The rumors had been circulating all month but this morning the news became official, the beloved children’s destination Chuck E. Cheese has filed for bankruptcy. CNBC reports that Chuck E. Cheese’s parent company CEC Entertainment has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection having suffered a tremendous amount of revenue loss due to closing restaurants across the country as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to this effecting all their Chuck E. Cheese restaurants, the Peter Piper Pizza locations are also effected. News of the downfall of a classic brand has the internet reminiscing about their time at Chuck E. Cheese, and frankly they’re not looking back on it with rose colored glasses.
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Currently CEC has 734 restaurants and stores in the United States and abroad, and remain optimistic about reopening their stores sometime in the near future. This will no doubt be an incredibly difficult task considering the key business of Chuck E. Cheese restaurants is group dining, game playing, and fun. Frankly these will all be difficult to handle while maintaining social distancing measures among patrons and sanitizing games, tables, and areas of the restaurant.
As our own Matt Aguilar wrote earlier, “Even if Chuck E. Cheese opens up all those locations to start bringing in revenue again, the turnout is not going to be nearly what they need to immediately get back in the black, as many are not going to risk the health issues for a pizza party.”
He’s not the only one that’s thinking that though as the tweets below reflect a population that doesn’t hold Chuck E. Cheese in as high regard as they did when they were youngsters.
(Photo credit: Mark Schiefelbein/Wireimage for OK! Magazine)
Slide 1
My brother had his 4th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese’s and commented after getting a hug from Chuck that he smelled like cigarettes https://t.co/cVGyYUQ0is
โ Katelyn Beaty (@KatelynBeaty) June 25, 2020
Slide 2
One of my first construction jobs was smashing down the inside of a Chuck E Cheese with a sledgehammer, and if you get the chance to do that I cannot recommend it highly enough https://t.co/R0xiOMcO21
โ Cherry Vanilla Dr Cronk (@BillionaireDad) June 25, 2020
Slide 3
Just had to explain what Chuck E. Cheese was to my husband and if you donโt grow up with it as a concept it just makes you sound insane
โ John Leavitt ๐น (@LeavittAlone) June 25, 2020
Slide 4
Thatโs what Chuck E Cheese bitch ass gets for making all the good toys like 100,000 tickets
โ Zach (@playboizach23) June 25, 2020
Slide 5
i got e.coli from chuck e cheese on my first birthday lmao
โ ใตใใชใ (@ShookenSab) June 25, 2020
Slide 6
one time at Chuck E. Cheese I found a turd in one of the tunnels so I told a worker and they made me go get it out https://t.co/NwFgGmdhSY
โ mads (@madalynnd24) June 25, 2020
Slide 7
Sound off with your favorite Chuck E. Cheese memories below! โฌ๏ธโฌ๏ธ
โ Oops I Crapped My Mask! (@JohnLoosWins) June 25, 2020
(200 replies about vomiting on a skee ball machine then eating pizza off the floor while literally every child in the restaurant has a simulateneous yet totally unique meltdown)
Slide 8
i was never a fan of Chuck E. cheese nor the pizza .. 5 years old and was Not having it
โ Tall THiNMiNT (@ravishgiraffe) June 25, 2020
Slide 9
Chuck E. Cheese pizza scared me, something about it wasnโt right pic.twitter.com/LQdIBu6UCG
โ sc: sammym1tchell (@sammym1tchell) June 25, 2020
You weren’t missing much
Chuck e cheese is bankrupt I didnโt even get to go as a kid ๐ญ ima die without ever being there
โ ยฐ (@yungsuntzu) June 25, 2020