Chuck E. Cheese's

Chuck E. Cheese's (formerly known as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, and Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza) is a chain of American family entertainment centers and restaurants founded in 1977 by Atari's co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, each location features arcade games, amusement rides and animatronic shows in addition to serving pizza and other food items; former mainstays included ball pits and crawl tubes. 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.
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. The parent company, ShowBiz Pizza Time also became CEC Entertainment in 1998, and was acquired by Sega of America in 2014.
== History ==
=== Pizza Time Theatre ===
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. His experience in the amusement park industry, and his fondness for the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland, influenced his concept for Pizza Time Theatre. 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."
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."
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.
The first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre opened in San Jose, California, in 1977. 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. Gene Landrum then resigned from Atari and was made the restaurants' president and chief operating officer. By the end of December 1979, there were seven PTT locations, six in California and one in Nevada (Sparks). Its animatronics were produced fully in-house by PTT employees.
=== ShowBiz Pizza Place ===
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. The agreement handed Brock exclusive franchising rights for opening Pizza Time Theatres in sixteen states across the Southern and Midwestern United States, while also forming a company subdivision, "Pizza Show Biz", to develop the Pizza Time Theatres.
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.
In December 1979 Brock and Fechter formed ShowBiz Pizza Place Inc., and Brock gave notice to sever his development relationship with Bushnell. ShowBiz Pizza Place was conceptually identical to Pizza Time Theatre in all aspects except for animation, which would be provided by Creative Engineering. ShowBiz Pizza Place opened its first location on March 3, 1980, in Kansas City, Missouri.
Upon the opening of ShowBiz Pizza Place, Bushnell sued Brock and Topeka Inn Management over a breach of contract. Brock immediately issued a counter-suit against Bushnell, citing misrepresentation. The court case began in March 1980, eventually settling out of court with Showbiz agreeing to pay Pizza Time Theatre a portion of its profits over the following decade. During this period, Topeka Inn Management changed its name to Brock Hotel Corporation and moved its headquarters to Irving, Texas. Both restaurants experienced increased success as the video game industry became more robust. To maintain competition, both franchises continually modified and diversified their animatronic shows.
=== Mergers and restructuring ===
In 1981, Pizza Time Theatre went public; they lost $15 million in 1983. By early 1984, Bushnell's debts were insurmountable, resulting in the filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy for Pizza Time Theatre Inc. on March 28, 1984. Brock then bought the floundering company, finalizing the purchase in May 1985 and merging the two restaurant companies into ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc.
After the merger, both restaurant chains continued operating under their respective titles, while major financial restructuring had begun. During this period, Creative Engineering began to sever ties with ShowBiz Pizza Time (officially splitting in September 1990), resulting in the unification of the two brands. This is known as “Concept Unification”. By 1992, all restaurants assumed the name of Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza. The name was then shortened to Chuck E. Cheese's by March 1994 after a redesigned concept.
In 1998, ShowBiz Pizza Time renamed itself CEC Entertainment, Inc. to reflect the remaining chain brand. CEC Entertainment has since acquired additional family restaurant properties, including 13 locations of the now-defunct Discovery Zone in 1999.
=== International expansion ===
In 1981, the restaurant franchise debuted 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.   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. Two locations in Puerto Rico franchised by Santa Rosa Enterprises would open in 1983: one in San Juan, Condado in September of that year, and one in the Santa Rosa Mall in Bayamón which would open in either November or December of that year. 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.
In 1994, nine years after ShowBiz Pizza Time was formed, the first new international location would open in 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, though those plans never materialized. In 1995, CEC Entertainment worked with the Japanese video game company, Sega to expand Chuck E. Cheese to Japan, with the first location opening in the Sunshine City Mall in Tokyo Japan in the summer of 1996. More restaurants would open in the country, with 13 total stores as of 2024. 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, and Qatar in 2022. In 2010, expansion to South Korea was planned, with the first location would have opened by 2012, but that never happened. 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 and opened in 2015.
On March 6, 2012, the first Chuck E. Cheese 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. 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.
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.
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.
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, as well as a store in Romania, although it was unknown when that store would open.
As of April 2024, Chuck E. Cheese operates nearly 600 corporate and franchised locations. They are located in 45 states domestically and in 19 foreign countries and territories around the world.
