LEADERSHIP
UNDER DAVID MCKILLIPS, THE 'E' IN CHUCK E. CHEESE MIGHT AS WELL STAND FOR 'EXPERIMENT'
PHOTO: ENVATO
THE FORMER THEME PARK AND MAD MAGAZINE EXECUTIVE HAS LEFT LITTLE UNCHANGED SINCE ASSUMING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FAMILY FAVORITE AT A LOW POINT IN ITS HISTORY.
BY PETER ROMEO
W orking with superheroes didn’t prepare David McKillips for the epic challenge he faced six weeks after start- ing in 2020 as CEO of CEC Entertainment, parent of the Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper pizza-and-games chains. Superman can leap tall buildings in a single bound, but that’s nothing compared with driving sales after all your restaurants are shut overnight by a lethal threat. And Batman may know his winged creatures, but what- ever McKillips learned from the Caped Crusader during their years together at DC Comics didn’t help with problems no other restaurant leader faced from a runaway bat virus. CEC would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection before the pandemic was through, shutting 50 stores in the process. But that was yesterday. With the fifth anniversary of both COVID’s arrival and McKillips’ start date just a few months away, CEC is a different company.
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RESTAURANT BUSINESS OCTOBER 2024
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