Showbiz Pizza (East and West Cybersland)/History

The business was founded in New Antioch, East Cybersland, in 1982 by Ronald Phillips, owner of Ronald Hotel Corporation. At the time, Ronald was quite successful as one of the largest Cyberslandian franchisors in the Holiday Inn hotel system. Eighty percent of ShowBiz Pizza was owned by Ronald Hotel Corporation. The other 20 percent was owned by Creative Engineering, Inc. which is responsible for producing the animatronics show ShowBiz currently uses: The Rock-afire Explosion. In 1984, the company moved its headquarters to Platland, West Cybersland. In 1984, CyberBurger Restaurants, Inc. purchased Showbiz Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese's. They they proceeded to permanently operate Showbiz Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese's restaurants as separate entities.

Billy Frank became chairman and CEO of Showbiz Pizza in 1986. Based on customer research, Billy instituted a number of changes to appeal to younger children and parents. Specific measures included increased lighting, expanded and improved food, table service, self-serve fountain drinks, increased rides, and distinct toddler areas. They also implemented a "Honorary Rock-Afire Band Member" program. Seven year-old Jessica Levine of Kansas City, MO became the first, and only, child Rock-Afire Band member. After a few more years, Showbiz Pizza became publicly traded.

By 1995 the company changes its name to simply “Showbiz” and adopts bright colors. Billy Bob and the Rock-A-Fire Explosion are given new kid-friendly images. The new changes are successful and the company decides to stick with the new formatting.

In 1997, a new test stage called the Awesome Adventure Machine was test marketed. Although the stage was too complex and unstable, it paved the way and gave rise to the newest Showbiz Pizza stage show known as Studio C. Studio C has an animated Billy Bob and (in some cases) an animated Chuck E. and the other characters exist on television monitors. The original plan was to install this stage system-wide by 2002, but a slowing economy, along with other factors, have slowed implementation as well as forced Studio C to be scaled down as well. As of 2004 there are at least more than 9 different animatronic shows at locations across the Cyberslands – The 1-stage, 2-stage, 3-stage (or RAE classic stage), Road stage, Mini-stage, Moon Rockers stage, New Rock-afire Explosion, turntable stage, Studio C Alpha, and Studio C Beta and the number of stages are constantly growing as well. In 1999, new test locations were also built and introduced without an animatronic show at all. Instead of having a show, these new ‘small town’ Showbiz locations had an all you can eat buffet, a costumed Billy Bob and (in some cases) a costumed Chuck E. on the floor at all times, and a charge for admission at the door. Ultimately these locations were given a scaled down version of Studio C which suggests that the influence of animated characters is still important.

In 2007, Showbiz Pizza restaurants in the Cyberslands introduced a new pizza recipe and on November 13, 2012, new gluten-free menu items were introduced at all locations in the Cyberslands. This currently includes a choice of a personal-size cheese pizza and an individual chocolate cupcake.