Stage in Matteson, Illinois in February 2015, and another 3-Stage in Wilmington, Delaware in September 2017. The last existing Chuck E. Cheese's location to receive a COL stage was in San Jose, California in December 2018, while the last new location to receive a COL stage was in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago in February 2023.
By May 2015, the "Chuck E. Live Stage," also known as "Stage V2" or commonly referred to as the "Dance Floor," which featured no animatronics at all, a modernized dance floor, and performances only with costumed characters, had been created. In 2017, the chain announced that animatronic shows would be removed entirely in favor of this design in seven pilot locations.[95] After the pilot locations showed promise, retirement of animatronics at Chuck E. Cheese locations accelerated and continued through 2019, by which time 80 of its stores were expected to be retrofitted to the new design.[96][97]
However, in November 2023, the company announced one location in Northridge, California as the first "legacy and new" store location that would keep their animatronic stage, which is a 2-Stage Cyberamics show. The grand reopening for this store after the remodel was held on November 10 with Nolan Bushnell attending.[98] They would go back on this stance in May 2024 with a New York Times article announcing a location in Nanuet, New York as the second "legacy and new" store. Nanuet has a Studio 'C' 2000, 16M stage. The grand reopening was held on July 18.[99]
In May 2024, the animatronic shows were reported to have been set to be phased out by the end of 2024, with all but two venues discontinuing their performances, the Northridge, California and Nanuet, New York locations. The decision aligned with Chuck E. Cheese's strategic transformation towards modernization since 2020, including the introduction of digital entertainment features such as screens, digital dance floors, and trampoline gym areas.[100] After a negative response from the public, the company subsequently announced on May 24 that three additional locations would be keeping their animatronic stages: Charlotte, North Carolina, which has a 3-Stage; Hicksville, New York, which has a Cyberamics 1-Stage; and Springfield, Illinois, which has a CU 1-Stage.[101] Hicksville held their grand reopening on July 19, Springfield held their grand reopening on July 25, and Charlotte held their grand reopening on July 26. As of November 2024, approximately 53 locations remain with the animatronic shows and that number is expected to decline over the next year.
Pizza is the main focus of the restaurant portion of the business, but the menu features other items as well including cold-cut sandwiches, chicken wings, salad bar access, and desserts.[103] In addition, some Chuck E. Cheese locations offer alcoholic beverages.[104]
In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant began selling pizza, wings, desserts and more through food delivery services under the ghost kitchen Pasqually's Pizza & Wings. The Pasqually name comes from Pasqually P. Pieplate, who is a member of Munch's Make Believe Band, the Chuck E Cheese animatronic band. While food sold under this brand comes from the same brick-and-mortar kitchens as Chuck E. Cheese, the company claims to use different ingredients and recipes that cater to a more mature audience. Practically all of the Chuck E. Cheese stores in the United States are selling and delivering food under this virtual brand.[105][106]
In November 2022, CEC entered into a partnership with another virtual kitchen brand, LankyBox Kitchen. The brand is themed after the YouTube channel LankyBox. [107]
In October 2024, the company announced a partnership with Thrifty Ice Cream for a birthday cake ice cream flavor inspired by Chuck E. Cheese, to be sold at 34 Chuck E. Cheese fun centers and 350 Rite-Aid locations in Southern California.[108]
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