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Chuck E. Cheese's is a franchise of Video Arcade s complemented by small rides, Pizza (a central focus), and other popular diversions for young children such as climbing equipment, tubes, and giant slides. The franchise has locations all over the world, including the United States , Canada , Europe , and Israel . Its Logo and Mascot , named Chuck E. Cheese, is a giant Anthropomorphic Mouse . The business was founded in 1977 by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell as the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, and featured singing Animatronic characters. The original Pizza Time Players main show lineup featured Crusty the Cat, Jasper T. Jowls, Pasqually, and the Warblettes performing with Chuck E. in a " Theater " where customers could eat their pizza. Other Pizza Time Players cast members added in later years included Mr. Munch, Dolli Dimples, The Mopsey Sisters, Foxy Colleen Flannigan, Sally Sashay, Madame Oink, Harmony Howlette, and Helen Henny. In 1984 , the company's parent, Pizza Time Theatre, Inc ., filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and was purchased by competitor ShowBiz Pizza, which also featured pizza, Video Games , and singing animatronic characters. It was at this time that Richard M. Frank became the CEO and decided to change the target audience from the 10 to 17 years age group to the 0 to 12 years range they have today. Both the Chuck E. Cheese's and ShowBiz names continued to be used until 1998 , when Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza became the name for all of the restaurants. In 1999 , CEC Entertainment, Inc., the owners of Chuck E. Cheese's, bought out their own primary competitor, Discovery Zone . FRANCHISING Chuck E. Cheese's is one of the few growing companies in America that no longer franchises their stores. However, a large number of franchise run stores still exist, and like any franchise system, the guest experience can vary wildly from store to store because of this. KID CHECK Chuck E. Cheese's employs security measures to prevent child abduction, these are known as Kid Check. The Kid Check booth is the first thing guests see upon entering the restaurant. Whole families are stamped with a unique identification number (M3 for instance) in invisible ink that reacts only to the blacklight directly over the kid check booth. Company policy calls for the Kid Check booth to be monitored at all times by an employee and never left unattended. Guests stamps are checked on the way out to ensure children belong to the adults with whom they are leaving. Chuck E. Cheese names this with the following phrase: "Everyone that comes together, leaves together." FOOD SERVICE Chuck E. Cheese's has a large selection of food items to choose from, from pizza to buffalo wings and other finger foods. BIRTHDAY PARTIES Chuck E. Cheese specializes in birthday parties for those 1-12 years of age. Two party packages are available and a minimum of 4 guests is required. During a birthday party, the children (and adults) are served by a host/hostess, view a live show, and play games. ANIMATRONICS At the time of the company's formation, and up until the mid- 1990s , the company's animated characters were a main draw for the stores. In recent years, less attention has been paid to that part of the company's concept. There are several different styles of animatronic shows in use within the company, depending on when the store opened, whether it was an original Showbiz Pizza property, and other factors. The company's current show that is installed into all new stores is called "Studio C" consists of a single animated Chuck E Cheese character, and relies heavily on the use of large television monitors, lighting effects, and interactive elements. In some markets, the company has also tried a new store concept that does not use any animated show. EMPLOYEES Dining Room Assistant (DRA) Responsible for catering to the needs of dining guests. The Dining Room Assistant greets the guests, serves drinks and pizza, dances with children and Chuck E Cheese during the live show, and serves cake to birthday party guests. They are also responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the dining and game room areas, as well as periodic rest room checks and upkeep of the beverage bar. Birthday Coordinator Oversees the birthday parties for the location. Along with assisting the Dining Room Assistants with birthday parties, they are responsible for training new DRA's on birthday parties and maintaining the overall party experience. Kid Checker The "kid checker" is likely the first person to greet guests when entering a Chuck E Cheese's restaurant. A fter greeting the family, the kid checker will stamp their hands with a unique number in UV reactive invisible ink, and inform the parents of any special promotions going on. The kid checker will also ask if the family is celebrating anything special. If they are, a personalized birthday balloon and crown are issued along with an amount of tokens corresponding with the child's age. Upon leaving the restaurant, the family's hands are all checked to verify they are indeed together. If a discrepancy is found, the child is asked to identify the adult with them, and the adult is asked for identification and/or pictures of the child. Chuck E Cheese road shows also occur at kid check. Kid Check is also one of the areas that every Cast Member is considered responsible for. Cashier Responsible for ringing up orders and dispensing game tokens. Cashiers are also responsible for re-filling and icing the salad bar and handing out prizes at the merchandise counter. Game Room Attendants Game Room Attendants are responsible for keeping the machines and games in functioning condition. This involves fixing downed machines, stocking machines with tickets, clearing token jams, etc. Game Room Attendants also issue tokens for those lost by machines, and are responsible for keeping booths in the game rooms clean. Walk-Around Character This person dons the costume character version of Chuck E. Cheese and is generally seen walking around the gameroom and showroom. Chuck E. appears every 20 minutes past the hour to do a Road Show and a live show if there are any parties. Chuck E. is not allowed to speak and can only imply his intentions with hand gestures. In stores that employ a full time walk-around character, this employee has several extra duties that include getting the Chuck E. Cheese costume professionally dry-cleaned and washed (depending on the parts of the costume in question), cleaning dressing room before the end of every shift, and fixing any broken parts of the costume. ROAD SHOW Performed at the Kid Check stand as well as the Skee Ball Area, kids are gathered via the PA system and told to come dance with Chuck E. to win free tickets. After the dance, Chuck E. and other cast members throw large amounts of tickets into the air for children to collect. This procedure is usually preceded by requesting that the children get on one knee or both knees to help maintain order when the ticket splash occurs. At some stores, the use of the Road show has cut down on the use of the "Live!" shows. LIVE SHOW This is performed on the stage in the showroom. Chuck E. dances with the birthday guests and "sings" Happy Birthday. Once more Chuck E. throws tickets for the children and assists the host/hostesses in cutting the birthday cake. There are pictures around the walls in the showroom. The pictures are music artists' albums and movie poster covers being Satired or Parodied by the Pizza Time Players cast members. PARODIES ''See: List Of Pop Culture Parodies Of Real Stores And Restaurants '' TOKENS The brass Tokens issued by the company for use in their Video Game Arcade s exist in numerous varieties and are eagerly collected by Exonumia enthusiasts. {Link without Title} EXTERNAL LINKS
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