Yes, There Actually Was A Ghost Kitchen That Served Chuck E. Cheese Pizza

If you were scrolling through delivery apps back in 2020, you may have stumbled on a new restaurant called Pasqually's Pizza & Wings. At first glance, it looked like a straightforward neighborhood spot specializing in takeout pies and wings. The twist? It wasn't independent at all: It was actually Chuck E. Cheese in disguise. The chain launched Pasqually's in the hopes of luring customers who might not otherwise order from a kids' arcade restaurant. The name wasn't random either: Pasqually is the name of the drummer (who is typically wearing a chef's outfit) from the original Chuck E. Cheese animatronic band, arguably a major throwback to the '80s and '90s.

Pasqually's operated as a ghost kitchen — that is, a restaurant that only caters to delivery orders with no storefront open to the public (although since it operated out of Chuck E. Cheese locations, you could argue that the kids' chain was its storefront, just under a different name). The menu featured "premium" pizzas and wings that the company claimed were distinct from the in-store version, with thicker crusts and extra sauce, or a more diverse set of wing flavors compared to Chuck E. Cheese, like Korean BBQ or Louisiana Hot Honey. Some of the menu items that were unique to the Pasqually's menu eventually transitioned to Chuck E. Cheese, where they were added to the so-called "Grown-Up Menu" in 2023. Yet, more astute critics were quick to note that they looked and tasted suspiciously similar to what you'd serve kids at the famed arcade-and-animatronics kids' restaurant.

The logic behind Pasqually's was for Chuck E. Cheese to find a way to keep business up during COVID-19, when customers were unwilling or unable to dine indoors. Chuck E. Cheese was also staring down the barrel of bankruptcy at the time, so stoking business was absolutely essential. Countless restaurants made the same gambit of pivoting to takeout or delivery during COVID, but the way Pasqually's did it — with a sneaky name change — left some customers feeling misled. After all, nobody wants to think they're ordering from a neighborhood pizza spot only to end up with the kind of mass-produced pizza you serve at kids' birthday parties. Accusations of Pasqually's being an underhanded ploy probably weren't helped by other branding decisions, like the choice to send the pizza in generic pizza boxes to make Pasqually's look more like a local, independent pizzeria.

While not an immediate failure, Pasqually's was quietly phased out in 2025, leaving Chuck E. Cheese to focus on its core family entertainment business again. It remains a solid example of the pros and cons of the ghost kitchen approach — it held the promise of new life for the chain, but with the risk of customers feeling like they were on the receiving end of a bait-and-switch.