cheese s type privately held company traded as cec industry family entertainment centers 1 fast food founded may 1977 ; 39 years ago 1977 05 san jose california u.s. founder nolan bushnell pizza time theatre inc. 2 gene landrum 3 robert l. brock showbiz pizza place inc. later merged with pizza time theatre inc. into showbiz pizza time inc. headquarters irving texas u.s. 1 number of locations 590 stores 2015 4 area served north america south america middle east key people tom leverton ceo 4 nolan bushnell founder pizza time theatre inc. 2 robert l. brock founder showbiz pizza place inc. products pizza arcade games kiddie rides birthday parties 1 revenue us 248 133 000 1st q. 2009 1 % from 1st q. 2008 4 operating income us 59 214 000 1st q. 2009 from 1st q. 2008 4 net income us 34 052 000 1st q. 2009 1 % from 1st q. 2008 4 total assets us 791.611 million 2013 5 us 801.806 million 2012 5 total equity us 725 868 000 at 2009 03 29 1 % from 4th q. 2008 4 parent cec entertainment concepts lp formerly pizza time theatre inc ; and showbiz pizza place inc ; merged as showbiz pizza time inc. in 1984 subsidiaries showbiz pizza place & chuck e. cheese s pizza time theatre merged into chuck e. cheese s pizza 6 liquidated assets of discovery zone peter piper pizza website www.chuckecheese.com chuck e. cheese s formerly chuck e. cheese s pizza time theatre and chuck e. cheese s pizza is a chain of american family entertainment centers and restaurants . the chain is the primary brand of cec entertainment inc. and is headquartered in irving texas . 1 the establishment serves pizza and other menu items complemented by arcade games amusement rides and animatronic displays as a focus of entertainment for the entire family . 2 the brand derives its name from its main animatronic character chuck e. cheese a comedic mouse who sings and interacts with guests . 2 7 chuck e. cheese s pizza time theatre in san jose california was the first location to open in may 1977 . 8 9 the concept was authored by atari co founder nolan bushnell credited with bringing video games such as pong to the mainstream . the pizza time theatre was the first family restaurant to integrate food animated entertainment and an indoor arcade . 2 following a filing for bankruptcy the chain was acquired by competitor showbiz pizza place in 1984 forming showbiz pizza time inc. 10 in 1990 the company began unifying the two brands with the goal of renaming every location to chuck e. cheese s pizza . 6 11 they redesigned the logo in 1994 dropping pizza from each store s name . 10 in 1998 showbiz pizza time inc. became cec entertainment inc. and the company operates 590 locations as of 2015 . 1 10 contents 1 corporate history 1.1 franchising 1.2 showbiz pizza place 1.3 mergers and restructuring 1.4 mascot redesign 2 international expansion 3 products 3.1 menu items 4 entertainment 4.1 arcade and currency 4.2 animatronic figures 4.3 costumed shows 5 see also 6 references 7 external links corporate history edit chuck e. cheese s originally referred to as chuck e. cheese s pizza time theatre was founded by atari founder nolan bushnell who was seeking to expand the purview of video game arcades beyond more adult locations like pool halls to a kid and family friendly venue . 2 12 bushnell s experience in the amusement park industry as well as his fondness of the walt disney company was influential in the conceptualization of the pizza time theatre concept . 13 the first location opened in san jose california in 1977 and was labeled as the first family restaurant to integrate food cheap animated entertainment and an indoor arcade . 2 10 in 1978 bushnell purchased the pizza time theatre concept from atari s then corporate parent warner communications . 14 franchising edit an older chuck e. cheese s facility under the now defunct title of chuck e cheese s pizza . as the restaurant became increasingly successful he began to franchise resulting in a co development agreement between bushnell and robert brock of topeka inn management in 1979 . the agreement handed brock exclusive franchising rights for opening pizza time theatres in sixteen states across the southern and midwestern united states 14 while also forming a company subdivision pizza show biz to develop the pizza time theatres . 14 showbiz pizza place edit main article showbiz pizza place in november 1978 brock met aaron fechter of creative engineering inc. concerned that fechter s animatronics would be too strong a competition for bushnell s work brock requested that bushnell release him from the co development agreement citing misrepresentation . 14 in december 1979 brock and fechter formed showbiz pizza place inc severing brock s business relationship with bushnell . 14 15 showbiz pizza place was conceptually identical to pizza time theatre in all aspects except for animation which would be provided by creative engineering . 14 showbiz pizza place opened its first location on march 3 1980 in kansas city missouri . 10 upon the opening of showbiz pizza place bushnell sued brock and topeka inn management over breach of contract . 14 brock immediately issued a counter suit against bushnell citing misrepresentation . 14 the court case began in march 1980 eventually settling out of court with showbiz agreeing to pay pizza time theatre a portion of its profits over the following decade . 14 during this period topeka inn management also changed its name to brock hotel corporation and moved its headquarters to irving texas . 