Those robotic cartoon-y figures have been removed, a move McK- illips acknowledges was among the thorniest aspects of the concept’s update. The Chuck E. Cheese con- cept was founded in large part on the appeal of those animatron- ic characters, which were seen as cutting edge—an out-Disneying of Disney—when the concept began in 1977. (Its founder was Nolan Bush- nell, also the creator of Atari.) Company insiders and longtime fans yelped at the thought of those sacred cows being led behind the barn. The outcry was so intense within three markets that CEC al- lowed the stores there to keep the animatrons on stage.
Its core business, the Chuck E. Cheese chain, is completing an update of all 545 of its units. Ten months after seeking protection from creditors, CEC sold $600 mil- lion worth of bonds and plowed all the proceeds into renovating each of its stores, a task it intends to com- plete this year. The updated locations are bright- er and cleaner inside, and virtually every aspect of their operations has been overhauled, from the menu to the recipes to its in-house games, the concept’s major source of reve- nues. Arcade-style machines where kids largely stood immobile at a gaming console were replaced with stations offering more active and contemporary forms of play, like bouncing on mini-trampolines or dancing on a blown-out version of the dance floor many know from the home version of the Dance Dance Revolution video game. Chainwide, 20,000 new attractions are being installed. Meanwhile, the Chuck E. Cheese business has pushed beyond the four walls of its restaurants into areas that draw on McKillips’ deep experience in theme parks and li- censing. CEC is now allowing other fam- ily entertainment centers like Cali- bunga water parks to set up Chuck E. Cheese-themed play areas un- der a licensing arrangement. It’s also testing Chuck E. Cheese units that are just game centers, without any foodservice, including facilities within hotels and resorts. Outlets that just sell pizza, with- out any games, are being tried un- der the Peter Piper brand. In addition, “we are in the process of talking about anima- tion, movies and other forms of entertainment,” says McKillips. CEC is already posting Chuck E. Cheese-inspired music on Spotify and other streaming sites. Musical collections are already being mar- keted to let kids enjoy Chuck’s mu- sical talents at home. Those endeavors could dovetail with a key component of the unit
renovations. The revamped Chuck E. Cheese stores feature floor-to- ceiling video screens whose con- tent can be programmed unit by unit if the chain so desires. “We can change the content daily,” McKil- lips notes. Proprietary videos starring the Chuck E. Cheese character could be aired exclusively within the chain’s branches, giving families another reason to visit, McKillips notes. He adds that the capability to revise the content means a key draw for the youngsters can constantly be re- freshed, something that wasn’t pos- sible with the prior entertainment draw of animatronic characters go- ing through their fixed routines.
PHOTO: ENVATO
- DAVID MCKILLIPS, CEO OF CHUCK E. CHEESE “We weren’t set up to do delivery or takeout. We had to learn overnight how to operate like a pizza chain.”
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OCTOBER 2024 RESTAURANT BUSINESS
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