Pizza Show Biz

Pizza Show Biz, a division of Topeka Inn Management, Inc.,

**Pizza Show Biz,** predecessor to Showbiz Pizza Place, was a subdivision of Topeka Inn Management Inc., dedicated to franchising 285 Pizza Time Theatres, and later, 200 "Pizza Show Biz" restaurants.

## History

### Pizza Time Theatre (June - November 1979)

Pizza Show Biz was founded as a subdivision of Topeka Inn Management, Incorporated in June of 1979, composed of the top, best performing corporate employees of Topeka Inn Management. TBD

### Co-Development Deal

In June of 1979, Nolan Bushnell of Pizza Time Theatre, Inc., and Robert L. Brock of Topeka Inn Management, Inc., signed what would have been one of the largest co-development franchise deals at the time, a planned 285 franchised units across 16 different states spanning from Florida to Wisconsin.

> *In June of 1979 Topeka Inn Management, Inc., entered a co-development agreement with Pizza Time Theatres for exclusive development of Pizza Time Theatres in 16 states. Chairman Robert L. Brock said, "the major capital investment TIM is making obvious evidence of our confidence in the concept" "It is our intent to develop this concept with sound management techniques, adherence to quality standards, and long-term profitability." Total operation in the 16-state area will be under the direction of Pizza Show Biz, a separate and fully staffed division of TIM. Pizza Show Biz is actively developing sites in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. A company national training center has been established in Kansas City, Missouri.* Excerpt, Topeka Inn Management, Inc. Introduces...
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#### Press Release

> When Pizza Show Biz opens in North Kansas City's Antioch Shopping Center this March, Aaron Fechter might go unnoticed as one of the many young people enjoying his animated show or serving Pizza.
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> At 26, Aaron looks even younger. Yet, he's the highly successful inventor businessman whose company designs and builds complex computerized, animated animal character shows for Pizza Show Biz.
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> The creator of Electronimation entertainment shows throughout the world, Aaron will introduce his "Wolfpack Five" combo to Kansas City residents at the new Pizza Show Biz restaurant opening March 2.
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> Pizza Show Biz will be the first store and national training center for Topeka Inn Management, Inc., Already the nations largest franchisee of Holiday Inn, TIM has development plans for over 200 Pizza Show Biz restaurants in the Midwest and Southeast.
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> "Wolfpack Five" characters are so lifelike, Aaron tends to talk about them as real people, and millions of people who have seen his amusement park shows might agree.
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> To make his characters life-like, Aaron has perfected Electronimation, a combination of computerization and mechanical wizardry that gives each character up to 18 different movements, totally synchronized to music and vocal. Wolfman, Billy Bob, Dingo, and friends belt it out in every popular style. And if you've never seen a gorilla play the piano, you really don't know gorillas!
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> Fechter has long shown signs of the mechanical genius it requires to engineer such amazing animation of three dimensional characters.
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> At 4, he took radios apart. At 5, he put them back together again. At 11, he had a TV repair business, but he says "I had to close that down because I couldn't lift up the sets." in early high school, he built a testacoil that produced 1,000,000 volts of electricity. Unfortunately, he operated it in his bedroom, which burned the carpet in a fire....and at his father's suggestion he donated it to his high school's science department.
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> Aaron graduated from U.S.F at 19, with a degree in business administration, having switched from engineering which "kind of bored me at the college level."
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> Aaron quickly learned that inventions without the capital to back them up don't go far. He sold real estate to earn enough money for patent search on a new kind of electronic relay. He built a car that carried 2 people and got 90 miles to the gallon in 1974. Unable to finance its development, he invented a low-cost swimming pool cleaner powered by a garden hose. He sold a lot, but not enough to finance the development of his mini-car.
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> In 1974, he organized Creative Engineering, Inc. in Orlando as kind of an engineering "think tank." He tackled tough engineering projects for industry (like the mechanical washing of oranges) and "tinkered" with ideas to use in the development of his company.
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> At 21, he built his first electronimation show and began assembling his current team of 30 different people whose skills range from computer programming to costume design. The plant produces and assembles the complex mechanical parts for every character, programs the computerized shows, builds all scenery and costumes. Shows and music are produced in Creative Engineering's own sound studio, and Aaron supervised every detail down to the finger movements of the piano-playing gorilla.
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> For all his accomplishments, Aaron has the same youthful enthusiasm you enjoy in a young person. "I'm really excited about Pizza Show Biz," he says. "We'll bright right to the neighborhood a sophisticated animation show people could only see before in an expensive, far-away amusement park. Good pizza, and good fun----it can't miss."
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## References

1. ↑ ptt\_pizzatimes-1979.pdf (showbizpizza.com)
2. ↑ ptt\_79fsm.pdf (showbizpizza.com)
3. ↑ spp\_memos\_80.pdf (showbizpizza.com)