In this interesting article by the Wall Street Journal, it is reported that in Brookfield, Wisconsin, “no restaurant has triggered more calls to the police department since last year than Chuck E. Cheese’s.”
Officers have been called to break up 12 fights at the kid-centric pizza parlor. With the biggest melee occurring in April, “when an uninvited adult disrupted a child’s birthday party. Seven officers arrived and found as many as 40 people knocking over chairs and yelling in front of the restaurant’s music stage, where a robotic singing chicken and the chain’s namesake mouse perform.”
As a result, alcohol has been permanently banned from this particular location and security guards with pistols have been added.
Police believe “alcohol, loud noise, thick crowds and the high emotions of children’s birthday parties make the restaurants more prone to disputes than other family entertainment venues.”
When one man was asked about the state of Chuck E. Cheese, this was all he had to say:
“It was like something out of a Quentin Tarantino film. What parent is going to take their kids to a place where there is alcohol and pistols being brandished?”
Right… “Where a kid can be a kid.”
To read the full article as well as police reports, click here.