CEC Entertainment, LLC

What does CEC Entertainment own?

CEC Entertainment owns Chuck E. Cheese, Peter Piper Pizza, and Pasqually's Pizza & Wings. It operates or franchises 657 venues across 45 US states and 17 countries and territories as of late 2025.

Is CEC Entertainment publicly traded?

No. The company was public for decades until Apollo Global Management took it private in 2014, and it has been owned by a lender group led by Monarch Alternative Capital since the 2020 bankruptcy.

Who founded CEC Entertainment?

Nolan Bushnell, the co-founder of Atari, opened the first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, California in 1977. The modern company formed through the 1985 merger with ShowBiz Pizza Place.

Where is CEC Entertainment headquartered?

The company is headquartered in Irving, Texas, part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

Who owns CEC Entertainment?

A lender group led by private equity firm Monarch Alternative Capital owns CEC. The creditors took control when the company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2020, replacing Apollo Global Management.

Who is the CEO of CEC Entertainment?

Scott Drake became president and CEO in early 2026. He succeeded David McKillips, who led the company from 2020 through its bankruptcy restructuring, recovery, and $350 million remodel program.

The company traces to 1977, when Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell opened the first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, California, combining a pizza restaurant with arcade games and an animatronic mouse mascot. Pizza Time Theatre expanded quickly through franchising, then hit financial distress and filed for bankruptcy in 1984.

The company merged with its competitor ShowBiz Pizza Place in 1985, forming ShowBiz Pizza Time, Inc. Over the following decade the company converted ShowBiz locations to the Chuck E. Cheese name, went public in 1989, and adopted the name CEC Entertainment. It became the dominant family entertainment chain in the United States, operating hundreds of company-owned venues and selling franchises internationally.

Apollo Global Management took CEC private in 2014 in a deal valued at roughly $1.3 billion, and in October of that year CEC acquired the Peter Piper Pizza chain from ACON Investments. Six years later, the COVID-19 pandemic closed its dining rooms and arcades, and with about $1.1 billion in debt the company filed for Chapter 11 in June 2020. It emerged in December 2020 owned by its creditors, a lender group led by Monarch Alternative Capital.

David McKillips, who arrived as CEO weeks before the bankruptcy, raised $650 million in bonds and directed a $350 million remodel program covering more than 400 Chuck E. Cheese locations, replacing animatronics and ball pits with digital dance floors and trampoline zones at most venues. Revenue recovered to more than $880 million by 2023. In September 2025 the company refinanced again, closing a $625 million private credit term loan to redeem its $650 million senior secured notes due May 2026. Scott Drake succeeded McKillips as president and CEO in early 2026, with the lender owners reportedly having tested a sale process that could fetch more than $1 billion.

The company's defining legal event was the June 2020 Chapter 11 bankruptcy, one of the largest restaurant restructurings of the pandemic, resolved by December 2020 with lenders converting debt to ownership. Earlier scrutiny covered the gradual retirement of the animatronic band, a change that generated fan nostalgia coverage but no regulatory issue. The 2025 refinancing replaced expensive secured notes with private credit, a standard liability management transaction. No material food safety, labor, or regulatory penalties have been reported recently.