14 both restaurants experienced increased success as the video game industry became more robust 14 and to maintain competition both franchises continually modified and diversified their animatronic shows . mergers and restructuring edit in 1981 pizza time theatre went public ; however the evolving video game industry and the video game crash of 1983 resulted in significant losses for pizza time theatre which lost 15 million in 1983 and by 1984 bushnell s debts were insurmountable resulting in the filing of chapter 11 bankruptcy for pizza time theatre inc. 10 showbiz then bought the foundering company recreating itself as showbiz pizza time inc. 10 after the merger both restaurants continued operating under the different titles while major financial restructuring had begun 10 eventually becoming publicly traded in 1989 with sales increasing by 8.3 % . 1 10 during this period creative engineering began to sever ties with showbiz pizza time they officially left the company in september 1990 eventually resulting in the unification of its mixed characters . by 1992 all restaurants assumed the name of chuck e. cheese s pizza . 6 however the name was changed to chuck e. cheese s by march 17 1995 after a 1994 redesigning of the concept . 10 16 in 1998 the company renamed itself cec entertainment inc. . part of this renaming was related to a move from the nasdaq to the nyse . 1 10 in 1999 cec entertainment inc. bought out competitor discovery zone . 17 chuck e. cheese s celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2007 . 10 in february 2014 apollo global management acquired cec entertainment for 54 per share or about us 950 million . 18 there are 577 open locations throughout north america south america and the middle east . 1 4 19 mascot redesign edit in 2012 chuck e. cheese s announced that their chuck e. cheese mascot would receive a major makeover to make the character look more like a rockstar . 20 jaret reddick lead singer of the musical group bowling for soup was hired as the new voice of chuck e. cheese 21 who had been voiced by duncan brannan for many years . the newly designed character was featured in a series of advertising campaign spots produced by sugar film productions reel fx and breed . 22 international expansion edit in the early 1980s the restaurant franchise debuted in australia under the name charlie cheese s pizza playhouse . the name change had to do with the common meaning of the word chuck which in australia is a reference to the phrase to throw up . 23 chuck e. cheese also opened at least one restaurant in hong kong which closed shortly thereafter as a result of the company s 1984 bankruptcy . 23 in addition to the u.s. and canada there are chuck e. cheese s locations in mexico chile guatemala panama peru saudi arabia trinidad and tobago and united arab emirates . 24 products edit menu items edit while its primary focus is pizza chuck e. cheese s also offers cold cut sandwiches chicken wings salad bars and desserts . some stores are also used as test locations which feature new chuck e. cheese foods . 25 certain chuck e. cheese locations also offer beer and wine . 26 starting on november 13 2012 new gluten free menu items are available at more than 500 locations in the u.s. and canada . this currently includes a choice of a personal size cheese pizza and an individual chocolate cupcake . 27 entertainment edit arcade and currency edit from the time of the company s inception to today one of the main draws for the stores has been the arcade . 2 1 the arcade games primarily consist of either redemption games or video arcade games . 28 the brass tokens issued by the company for use in their arcades exist in numerous varieties and are collected by exonumia enthusiasts . 29 the company once tested a card access method for use with their arcade and skill games in one location . the test location would no longer use tokens and instead use a refillable card to access credits which replace tokens and points which replace tickets . however this was later scrapped . it was tested under different names including chuck e. s super discount card and chuck e. token card . 30 31 this method is currently being tested in some markets again . instead of electronic tickets like the former cards patrons still carry paper tickets and the card just take the place of the metal tokens . cece or cec entertainment has called the new system play pass . animatronic figures edit chuck e. cheese animatronic in 2014 along with the arcade the other main draw for the centers since the beginning was its animatronic show until the mid 1990s . more recently less attention has been placed on animatronics . however there are now several different styles of animatronic shows in use within the company depending on when the location opened whether it was renovated and other factors . 32 when the first location opened in 1977 the animatronic characters were featured in framed portraits hanging on the walls of the main dining area but they are no longer in use today . the show featured crusty the cat the first character to face retirement as he was soon replaced with mr. munch in 1978 pasqually the singing chef jasper t. jowls the warblettes and the main focus of the show chuck e. cheese . 33 later restaurants also added cabaret shows in separate rooms of each restaurant . 2 they also frequently changed out the sole female character named helen henny in the main show . they achieved this by applying a cosmetic change to the existing robot as well as a change of stage backdrop to match the performer . 34 35 beginning in 1998 the company s show installed into new stores referred to as studio c consists of a single animated chuck e. cheese character alongside large television monitors lighting effects and interactive elements . the other characters appear as puppets on the tv screens . 36 in some markets the company has also tried a new store