Chuck E. Cheese is spending a lot of money to keep pace with high-tech Generation Alpha kids and their hard-working parents.
The food-and-games chain is in the midst of a massive remodel project, adding more interactive tech elements to its units, upgrading its party rooms and even installing device charging stations so mom and dad can log some late work hours while their kids play.
Chuck E. Cheese just completed upgrades at its 10 locations in South Florida, its first time remodeling all of the stores in one market.
The 45-year-old eatertainment brand, which wrapped up 35 remodels last year, is spending between $500,000 and $550,000 per unit on the makeover and plans to complete 100 this year, with the rest of the chain’s 470 units slated to be finished in the next two or three years, said Alejandra Brady, the head of public relations and crisis communications for Chuck E. Cheese. (Just 18 of the brand’s stores are owned by franchisees.)
“Part of the new leadership team’s mission is to bring the Chuck E. Cheese brand to the new generation,” Brady said. “We have been known, and we are, a multi-generational brand.”
Brady herself said her first job, at 16, was at Chuck E. Cheese. She worked at the chain all through high school and college before coming to the corporate office 22 years later.
“The brand has evolved,” Brady said. “The generation of today, from the child’s perspective, is a lot more tech-savvy than I was at five years old. And the demands and needs of busy parents and grandparents, who maybe need to do more work after 5 p.m. … The mindset is continuing to consider all the generations.”
Technology is “front and center” in the updated stores, she said, building on the introduction of a Chuck E. Cheese app last year and the rollout of “play bands” and “play passes” several years ago to replace cumbersome tickets and tokens.
“You used to have to use the ticket muncher,” she said. “Now all of that is quick. When mom is ready to go, she’s ready to go.”
The remodels are a significant investment but they appear to be paying off: Updated stores are seeing a 20% boost in business, Brady said.
Here’s a look at some of the major changes at remodeled Chuck E. Cheese locations.
Store exteriors feature more neutral tones, rather than bright colors, along with a new look for Chuck E. Cheese himself.
Photos courtesy Chuck E. Cheese
The menu aligns with Chuck E. Cheese marketing around the “four seasons of fun,” including seasonal LTOs, such as pizza variations, new ice cream flavors and decorated cupcakes.
All the tables now have charging stations to plug in computers and tablets, and there’s a 200-inch LED video wall.
Seating has been reimagined so it’s lower and walls have been removed from the play area so caregivers can have better lines of sight on their children, no matter where they are in the unit, Brady said.
A new gaming area has been created for the chain’s youngest customers.
The birthday room has been expanded with more seating room.
Each remodeled location features an average of 15 new video games.
Instead of taking place in the birthday room, Chuck E. Cheese’s show with all of his mascot friends takes place every hour on the half hour on the new interactive digital dance floor. “So, even if you’re not at a birthday party, you can enjoy the show,” she said. “Kids can make it light up. We know that kids want interactivity and things that light up.”
CEC Entertainment, the parent company of Chuck E. Cheese and Peter Piper Pizza, became the first major restaurant brand to declare bankruptcy in the early months of the pandemic. By January 2021, the operator emerged from bankruptcy protection, removing about $705 million in debt from its balance sheet.