Posted on 05/13/2011 12:27:10 PM PDT by massmike
A San Diego mother is suing Chuck E. Cheese, the favorite pizza chain of kids across the nation, accusing the restaurant of illegal gambling. Denise Keller, mother of two daughters, says Chuck E. Cheese has replaced its traditional games of skee-ball and whack-a-mole with machines that resemble slot machines, Capitol Weekly reported. The lawsuit says that “many games found at Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurants are illegal gambling devices that require little or no skill and are predominantly games of chance, much like a roulette wheel,” according to the paper. Keller’s attorney, Eric Benink, said the games have flashing lights and bright colors just like slot machines. "There was no fun involved in the game other than an opportunity to win a prize," he told Capitol Weekly. “It’s just pure random luck in terms of spinning out a result. That, we believe, is a slot machine, as California penal code spells out.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Why wouldn’t CEC just outsource the pizza making to Dominoes or another pizza maker?
Short answer? I'm guessing it's because making and selling pizza is much more profitable than outsourcing it. Plus if it were outsourced it wouldn't be as fresh.
And about perceptions: Have you seen the new Dominoes commercials? I'm not sure how much their pizza has really changed but the focus of the commercials are to change perceptions.
Don’t want to be reliant on somebody else. Look at the mess that’s happened with some of the cable/ dish company vs network disputes lately. If you think it’s annoying for a cable company to lose ABC think of how much worse it would be for an ostensibly pizza place to lose their pizzas. What surprises me is that so many of them are dry, if you’re going to expect adults to hang out in a room full of overstimulated kids you need to give them beer. Frankly the first round should be complimentary.
Dominoes pizza changed a lot. It was most noticeable for me in their mushrooms, old Dominoes had arguably the worst mushrooms ever put on a pizza by anybody, now they’re actually good. Dominoes pizza as a whole went from basically acceptable to actually good. Still not great, but you know longer feel sullied.
You go to a kids place and expect gourmet pizza? When you can hardly get the kids to sit down long enough to eat in the first place?
Back in the days when my younguns went to Chuck E. Cheese I explained to them Chuck E. Cheese math. I calculated the actual cost to win a prize and compared it an estimated street value for the prize. I got a 10/1 ratio.
The pizza also tasted like cardboard.
The kids did have fun at the place, and I do have fond memories of taking them to it. I guess someday I will be taking my grandkids as well.
Chuck E. Cheese math is still cheaper than teenage math.
I do hope you improve the pizza when I come back in 10 to 20 years or so.
*****Chuckies has terrible pizza and always has. ******
Sigh, I miss SHAKEY’S PIZZA!
No. Sue for the insipid animated Mouse show.
>Well, as far as cleanliness, I know from experience that the plastic balls the kids play in always smells like urine<
No, that would be McDonald’s. My niece almost slid on the slide to a pool of piss, it was friggin disgusting.
That’s some info, thanks. You sure there are any “comps” from the branch manager if the kids return? (j/k)
I always thought Pizza Hut was the worst of the major pizza chains. It’s really gross.
Ditto that one, mate! Shakey’s, back in the ‘70s, had excellent pizza.
The bottom line is that CEC should be able to run its business the way it sees fit. I don’t go there for pizza, I go there when I want to give kids a treat (their perception, not mine) AND get them fed.
It's not that bad.
It's not as bad as I thought it would be or heard it was. I figured that being a kids place, the pizza sauce would be ridiculously sweet. It's not bad though, and actually has a slight "tang" to it.
Ridiculously expensive, though. Almost 10 bucks for a small cheese pizza.
They went downhill when they started messing with the crust. Now that Dominoes has fixed their stuff PH is pretty close to the bottom. Little Caesars actually improves with age, pretty darn good next day which puts them better than PH (which never improves).
We have a Chuck E. Cheese in our town, and we went ONCE. Migraines while 9 months pregnant suck! LOL We were living in a hotel after moving to town and wanted to celebrate our son’s 5th birthday. The kids loved it...Mom and Dad, not so much.
That being said, there is a place here in town that was opened in the last couple of years by a couple from our parish (their son is a classmate of our oldest daughter). It is a pizza buffet type place w/the games and tickets that are redeemable for prizes. The place is clean, well-run, the food is reasonably priced and pretty tasty, and is set up in a manner that adults can enjoy a pizza out front w/o hearing the screaming kids if they want. They even have live entertainment on certain nights. The place is packed any day of the week I pass by it. It’s one of the most popular places for birthday parties in town.
That's a great business. Chuck E. Cheese's really has no national competition and hardly any local competition. I would open up a similar place in a heartbeat if I had the capital.
You know, I never really noticed that about Chuck E. Cheese not having any competition until you mentioned it. I think that is why the pizza place owned by my daughter’s friend’s parents is such a hit. They have (mostly) private party rooms that can be used as general dining if there are no parties booked. They have the big-screen TV for sports. It’s really a win-win for the owners and the community. It would be a great business to own.
And that's the bottom line...it's a treat for kids. That's what the whole deal is geared to. The target consumers are kids 2 to 8. And kids do have a blast.
I like Chuck E. Cheese. I like the pizza and the carnival games. I just don’t like some of the other customers, and don’t like it when it’s too crowded. Years ago, CEC was dark inside and the pizza was orange. Then the pizza got better and they put in fun, but unsanitary, ball pits and climbing apparatus. Now all that’s gone and the lighting is better. For me, if the clientele improved, it would be a good thing. But I live in LA and the crass people are ubiquitous. Not CEC’s fault, really. I think CEC generally tries to run a decent family place and there is no other big chain that does quite the same thing. Chuck E. is ok with me.
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