=== Buyout, New Management and Next-Gen Unification (2012-Present) ===
By 2012, CEC was struggling with decreasing revenue. They ran a rebranding campaign, changing the rat mascot into a rock-star guitar-playing mouse. In February 2014, Sega of America acquired CEC Entertainment, Inc. for $54 per share, or about $950 million. Also in 2015, the Phase V remodel (sometimes called the 2015 update) was test marketed in the Irving, Texas store. It featured art of the new designs of the characters, but people felt like it was too similar to the previous remodel. To make it more unique, talking walkaround heads were introduced for Chuck E. in early 2016, and the others were introduced in 2017. In 2016, John Shirley became the CEO of CEC Entertainment. He did notice that the company's fan remembered Avenger Chuck, but he knew the company had to adapt to the times. That's when the new design (dubbed by fans as Legacy Chuck) was created, and first appeared in a commercial that played in March 2017. That same year also saw the beginning of Next-Gen Unification (also known as the Phase VI remodel), which was announced to go to all locations. It would include a Dance Floor for live shows, would return the Cabaret and Lounge rooms to most locations, and standardized Studio C Mega stage. The idea was test marketed in nine remodeled locations (three in Kansas City, three in San Antonio, one each in Selma, Texas, Dallas Texas, New York City) and was successful. In 2018, "Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Revue" was announced for Locations that opened as Pizza Time Theaters, which would keep certain stores existing art and show, along with adding the Dance Floor and even old art from locations that got remodeled.
== Entertainment ==
=== Video arcade ===
Since the company's inception, one of the primary draws for the business has been its video arcade offering inside restaurants. Within the arcade, customers can play coin-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.
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.
=== Characters and animatronics ===
Another primary draw for the centers since their beginning has been their animatronic shows. 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. Over the years, these animatronics have often been supplemented by costumed characters.
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. By 1979, many restaurants had also added "cabaret" shows in separate rooms of each restaurant. 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. The in-house control system, which consisted of a 6502-based controller in a card cage with various driver boards, was called "Cyberamics".
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 performance stage shows under the umbrella of the Pizza Time Players. 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 animatronics) mostly separate.
After Fechter refused to sign over the rights to the Rock-a-Fire Explosion to Showbiz Pizza Time, Inc., "Concept Unification" was undertaken beginning in September 1990 and continuing through 1992 to eliminate Fechter's characters from ShowBiz locations. The animatronics used for ShowBiz's Rock-a-Fire Explosion band were redressed as "Munch's Make Believe Band", with new costumes. In the mid-1990s, the character Chuck E. Cheese began to see significant design changes. His vest (or suit) and derby hat were changed for a baseball cap, casual shirt, and optional sneakers in an attempt to appeal to a younger audience.
In August 1996, a test stage at the Valley View Mall/Montfort Drive location in Dallas, TX, 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" (a animatronic show converted from a former Rock-A-Fire Explosion show from Showbiz Pizza Place). This animatronic show was never installed in any other location and was removed the following year and replaced by Studio C.
Beginning in December 1997 with the Brookfield, WI, and Dallas, TX, locations, the animatronics show was installed in new stores, referred to as "Studio C," consisting of a single animated Chuck E. Cheese character created by Garner Holt alongside large television monitors, lighting effects, and interactive elements.
=== Characters ===
* Chuck E. Cheese is the titular mascot, a mouse (formerly rat) who is the lead singer of the band. He is outgoing, friendly, and likes singing and entertaining families.
* Helen Henny is the other lead vocalist, a female chicken who is into gaming. She is sometimes shown to have a crush on Chuck E.
* Mr. Munch is the keyboardist, a purple monster-alien who has a habit of eating anything, including pizza.
* Jasper T. Jowls is the guitarist, a bloodhound dog hailing from Tennessee.
* Pasqually, the drummer and the only main human character, he hails from southern Italy and likes telling jokes.
* Bella Bunny was first introduced in 2018 and later became a main character in 2020 as the band's tambourine player, a Hispanic rabbit who has her own garden.
For stores featuring animatronics, updated programs for the character have been generally distributed on DVD since the 2000s, but for Studio C SD (Studio C Alpha, Beta, and Cappa stages) and Studio C HD (Studio C Delta, Star Stage Galaxy Stage, Circles of Light and Studio C Mega stages) locations, they continue to use 3 DVDs and a 3.5 inch floppy disk.
In July 2012, the long-standing rat mascot was rebranded, changing to a slimmer rock star mouse who plays electric guitar. Voice actor Duncan Brannan, who for 19 years had characterized Chuck E. Cheese as a wise-cracking rat from New Jersey, was replaced with Jaret Reddick, the frontman and guitarist for the pop punk band Bowling for Soup.
There are other animatronic/walkaround characters at Chuck E. Cheese's, however. In 2017, the cabaret/lounge rooms were re-introduced to Chuck E. Cheese's. All of the characters are mostly old Pizza Time Theater ones, and they are only found at locations that have a Studio C Mega stage.
== Food ==
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. In addition, some Chuck E. Cheese locations offer alcoholic beverages.
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.