No more free tokens at the register [Archive]

YoungCaliHottie

12-19-2005, 05:41 AM

well they could always reinstate it at a later time with another download.

i think they are going to lose a lot of money with the new promo. i believe you win 5 - 20 tokens...? so instead of each kid getting 1, now u get at least 5! people are going to come in with all their kids, let them play a few games for free, and then leave. or let them play the free tokens then go in the skytubes for a while and leave. without spending a penny! :lol 1 token per $3 is better because at least you have to spend money to get the tokens. (although i noticed theres no free tokens when you use coupons...)

if u dont think people will really do it... consider this... there are currently people that go into the local cec's around here all the time in the mornings to get the free tickets after the games are tested, then they leave. :lol :b

munchjr

12-19-2005, 07:00 AM

I don't like the EKAW promo either...On the rules it states how much money it is costing CEC to run this and it was crazy something like $45,000,000 (total value of tokens) I don't see how CEC could EVER get that money back.

People were happy getting one token at the door, why change that??

dheineCECfan

12-19-2005, 08:47 AM

No more free tokens at the register and kid check entrance? At least you can still get tokens in the token machines by putting in $1, $5, or $10 bills.

munchjr

12-19-2005, 08:50 AM

Free tokens will you buy something....like when you bought a pizza you would get 2 tokens...just for buying..not after this week. This is due to the EKAW promo

PuroMax

12-19-2005, 03:49 PM

People who play with the free tokens and leave are people who probably wouldn't even come into the restuarant before. This promo will at least change their consideration on coming into CEC, and (hopefully) will win them over, making them come back some day.

VegaNova

12-19-2005, 05:35 PM

Hey Munchjr!

Thanks for dropping the new info to us. I think some great thoughts an opinions have been brought up on this subject (in this thread and the other EKAW thread). Personally I like the promos the company runs - not that they make sense from a corporate or money making standpoint - but for a fan it makes for an interesting package of events.

The thoughts on my mind are how imperative the game room is and how much CEC stands to lose by making 'every game 1 token' or giving away a handful of tokens. Once you own the arcade games, everything you make is profit with the exception of matinence and electricity. So I can understand the emphasis on wanting to keep the tokens flowing into them.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that CEC can't get away with charging any more than 1 token per play. Yeah, the 'real' arcades charge multiple tokens for many of the fancier games.... but what I've noticed out here is that just about all the arcades are vacant these days. Not sure exactly why that is... probably because the home videogame consoles have advanced to the point where there's no purpose in going to an arcade when you have one at home.

I'm probably getting off subject here and comparing apples and oranges, but if you really look at what caused PTT to go belly up and what almost caused ShowBiz to fall - it was the video game crash of '83. My guess is that the profits from the game room was a major financial bloodline back in the day - and from what I can tell it still is today.

So if CEC's ready to spend all this money to GIVE away tokens for games that only cost 1 token anyway just to bring in people, what does that say? If it all works out and this new promo does well, then kudos to CECE. But my thought is that maybe there's some real reason as to why the emphasis is being dedicated to the free tokens and attention to the profitability of the games.

-VegaNova

Shiney Happy Jenn

12-19-2005, 06:40 PM

Nice points Vega...

My take on this is along the lines of what PuroMax stated above...that the free tokens are designed to lure folks in who may not have beforehand considered going to CEC. This promotion is designed to bring in "fresh blood"..i.e., "new Guests". CEC needs to keep bringing new Guests in these days, as the target audience age is so narrow now that it's a must! In the old days, you did'nt have to worry so much about that since PTT/Showbiz/CEC was geared towards all ages. You had em' until they turned into their early teens coming to spend money on the games. Now that most of what attracted the older kids ( and adults by the way!) has been phased out or "cutified" for toddlers makes the gap all that slimmer. Thus you really have to make a very consious effort to keep attracting new Guests to replace all those kids/parents who "grow out of" CEC.

CEC has always used "free tokens" to lure business in. This has been a tactic used since day 1 in 1977. Nothing has changed in that department, but it IS sad to see that the free tokens traditionally given out with all food purchases has been done away with. I can understand this though...i mean, those free tokens are now already given out for the game card prizes. In the end you will come out with more tokens anyway, so this is cool for Guests i think.

