Irving Based Chuck E. Cheese Files for Bankruptcy

Long before it was Chuck E. Cheese plenty of us remember Showbiz Pizza and all the animatronic fun that came before. Showbiz faded out in the 80s, and then it was all the Chuckster.

However, it looks like the ride has come to an end for Chuck E. Cheese thanks to the pressure of the coronavirus pandemic. The dine-in pizza/funhouse has filed for bankruptcy according to NBCDFW.com.

Losses for Chuck E. Cheese are reported to be near 80% compared to last year causing the chain to even give pizza and wing delivery a try. If you are a Grubhub user you may have noticed the emergence of "Pasqually's Pizza & Wings". This was actually just Chuck E. Cheese trying to find a way to make things work without actually filing for bankruptcy. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

Parent company CEC Entertainment also operates Peter Piper Pizza restaurants. Since Victoria has both a Chuck E. Cheese (Victoria Mall) and a Peter Piper Pizza, we are watching to see if our community might see the closing of either location in the weeks ahead. Of the 612 locations, CEC Entertainment has reopened 266 of them. So far birthday parties and gatherings have been very limited with all the restrictions.

One very sour note in all of this is that just weeks ago, CEC Entertainment paid out nearly $3 million to their executives as part of employee retention. The execs got theirs, but now poor Chuck is being sent to the bankruptcy line. NBCDFW also notes that prior to this big payday for corporate employees that the company was already upside down with $1 billion in debt through the end of 2019. Make me wonder how in the world the ok'd the $3 million in payouts?

Well, while you still can, enjoy one last round of skeeball and know that the company is doing everything they can to commit to the health and safety of their locations that are open.