Chuck E Cheese vs ShowBiz Pizza | Broken Robots | 2

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2024

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s 1982, and after months of bitter fighting, Nolan Bushnell of Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theater and Robert Brock of ShowBiz Pizza Place finally strike a legal truce. With the video game market crashing and the novelty of their brands fading, Chuck E. Cheese faces mounting debt and is forced to file for bankruptcy. ShowBiz Pizza, also feeling the economic strain, realizes their only chance to survive is by merging with their former rival. But is combining forces enough to revive these ailing businesses?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wonderry Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of Business Wars Chucky Cheese versus showbiz pizza early and ad-free right now.
0:08.0	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:15.5	June 1980, San Francisco.
0:21.9	In the U.S. District Court, Chuck E. Cheese's attorney gingerly sips his scalding coffee
0:26.5	and steals a glance at the showbiz Pizza Place lawyers to his left.
0:31.7	It's been six months since hotelier Robert Brock broke ranks with Chuckie Cheese.
0:36.8	Since then, he's started ShowBiz Pizza Place,
0:39.3	a rival chain with its own cast of animatronic entertainers,
0:43.3	led by the bass strumming bear, Billy Bob.
0:46.3	But now, Chucky Cheeses is out to persuade the court
0:50.3	to stop Brock from opening any more showbiz restaurants. The court falls silent as the
0:56.2	judge enters. Good morning. We're here for the case of Pizza Time Theater Incorporated versus
1:02.2	Showbiz Pizza Place Incorporated. I understand the plaintiff wants a preliminary injunction ahead of the case
1:08.0	being heard in full. Chuck E. Cheese's attorney stands.
1:11.9	That's correct, Your Honor.
1:13.4	Showbiz Pizza's actions threaten irreparable harm to the business of Chuck Echee Cheese.
1:17.9	Uh, Chuckie Cheese.
1:19.5	Who's Chuckie Cheese?
1:21.3	Uh, sorry, Your Honor.
1:22.3	Pizza Time Theater operates as Chuckie Cheez's Pizza Time Theater, and is commonly known as Chuckie Cheese.
1:28.8	I see. Please continue.
1:31.4	Showbiz Pizza is in breach of a franchise agreement. It's signed with my client last summer.
	...

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