CREDIT: Ric Ernst, The Province Alex Piniche, 6, celebrates his birthday with Chuck E. Cheese at his Langley restaurant.

He’s a grinning grey mouse and your kids may soon know his name as well as that other mouse with the white gloves and short pants.

Chuck E. Cheese has already ramped up its Canadian TV-advertising campaign and is actively seeking Lower Mainland locations for new, kid-focused restaurants.

“Chuck E. Cheese is quite bullish on Canada,” said Chris Chan, an associate with the Vancouver office of Northwest Atlantic real-estate brokers. The company is looking for locations for the Texas-based CEC Entertainment Inc., which operates the restaurants.

“They want to roll out in the B.C. market almost as quickly as they can. They’re looking at sites, but nothing is close to done yet.”

B.C. currently has only one Chuck E. Cheese, which opened in Sept. 2003 in Langley. (A Coquitlam outlet closed 10 years ago.) The part-restaurant, part-entertainment centre, is geared to kids aged two to 12 with games, shows, pizza and lots of noise. Birthday parties are especially big at Chuck E. Cheese.

The challenge is finding well-priced real estate in the right family-oriented neighbourhood. The firm needs 12,000 square feet, plus lots of wide-stall parking for minivans. “The company is looking at four or five stores in Greater Vancouver over the next few years,” Chan said.

“But they have specific requirements. We may have to look at shopping centre locations where they can share parking.”

B.C. kids may not see the purple-trimmed restaurants often but they are likely becoming familiar with the little grey mouse. “Chuck E. Cheese is the most popular mouse in America and we want to do the same in Canada,” said Ken Bullock, vice-president of real estate for CEC Entertainment.

“In the U.S., we’re the second-largest advertiser next to McDonald’s.” The company is running frequent commercials on YTV and Teletoon — about four per hour.

Since the average child watches two hours of TV a day, “Chuck E. Cheese is front and centre in children’s minds,” Bullock said.

John Rice, CEC vice-president of marketing, said the firm has eight restaurants in Canada — five in Toronto, one each in Edmonton, Windsor, Ont., and Langley — and would like to open as many as 30 in the next five years. The rest of the 500 restaurants are in the U.S. where only 50 are franchised.

“We’ve identified quite a few potential areas in Canada,” Rice said. “The demographics in cities such as Vancouver and Toronto support us — the trick is finding locations.” He said Toronto and Edmonton will have new Chuck E. Cheese restaurants this year and a second location should be open in the Lower Mainland by next year.

© The Vancouver Province 2005