My one major concern though is this: HOW is this going to effect a Store's P+M (prize/merch) cost? I mean..everytime the Company decides to up the distribution of tokens either through increases in the Token Value Deals or simple giveaways like this, the prizes have to be downgraded to cover the cost. Is it even POSSIBLE now to cheapen the lower ticket items?? Seriously??

$45++++ whatever is just a mere drop in the bucket for the Company. They literally make zillions every quarter but recently the sales have been sagging store wide. This promotion is no doubt a result of trying to increase sales and attract some new business to pull them out of the current slump. I still say ( as i did in the other related thread) that the Company would'nt be in this fix if they realized that maybe if they actually HAD something unique and exciting, truly great food and service, and honest "value for your dollar",Guests would flock to the place and stay.

Sadly this is not the case at many locations.

The new promotion will more then likely be a hit with Guests...but the Company may well lose out in the end. Then again, maybe not as everything is already covered and paid for multiple times over with all the $$$$$ they have locked away in finances and stocks.

Let's all just hope for some fun tie-ins and more cool collectible merch!

sungun12

12-20-2005, 09:48 AM

i think its a fabulous idea. and for once, we have all the stuff we need for it already. the last 2 kind of flopped, for us at least. not too much hype or excitement. it was annoying getting the super chuck costumes a week before it ended. but it looks like they got their crap together on this one

im not too worried about merch going up, i mean really, even if they get 20 tokens (which im sure a majority of them are 5) our ticket per token is right at 3 all the time. 60 tickets? thats not gonna hurt us too much. my merch runs between 10-11% and if it goes up to 12%, i wouldnt care too much just as long as the business keeps flowing. weve actually been up in sales, just a little, but its up. hopefully this will keep it going and this first quarter will be killer. i love those saturdays in february when you cant move thru the building, i love the energy of it.

our gameroom actually has the highest percentage in our district. i mean think about it. if a kid comes in with their mom and gets the 5 tokens, what kid isnt going to be begging for more? you know she'll be putting at least $5 in that bill changer. maybe it was their first visit. maybe theyll be back next week. as long as we make sure any product they buy is perfect and the service is phenomenal. i think thats the hopes for this one. i hope it works as planned. so far, i think its pretty solid, i love the concept.

VegaNova

12-20-2005, 03:53 PM

Jenn - the 'new blood' you described is a great point. At the target age they're catering to, a child will grow out of CEC within 3 or 4 years. That's not much room if you consider each kid probably only goes there periodically.

As far as upping the number of tickets needed for the redemption items - that may not hurt too bad. It sucks for the kid who's actually gathering tickets to get a certain item, but anyone 'in the know' would just be buying these items with cash.

I love how most people don't even notice that you can do this. For about $20 I managed to walk out with a whole bag full of redemption items and just about every different SCS item they had in the case.

Who knows though... it'll be interesting in a few months to see how this all turns out.

-VegaNova

Shiney Happy Jenn

12-20-2005, 08:54 PM

Sungun anf Vega both have excellent points!

I agree...the free tokens will no doubt encourage folks to shell out a few bucks to buy more coins for playing the games...exspecially since most CEC games today play for about 20 seconds tops!

Thanks Vega....i knew you would understant what i was getting at with the "new blood" therory. It's definately a issue that has to be considered in a concept like this, the way things are run these days.

Yeah the promo will no doubt be a hit and i'm sure the free giveaways will spawn more sales. They almost always do in my experience at the store i used to work at.

CEC3066

12-20-2005, 10:09 PM

now if only we could get some "new blood" in the CEO spot (no offense Dick) but the man has been w/ the company *20* years this coming June.

sungun12

12-21-2005, 12:13 AM

hey, lets not bash dick here (that could so be taken another way....) but that dudes taken us through some rough times and cec is still goin strong. i never met the dude but he seems pretty cool in the videos. those things are so corny but i love em.

id be nervous about anyone new taking over and trying to change @#%$. i like it the way it is

YoungCaliHottie

12-21-2005, 03:29 AM

ya, u dont want anyone new coming in. they always want to make it seem like they have a big impact by immediately changing everything to their "better ideas".

i think the best point made was that the games only last 20 seconds. i think this is a problem with "every game is 1 token" tho. they should consider eliminating that, because it seems to be keeping away any new or innovative games. instead, everything is either a game of skill or a 10 year old game.

i visit cec every single day. literally. but i wonder how much theyre actually making off me?

