Nostalgic Restaurant Series #14 - SHOWBIZ PIZZA PLACE
ShowBiz Pizza Place has a really interesting beginning and a fate which lives on through Chuck E. Cheese. Wikipedia summed it up best:
"Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, responsible for creating the first widely recognized video game, Pong, headed a project in the mid-1970s for Atari to launch the first arcade-oriented, family restaurant with computer-programmed animatronics. At a time when arcades were popular in bowling alleys and bars, Bushnell sought to expose younger audiences to arcade games. In May 1977, Atari opened the first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, California. The concept was an immediate success, and Bushnell purchased the Pizza Time restaurant from Atari for $500,000 in 1978, stepping down as chairman and forming Pizza Time Theatre Inc.
As Bushnell marketed the franchise, hoping to expand into new markets, the concept attracted high-profile clients such as Robert L. Brock, known for his extensive portfolio of Holiday Inn hotels. In 1979, Brock signed a multi-million-dollar franchising agreement with Pizza Time Theatre Inc., planning to open as many as 280 Chuck E. Cheese's locations across 16 states. Shortly thereafter, Brock noticed that companies such as Creative Engineering, Inc. (CEI) were designing more advanced animatronics, and he became concerned that competitors would emerge with better technology. Bushnell had reassured Brock at the signing of the franchising agreement that the company's technology would continue to evolve. However, prior to the opening of his first location, Brock decided to void the agreement with Pizza Time and enter a partnership with CEI, forming ShowBiz Pizza Place, Inc., in December 1979." [Wikipedia]
The first ShowBiz Pizza Place opened in Kansas City, Missouri in early 1980. It's rival, Pizza Time Theater (owner of Chuck E. Cheese) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1984 causing the two competitors to merge but operate as separate entities.
In 1989 ShowBiz Pizza Time went public and in 1990 it severed ties with CEI and began to undergo the process of merging the concepts. This included a rebrand into Chuck E. Cheese, ending the once competitive brand's original concept.
In 2014, ShowBiz Pizza Time was purchased by Apollo Global Management for $1.3B. It was sold to Monarch Alternative Capital in late 2020 after emerging from its June Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It continued to operate as CEC Entertainment. At the time, CEC Entertainment and its franchisees operated 559 Chuck E. Cheese and 122 Peter Piper Pizza locations.
As of October 2024, CEC operates approximately 465 locations in the U.S. & Canada, with 96 franchised locations across the globe, along with 96 Peter Piper Pizza locations.
