UPDATE: March 1, 2024: This article has been updated with additional details from Chuck E. Cheese

Dive Brief:

• Chuck E. Cheese is offering a tiered membership program in a market test at 14 stores in California and Arizona, according to its website. Tiers are priced at $7.99, $11.99 and $29.99 per month, and Chuck E. Cheese anticipates several thousand families to buy into the program in test markets.
• The program offers free game play points, steep discounts on food and beverage items and other perks.
• In a press release emailed to Restaurant Dive on Thursday, the brand said the move was inspired by the success of its Summer Fun Pass promotions in recent years.

Dive Insight:

Chuck E. Cheese hopes to eventually expand the program nationwide in conjunction with “the brand’s ongoing remodel efforts to enhance all Chuck E. Cheese fun centers by the end of 2024,” according to the press release.

As part of that effort, the chain is implementing “enhancements to fun centers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Fresno and San Diego [which] include new games and technology upgrades, including play passes and play bands, e-tickets instead of tokens and touchless payment.”

The subscription program’s $7.99 bronze tier includes 70 Play Points and 200 e-tickets that can be redeemed for prizes for each visit up to once a week, according to Chuck E. Cheese’ website. The tier also offers a 20% discount on food, drink and extra Play Points on every visit, as well as special bonuses. 

The more expensive silver tier includes 115 game play points and 300 e-tickets, likewise usable as frequently as once a week, and a 30% discount on food and drink and extra points on every visit. The gold tier’s rewards include 300 game points, 1,000 tickets and a 50% discount on food and drink, with the same frequency as in lower tiers.

Chuck E. Cheese designed the program based on a series of customer surveys which indicated customers desired “an affordable solution that would let them spread their payments throughout the year,” the brand wrote in an email to Restaurant Dive. As a result, the chain sought to maximize the value its program offered to guests.

“Keeping the program affordable will likely encourage our Members to visit more frequently. And if they visit more frequently, they’ll be more satisfied and stay in the program longer, which is obviously a big win for us,” the company said.

In December, the family entertainment brand launched a new menu designed to appeal to adults who accompany their children, and parent company CEC was rumored to be seeking a sale. In November, the company hired Mark Kupferman as CMO to direct its “consumer journey initiatives”, potentially including this new subscription program.

Subscriptions and tiered programs designed to increase traffic and reward frequency are all the rage in restaurants of late. Sweetgreen recently added a new tier to its loyalty program. Subway added a spend-based tier system in September, and in October Taco Bell revived its Taco Lover’s Pass subscription for a month.

The initial guest response has been positive.

“We expect to be able to roll out additional test markets within the next couple of months,” the company said.