--i order a large pizza (9.99 with coupon).

--then i use my "collectors cup" that i bring with me to get free drinks everytime i go (no, im not ghetto. lol. this is actually their selling point for the cups... "would u like to buy a collectors cup? you can bring it with you forever for free drinks"). i usually get about 3 refills.

--i buy $5 in tokens (and get $5 in tokens more for free with coupon). now each of my tokens only represents 12.5 cents each of money i have paid.

--i always (cuz ill play until i do :P) win the skeeball jackpot (250 tickets) and sparks jackpot (15 minimum, up to 150). on top of that i can win sparks almost every time... so in theory "making a profit" of 2.5 cents per play. and i can usually make at least 10 to 12 tickets on skeeball per play, only leaving room for 2.5 cents loss per play. so you can pretty much say with electricity cost to cec (oh ya, and cost of printing tickets) plus the times i win/lose, ...im breaking even on games.

--i stay for about 2 hours and watch the show

seems like theyre only making whatever profit on the pizza minus the cost of my drinks. breaking even on games. and making a small profit on whatever markup there is on the merch, minus the time i watch the show (which i guess would actually be split by all guests there at that time, but then again i am taking up a table).

hmm... now that i typed all this up... ...are they making any money on me? lol

i guess they are. plus sometimes i order subs and salads.

anyone know how much it costs cec to make a pizza?

sungun12

12-21-2005, 10:43 AM

price of a pizza...lets see.

it would be $1.22 for the dough...
about $1.12 for the pizza
i dont know about the sauce...maybe $.30?

so, plain pizza would be about $2.80-$3.00?

and your radical game playing is pretty much abnormal. not many people can come in and beat sparks and skeeball every day. only us big losers who do it everyday!!

Shiney Happy Jenn

12-21-2005, 04:20 PM

Yeah...nothing like all those years of doing AM Coin Drops to get you in shape. Skee Ball and and any type of target skill game (particually the water gun games) i make a killing on score points and tickets thanks to all those years of "practice" ...heh heh!

Ah yes...indeed those years were not wasted! Hehe he!

I don't save the tickets i win, i usually give them away. I prefer to purchase my Merch straight out as it's really the best way if you want to save your money in the long run.

YoungCaliHottie

12-21-2005, 07:33 PM

lol... ya, us losers who play everyday :P

i always aim for the 100 on skeeball. youre better off aiming for the net and bouncing it into the 100 than trying to get it straight in.

and for sparks, you cant get past the top area by simply turning the wheel manually. you have to spin it your hardest and then let go. itll turn much faster. then stop it in time to turn it the other way like that. :)

i just got back from cec. lol. i ate 5 slices! wow! thats a lot for me! im a skinny guy. usually just eat 3.

give away tickets!? *gasp!* whats the fun in buying the merch? way more fun to win it! :D

munchjr

12-21-2005, 11:19 PM

just got back from cec. lol. i ate 5 slices! wow! thats a lot for me! im a skinny guy. usually just eat 3.

Wow that is a lot of carlories...anybody here with CEC see how many calories our food has in. If not I have the chart perhaps I'll pass it on to Vega or Jasper so they can get it on the board

sungun12

12-22-2005, 08:25 AM

yea but i bet we eat at least a little better than the people who work at mcdonalds or taco bell

Shiney Happy Jenn

12-22-2005, 08:43 PM

MunchJr speaks the truth! I remember a while back we had the ingredients list at the store and i was stunned at what was actually in things, not to mention the calories!

One slice of pizza was like 300 or so ( and that was a small i think!) but the top item was the Italian Sub. One of those is a whopping 580+ calories man!

The ingredients/nutrition facts sheet used to be on the CEC website, but last time i went looking it was not there.

munchjr

12-22-2005, 10:42 PM

One slice of pizza was like 300 or so ( and that was a small i think!) but the top item was the Italian Sub. One of those is a whopping 580+ calories man!

