Want To Buy Chuck E. Cheese? Now's Your Chance
The food and gaming chain of our childhood might be up for sale soon.
If you've ever dreamed of owning Chuck E. Cheese—not just a franchise location, but the whole shebang—now might be your chance. Reuters reports it might just be on the market soon, with sources alleging the brand is "exploring a sale amid acquisition interest." You'd likely need to save up a little coin, however, because based off the valuation of its competitors, Chuck E. Cheese could be worth over $1 billion. (Pocket change for you, I'm sure.)
Reuters notes that if Chuck E. Cheese went up for auction, it could be snapped up by peers like Dave & Busters, or by private equity groups looking to expand their portfolios. Sounds fun, right?
Chuck E. Cheese has had a tumultuous few years
In 2021, Chuck E. Cheese (the "E" stands for "Entertainment," by the way) emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy, having paid its way out of $705 million in debt while retaining $100 million in liquidity. Amidst that turmoil, the company has tried all sorts of strategies to get more people to eat its food, like starting a brand called Pasqually's Pizza & Wings, which is a ghost kitchen and delivery-only concept meant to cater to more "adult" tastes, whatever that means. (The joy of pizza is for all generations to share!)
And let us not forget the 2020 incident in which Chuck E. Cheese sought to destroy seven billion prize tickets to the tune of $2 million. The company was in the process of switching over to paperless eTickets and didn't want the print tickets, sitting in storage, to fall into the wrong hands—though it was fun to think about the nefarious parties who might convert all those tickets into a bounty of plastic trinkets and loose pieces of candy.
In short, the company has been through a lot over the past few years. But hey, if any big changes come for Chuck E. Cheese, you can (sort of) bring the magic home with the company's line of frozen pizza. Fair warning: Eating this pie might not be as fun if you don't pair it with arcade games that hundreds of grubby little hands have already touched.
And for anyone out there with deep pockets who might attempt to purchase the Chuck E. Cheese empire, please consider reinstalling the animatronics, because there's nothing better than being serenaded tableside by a bunch of furry robots.