The Corporate Home Of Chuck E. Cheese

Chuck E. Cheese is headquartered in Irving, Texas. The company, CEC Entertainment, LLC, 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. The company's goal is to create positive, lifelong memories for families through fun, food, and play.

CEC Entertainment, LLC

Chuck E. Cheese restaurants offer arcade games, amusement rides, and musical shows, in addition to serving pizza and other food items. The chain's name and mascot come from Chuck E. Cheese, a mouse guitarist and lead singer of the band. The character was originally a rat, but this was changed due to a mix-up with the costume. The company was founded by Nolan Bushnell, the co-founder of Atari, Inc., who sought to expand video-game arcades beyond adult-oriented locations and into family-friendly venues.

CEC Entertainment has expanded its portfolio of family restaurant properties, acquiring 13 locations of the now-defunct Discovery Zone in 1999 and acquiring all locations of Peter Piper Pizza in October 2014. Peter Piper Pizza continues to operate under its original name. In 2014, CEC Entertainment also announced its intention to purchase its competitor, Peter Piper Pizza, from ACON Investments. As of 2024, CEC Entertainment owns and operates nearly 600 Chuck E. Cheese venues and over 120 Peter Piper Pizza venues, with locations in 47 states and 17 foreign countries and territories.

CEC Entertainment has also developed a virtual kitchen concept, Pasqually's Pizza & Wings, which offers a distinct, customised eating experience outside of a restaurant environment. This concept was launched in 2020 and operates out of 400 ghost locations nationwide.

Irving, Texas

Chuck E. Cheese is headquartered in Irving, Texas, a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. Irving is an inner-city suburb of Dallas and is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The address of Chuck E. Cheese's headquarters is 1707 Market Place Blvd., Suite 200, Irving, TX 75063.

Irving has a diverse population and was ranked as the ninth-most diverse city in the United States with over 200,000 residents. The city had a population of 256,684 according to the 2020 United States Census, making it the twelfth-most populous city in Texas and the 88th most populous in the U.S.

Irving was founded in 1903 by J.O. "Otto" Schulze and Otis Brown, with the latter becoming the town's first mayor in 1914. The name of the town is believed to be derived from the literary author Washington Irving, who was a favourite of Netta Barcus Brown.

The city has a total area of 67.7 square miles (175 km2), of which 67.2 square miles (174 km2) is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km2) (0.65%) is water. Irving includes the Las Colinas planned community, a mixed-use development of over 12,000 acres (4,856 ha) that is home to many Fortune 500 companies and the Las Colinas Entertainment District. It also includes part of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Valley Ranch, a master-planned development.

Several large businesses have headquarters in Irving, including Chuck E. Cheese, 7-Eleven, and Caterpillar Inc. The city is also home to the national headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America.

Former names

Chuck E. Cheese, the American entertainment restaurant chain, has had several former names since its founding in 1977. The chain was founded by Nolan Bushnell, the co-founder of Atari, and the first location was opened in San Jose, California.

The company has since gone through several name changes, including:

• Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre: The original name of the chain when it first opened in 1977. It was the first family restaurant to integrate food, arcade games, and animated entertainment, becoming a pioneer of the "family entertainment centre" concept.
• Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza: After the chain was acquired by Brock Hotel Corporation in 1985, the new parent company, ShowBiz Pizza Time, Inc., began unifying the brands and renamed all locations to Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza in 1990.
• Chuck E. Cheese's: In 1994, the name was shortened from Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza to Chuck E. Cheese's.
• Chuck E. Cheese: In 2019, the name was further shortened to simply Chuck E. Cheese.

The name changes reflect the evolution of the brand and its efforts to stay relevant and appealing to families and younger audiences.

Founder

Nolan Bushnell, the co-founder of Atari, founded Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre in 1977. Bushnell sought to expand video-game arcades beyond adult-oriented locations like pool halls and into 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.

Before founding Atari, Bushnell would drive around the Bay Area with Atari co-founder Ted Dabney, looking at different pizza parlours 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."

When his first animatronic show was being assembled, Bushnell learned that the costume he had bought for his main character, a coyote, was actually a rat. This prompted 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. It was the first family restaurant to integrate food with arcade games and animated entertainment, thus pioneering the "family entertainment centre" concept. By the end of 1979, there were seven PTT locations, six in California and one in Nevada.

History

Chuck E. Cheese is an American entertainment restaurant chain founded on 17 May 1977 by Nolan Bushnell, the co-founder of Atari, Inc. The company's headquarters are in Irving, Texas. The chain was originally called Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, and the first location opened in San Jose, California. It was the first family restaurant to integrate food with arcade games and animated entertainment, pioneering the "family entertainment centre" concept.

The chain's name comes from its main character and mascot, Chuck E. Cheese. When Bushnell was assembling his first animatronic show, he learned that the costume he had bought for his main character, a coyote, was actually a rat. This prompted 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.

In 1979, Bushnell began to franchise, resulting in a co-development agreement with Robert Brock of Topeka Inn Management. This handed Brock exclusive franchising rights for 16 states across the Southern and Midwestern United States. However, Brock soon became aware of Aaron Fechter's work in animatronics and requested that Bushnell release him from their agreement so that he could develop with Fechter instead. In December 1979, Brock and Fechter formed ShowBiz Pizza Place Inc. and the first location opened in March 1980 in Kansas City, Missouri.

In 1981, Chuck E. Cheese opened its first international franchise in Australia, under the name Charlie Cheese's Pizza Playhouse. The name change was due to the common meaning of the word "chuck" in Australia, which is to throw up. The same year, Pizza Time Theatre went public. However, the company focused less on food quality and more on the video game aspect of the business, which soon became a problem as the popularity of arcades began to decline in the United States. As a result, Chuck E. Cheese revenues began to fall.

The video game market crashed in 1983, and by the middle of the year, Pizza Time was operating at a loss. Bushnell's debts became insurmountable, and Pizza Time Theatre Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 28 March 1984, reporting a loss of $58 million incurred in 1983. The company was then purchased by Brock in May 1985, merging the two restaurant companies into ShowBiz Pizza Time Inc.

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