The sub is over 700 calories...I emailed the latest list to Vega it was updated last month...

pizzacam

12-23-2005, 08:58 AM

ehh, you only live once so live it up! :smokin

CEC3066

12-23-2005, 03:00 PM

Do I feel a song coming on? (fortunatly for u guys idk the words)

VegaNova

12-23-2005, 04:36 PM

Here's the link to that PDF file of nutrition facts -

rockafire.tripod.com/nutrition.pdf (http://rockafire.tripod.com/nutrition.pdf)

Thanks MunchJr for passing this along!

-VegaNova

sungun12

12-24-2005, 02:45 AM

the only stuff that tastes good is the crap thats bad for you....

what if cec only seved like veggies and stuff, god id die of starvation

CEC3066

12-24-2005, 11:51 AM

me too! I HATE Veggies! this INCLUDES VeggieTales

MatHat13

12-24-2005, 02:36 PM

I use to hate Veggie Tales too, but the last few songs they did in the shows started to convince me that Veggie Tales arn't really as bad as people say it is, I sorta like the catchy tunes and Larry and Bob, and I also like Mr. Lunt.;)

YoungCaliHottie

12-24-2005, 04:36 PM

i was depressed yesterday! i didnt get to go to cec!!! i go *every* day! but i missed yesterday!!! I was singing "pizza angel please come to me... tomato sauce and cheese so gooey..." lol. i even bought the Veggietales Minnesota Cuke DVD so I could have the song. :lol

thank goodness i get to go to cec today! im on my way right now. and i was thinking of getting an italian sub. but i dont know after reading that pdf. i only have a 1500 cal diet. so the sub is half of what i can eat today. actually, it is OVER 100% of daily sodium intake! and that is for a 2000 cal diet! so that would be it for sodium for today. which would suck because everything i like (pasta, ramen, etc) is also high in sodium. (and no, im not on a diet. im just a skinny guy. lol.)

PuroMax

12-25-2005, 12:09 PM

Nice to see that the identity of this thread has changed completely. I'll first address the issue of whether or not money is being made off our friend YC. The answer is yes, no matter what!
Your 12oz promo cup x 3 fillings is equal to 36oz of soda. A Bib of soda is roughly $40 for 5 unmixed gallons. I don't know the blending ratios, so I'm not sure exactly how much soda that comes out to. Anyhow if you drank 3 promo cups worth of raw syrup a day, it would be about $2.35 worth of cost to the store. Let's say it's a 50/50 mix. You drink $1.17 in free soda each day. If you win 500 tickets each day, then you break even on tokens, as far as face ticket value is concerned. Using the information I know off hand, let's say you save your tickets every 2 days and get a 1000 ticket prize, priced at $3.50.
So...
EVERY DAY, you pay $15
and you get:
1 large pizza (depends on the price of cheese, we'll say) $3
"Free" Soda: $1.17
500 tickets/ High End Merch Prize Fraction: $1.75

So, bare bones, for your $15 a day you will get about $5.92 worth of goods and services. And let's remind you that you've taken ALL the shortcuts in this scenario! You're getting 12 tickets per token (standard is 3!) You've taken advantage of every coupon and promotion that is available to you, and you're still only at 40% consumption rate on what you paid. I couldn't factor cost of running the facility/cast labor for obvious reasons, but let's just plug them in somehow. Labor is the largest controllable profit and we'll say takes 15% of sales. I'm not a GM, but I'll put facility as Restaurant and Game R/M + Paper cost around 10%.

In conclusion: Every day you go into CEC and make use of 65% of your investment. So your store makes $5 off of you a day. Questions? Comments? Disputes?

PuroMax

12-25-2005, 12:34 PM

Geez, I got so into that post I forgot to address the other point, that being the nutritional value of the product. There is none!

I can eat like a champion, but I watch my intake very carefully. For breakfast I'll come in and have 6 hard boiled eggwhites and an orange or 2. I keep a box of meal replacement shakes in the store for proper nourishment. I'll have one or two of those on shift. I'll drink powerade throughout the day, and eat a sandwich roll. Sometimes I'll have 3 oz of ham for a snack. Does anyone know the nutrional information on the pasta salads? I'm sure all the mayonnaise and stuff makes them junk, but I've been wanting to know.

sungun12

12-26-2005, 11:38 AM

hey now, 15% labor??

not in my store, we run a tight ship. how about 12% labor and 2% paper. and we keep an 11% merch cost...as long as robbie doesnt start coming to my store every day......;)

munchjr

12-26-2005, 11:02 PM

Labor is the largest controllable profit and we'll say takes 15% of sales. I'm not a GM, but I'll put facility as Restaurant and Game R/M + Paper cost around 10%.

Paper should be no more than 2-3%, also Labor has it's own slot on the P & L broke down by Ops, Tech and Cast labor to give you one big number.

sungun12

12-27-2005, 10:42 AM

yea, forgot about the other labor, cm labor is always around 12 and we dont have a tech (that would be another one of my responsibilities) so...makes for good total labor!

CEC3066

12-27-2005, 08:29 PM

WTF your stuck as Manager AND Tech???? SOMEBODY grant Missy the GM job she SOOOOOOOO deserves imho.

sungun12

12-27-2005, 11:20 PM

yea well i dont mind cause when i do get my own store, i guarantee ill know more about games that your average gm. any amount of knowledge like that will make sure my store is smokin

CEC3066

12-27-2005, 11:51 PM

w/ your knowledge & expertise your gonna kick Bell's @$$

sungun12

12-28-2005, 08:54 AM

well i dont know if thats physically possible. sales are great but as long as i can have killer profit, that will be fabulous

PuroMax

12-28-2005, 09:37 AM

Is ther anything in Bell, CA besides a CEC?

CEC Kid Check

12-28-2005, 08:49 PM

Hey Guys, just as a side note, (kind of back on topic) on Dec. 23rd, I upgraded my software to our systems (registers) and we still give out tokens for purchases of food/drinks etc...

munchjr

12-28-2005, 10:57 PM

upgraded my software to our systems (registers) and we still give out tokens for purchases of food/drinks etc...

You should call POS about that...there should be no more free tokens with the purchase of food or drinks.

sungun12

12-29-2005, 08:21 AM

yea ours stopped giving them out...no one seemed to notice yet, at least havent complained to me yet

YoungCaliHottie

12-29-2005, 02:00 PM

puro, i was thinking about that yesterday as i visited 6 cec's and i kinda re-figured the math in my head similar to the way you did, and i decided that yes, cec is making a nice profit off me. maybe a little bit less than the average person, but my frequency of visits is so far above 99% of the world. i bet i go to cec more often than some employees who go there to work. lol.

YoungCaliHottie

12-29-2005, 02:20 PM

we keep an 11% merch cost...as long as robbie doesnt start coming to my store every day

:lol

or u can just do what 90% of the cec's i visit do. ...and i usually get into an arguement with... they simply refuse to accept my tickets. now, i was told by a manager who has been with the company for 20 years now that each store should take at least 500 of my tickets, but many stores, even training stores, tell me they wont take any. (i have a huge voucher worth thousands that i always add my tickets to. and all the stores always tell me to go back to that cec. the problem with that, is that cec is an hour from my house. and usually the reason i want to use my tickets elsewhere is because i see a prize that they dont have at my "home store".)

to be honest, im a customer and i (not to be rude, but as a paying customer) could care less about anyone's "merch cost". that's the stores concern. not mine as a customer. i think cec stores need to stop looking at this as a numbers issue and start thinking about people instead of numbers. honestly, my one prize i might want will not make any huge impact on a stores merch cost. it will quickly average out as others around me get their crappy plastic hopping chuck heads and zoo-yums that their parents spent $20 for them to win.

i could understand it if i was trying to unload my entire voucher at one store, and i won all the tickets at another. but come on... to get a prize or two... won't even affect anything as the numbers average out.

as far as im concerned, all the stores i go to are company owned. so in the big picture my money spent went to the same place, and the merch is coming from the same place. and im sick of being hassled about redeeming what i have earned from the company. i think im gonna call corporate right now... bbl...

oh, and btw, i just decided im no longer munching my tickets until im at a cec that i want to get a prize from. if this is the little game everyone wants to play... then fine, two can play it...

>:

munchjr

12-29-2005, 02:49 PM

Send a email to guest releations cec should accept any tickets from any store

End of story

YoungCaliHottie

12-29-2005, 04:37 PM

i called guest relations. they said that the dm will call me.

