Latest news with #E.Cheese
NBC News
15-03-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Chuck E. Cheese wants to be the Costco of family fun
Chuck E. Cheese wants you to stop by as frequently as you pick up groceries, and it's selling subscription plans to sweeten the pitch. The 47-year-old pizzeria and arcade chain has emerged from bankruptcy with renovated locations, a slew of digital upgrades and a membership program that it hopes will prove both affordable and habit-forming. The goal isn't to be just someplace to take your kids once or twice a year for birthday parties. It's to turn Chuck E. Cheese into a routine recreational option that can compete with Netflix and the neighborhood playground alike. 'For us to win this game, we need to drive multi-visitation,' David McKillips, the president and CEO of Chuck E. Cheese's parent company, told NBC News in January. The chain launched a membership program in August 2024 and said Tuesday that it has sold 200,000 12-month subscriptions since then, with three tiers ranging from $7.99 to $29.99 a month. Annual 'Fun Pass' holders get unlimited visits, discounts on food and attractions, and other perks to encourage what McKillips described as 'active play' — a post-pandemic priority for customers. Even at the upper price point, he said, 'it is very reasonable for parents and families to come out and have a reasonably priced pizza and gameplay every single day.' Making memberships work will require Chuck E. Cheese to carve a place in consumers' wallets alongside their other subscriptions — for everything from streaming services to wholesale clubs — at a time when many are looking to trim their spending. The upgrades are designed to ensure visitors find something new every time they walk through the doors, McKillips said. It is very reasonable for parents and families to come out and have a reasonably priced pizza and gameplay every single day. David McKillips, ceo of cec entertainment Gone are most of the chain's iconic animatronics, though the company agreed to hang on to more of them at select locations after a fan outcry. McKillips acknowledged that 'Five Nights at Freddy's,' a 2023 horror flick based on a video game series in which the robomascots of a defunct pizza chain are possessed by the spirits of dead children, 'had some impact regarding the brand overall.' But he added, 'People were talking about Chuck E. Cheese, which is good for us.' Now there are far fewer life-size rodent musicians and more jumbotrons, a digital dance floor and other displays for digital media that can be refreshed continuously. 'We just switched out of our holiday content,' McKillips said at the start of the year. 'Then it goes into evergreen, and then we've got spring and a summer of fun and Halloween.' Chuck E. Cheese is also revamping its play spaces to include trampolines and obstacle courses, part of an effort to 'create an adventure zone in every single one of our locations,' McKillips said. The brand recently invested $350 million to remodel its over 460 U.S. locations, launch a new slate of games and tweak its food offerings. The changes are part of a turnaround effort after the company filed for bankruptcy in 2020, when Covid-19 slammed into brick-and-mortar businesses of all kinds. The company avoided mass store closures, in part by using idled Chuck E. Cheese kitchens to prepare food for delivery under the name Pasqually's Pizza & Wings. McKillips said that solution kept all the chain's general managers employed. The company is also refreshing its food menu with more 'grown-up' options, including items that cater to 'a little bit spicier palate.' And while Chuck E. Cheese has plenty of options to entertain 4- and 5-year-olds, 'the teenagers come in, you know, older siblings — we've got games for them as well,' McKillips said. The effort to appeal to the full range of family tastes is key to getting 'parents and kids playing together,' he said. 'That is the greatest driver of our guests and how we built the entire new Chuck E. Cheese.'