Shiney Happy Jenn

12-29-2005, 07:39 PM

I wholeheartdly agree with the statement made previously about how the Company needs to stop thinking about the numbers and start thinking about the Guests.

If only this were true today......:|

sungun12

12-29-2005, 10:32 PM

hey now, I wasnt Robbie bashing, I was just teasing. We do run an 11% merch cost which is a great number and Im pround of that and I am very very number concious but NOT EVER at the expense of a guest. I would NEVER consider telling anyone they could only use 500 tickets...or even worse none. That is absolutely ridiculous. I mean, we have our share of regulars (not quite that regular, maybe once a week) and I dont punish them for coming all the time and beating the system (as in bringing all the right coupons, knowing how to win the most tickets) - all of them know me by name and I know all of theirs and half the time I end up giving them at least a free drink or a few extra tokens or something. This one little kid Dalton always begs me to play skeeball with him and after a few I win the jackpot and give him the tickets. I mean, the most it can be is equal to $2.50! Hmmm, give away 250 tickets so they come in the store and spend $20 each week. Who wouldnt take that any day? I like to think THATS why theyre regulars. Because I actually try to make them happy, I actually care about them.

Robbie you come bring all your tickets to my store and get whatever the hell you want man. Id be happy to have you in my store every day ;)

CEC3066

12-31-2005, 03:05 AM

then i use my "collectors cup" that i bring with me to get free drinks

isn't that technically "stealing"

sungun12

12-31-2005, 10:20 AM

not at all, thats one of the things we say to help sell them...

for only $1 more you can get this cup and its good for free refills for ever

theyre allowed to bring in the collectors cups forever. most people forget.

Shiney Happy Jenn

01-01-2006, 04:14 PM

Yeah that's right...most people are not aware of the fact that all promo cups are good forever for free drinks at CEC!

I have'nt paid for a drink at a Chuck E.s in ages. I always bring my fave cup- 2001's color changing Tokens-in-Ears cup. You should see the look on the CM's faces when they see me whip that baby out of my shoulder bag...heh heh

The places that cup has been...my word!

YoungCaliHottie

01-01-2006, 07:15 PM

oh dont worry, i knew you werent robbie bashing :)

btw, the DM never called me. im calling corporate back on tuesday.

Shiney Happy Jenn

01-02-2006, 09:37 PM

So it's been about a week or so now since the new promo started.

What's the feedback from the field....have you experienced positive feedback from the Guests? What's the "vibe" out there? It's been school vacation week here, so the stores have been packed to capaicty. Great way to start a promo like this...

So how has it been so far for you at your store...everyone?

JyPsy

01-02-2006, 11:47 PM

I stopped in my local store just to look around and no one seemed to really be buzzing about it, but it just may have been a slow day...

YoungCaliHottie

01-04-2006, 07:23 PM

just in case anyone was following the issue...

i finally got the DM call today. he said that his stores should ask the customer politely to use the voucher at the issuing store, but should it become an issue, the customer should be satisfied. (which i was very happy to hear)

he sed he has been with the company for 15 years, and this is only the second time he has had this happen. he sed most guests usually just dont have this many tickets, which i understand.

he said that he would mention this in his update he sends to his stores, that they should follow the above procedure. he also addressed an issue i had with stores in his district closing early and turning off the oven early. he said the doors are locked an hour before closing for security, but that no guests should be turned away until closing time. and the oven should be on until 10/11. he is also going to mention this in his communication.

...and yes... for all those wondering... i scored a couple guest passes :) ! w00t! :-P lol

sungun12

01-04-2006, 11:07 PM

yea we did that whole locking the doors early thing for a while when they told us to, but then they told us to stop. but it was only a half hour, not an hour. and if i ever turned away a guest or told them the oven was off, i think my dm would punch me in the ear....

and i would do the right thing not for fear of losing my hearing, i would do it cause, well, its just whats right. the only time i ever had a turn away a guest experience was for our xmas party. we still had the doors unlocked cause cm were arriving and one of our regulars came in at 10 after, we already had everything done. they thought we were still open. i just gave them a cup full of tokens and they happily came in the following day, all apologizing and such.