Buzz Feed
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
29 Photos You Will 100% Be Able To Smell If You Grew Up In The '90s
1. The rubber smell and also the rubbery taste of water you would drink from the hose on hot summer days. 2. The powerful rubber tire smell of the bicycle section at Toys "R" Us, which you could smell from an aisle or two away. 3. The overwhelming (and wonderful) smell of opening a brand-new pack of Pokémon cards. It smelled like the cards, but, like, times a thousand. 4. The smell of steamy French fries and plastic on McDonald's Happy Meal toys. 5. The unmistakable strong smell of a brand new Koosh ball. 6. The metallic smell of a cup full of Chuck E. Cheese tokens. 7. The blended scent of colored pencils, waxy crayons, pastels, and vinyl that came out of one of the junior art sets any time you opened it. 8. The smell of had an almost slight sour-ish smell. 9. The mixture of cherry cough syrup and sugar smell that came off a half-eaten Push Pop. 10. The chalky and almost car freshener fruity smell of Bubble Jug. 11. The hard-to-describe smell of a Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and N64 after you had warmed it up by playing with them. 12. The smell of static that came out of CRT TV sets when you first turned them on. 13. The faint, stale smell of old dried flowers and dust that you would get any time you took a whiff of the potpourri bowl your mom had had on the coffee table for as long as you remember. 14. The weird smell of hot PVC and slight sweat that your inflatable chair would get if you sat on it too long. 15. The neverending cherries that came with the Baby All Gone doll, and had the most delicious and perfect cherry smell. 16. The warm air and slightly burnt smell that the overhead projector would make when it was on for a long time. 17. The smell of ink and old paper on library book circulation cards. 18. The smell of CK One (that it seemed like EVERYONE wore). 19. The kinda mildewy and old lemonade smell that the Rubbermaid pitchers would get. 20. The sorta parmesan and oregano smell of these chips. 21. The red dodgeball that smelled rubbery and latexy. 22. The addictive plasticky smell of Disney's VHS shell cases. 23. The vanilla frosting in Dunkaroos that had a sweet, perfumy smell. 24. The overwhelming smell of popcorn that you would get whenever you walked into a Target. 25. The plasticky with a hint of mildew smell that the Pizza Hut character hand puppets would get if you played with them in the bathtub. 26. The almost dough-like smell of a fresh canister of Play-Doh. 27. The almost edible (expect for black licorice) smell of the Mr. Sketch scented markers. 28. The smell of feet and sweat in the Discovery Zone ball pits.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
40 Things Literally Every Millennial Will Remember About Growing Up In The '90s
E. Cheese's colorful ball pits that always smelled like feet and were probably way more gross than you even realize: Chuck E. Cheese's "Where a kid can be a kid" commercial that they played a lot during Saturday morning cartoons: colored cartoon-themed sheets that made you feel like you were sleeping in designer sheets — even if they were a little rough feeling: rainbow-colored bags that Toys "R" Us used to have: the Mickey Mouse gift boxes the Disney Store used to have: jimsgems2012 / Via VinterestTreasures / Via Fear T-shirts, which you thought were badass: the extra labels that came with blank VHS tapes that no one would ever use: to put the TV on channel three anytime you wanted to watch a VHS movie or play Nintendo: green volume bar that would display across the bottom quarter of your TV whenever you raised or lowered the volume: lowkey irrational fear you felt that your head would turn into a fruit anytime you ate a Fruit Gushers because of the terrifying commercial for it: Free Money guy that was always dressed like the Riddler in his commercials: weird squishy tubes that felt more than a bit creepy when you'd squeeze them: rulers that didn't really make great stencils: Golden Sound Story books that you probably never fully read just played with the sounds: elementary school chairs that were always staticky and sometimes had cracks in them: nervousness you got any time you needed to write something on an overhead projector in front of the classroom: elementary school square pizza that was a must-have on Fridays and tasted soooo good: which would wake you up in the middle of the night as they talked in their gibberish to themselves. And if you didn't on one, you definitely heard about this happening: Dancer Dolls, which you had to run away from after launching to make sure you didn't get caught in the crossfire when it came back down: wicker paper plate holders, which had an 80% chance of pricking you under your nails whenever you used one at a BBQ: Good Seasons dressing bottle that every family seemed to own. And which made you feel like a gourmet chef if your parents asked you to make the dressing — even if it was just pouring the seasoning packet in with oil and vinegar: Barney slippers that your younger siblings or cousins had and stunk like sweaty feet: clackers that you would get in gift bags at birthday parties and would drive your parents nuts when you played with them on the ride back to the house: creepy hide-and-seek/time-out dolls that usually your "arts and crafty" neighbor made and that they would place in the corner of rooms or near staircases: Uncle John's Bathroom Reader books that your "arts and crafty" neighbor would have in their bathroom: phones that came with the round shiny buttons that felt like you were pushing down on M&M's: Disneyland Fun Sing Along Songs VHS tape, which made you believe Mickey Mouse and the gang were the ones who cleaned and prepped the park every morning before opening: red stick that came with Handi-Snacks that would slice your tongue if you weren't careful while licking it: Campbell's Kids soup mugs that were perfect for not just soup, but also hot cocoa with marshmallows: plastic Looney Tunes cups that always smelled a little mildewy because they were so hard to clean inside: these Kellogg's "The Best To You Each Morning" cereal bowls that every family seemed to own: PlugIns when they used gel packets that would get all gooey and covered in dust: Glade Potpourri Spray that smelled like chemicals and dusty flowers: classic Tiffany-style lamps dine-in Pizza Huts had that were always so reassuring to see: character chairs and stools that you would always try to sit on any time you went you went to McDonald's: awesome Animaniacs Happy Meal toys that were so fun to play with: the Happy Meal Beanie Babies that everyone lost their minds over. Like, you could probably get a Birkin easier than some of these: which you thought was the fanciest and most indulgent dessert you could have: sitting very close to the TV because most TVs were relatively small with bad resolution: using this torture device for the yearly flexibility test that was part of the Presidential Physical Fitness Test:
