While opening a business is no easy feat, Chuck E Cheese’s Trinidad and Tobago franchise owner Joanna Rostant recently learnt that reopening one isn’t easy either.
When strict lockdowns were imposed in March 2021 to combat a surge in covid19 cases, Chuck E Cheese’s two branches in Chaguanas and San Fernando were closed.
But even though restaurants were eventually allowed to reopen in October 2021 under the Government’s safe-zone policy, Rostant kept her restaurant’s two branches closed, given their main clientele – children under 12 – were unable to be vaccinated and access safe zones.
Four months after the safe-zone policy was implemented, and 11 months after closing her restaurants, Rostant was relieved when Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said unvaccinated children under 12 would be allowed in safe zones from February 21.
As she prepared to open on February 25, Rostant gave Business Day a behind-the-scenes look of the preparations at the Chaguanas branch.
As she spoke on the phone to a supplier, Rostant told Business Day, “You know how we say, 'It takes a village to raise a child?' Well, it takes a village to raise a business back to life as well.”
A geologist by training, Rostant worked in the oil and gas industry for over 20 years with companies based in TT, Alaska, Venezuela and the US.
But it was a visit with her three sons – then four, 11 and 14 – to a Chuck E Cheese in Orlando, Florida, in 2011 that would inspire her to venture into the business world.
“When we went on the trip, my sister’s little kid at the time just kept crying they wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese. At that time we didn’t know what Chuck E Cheese was and wondered what this kid was talking about.
“The next day we went to Chuck E Cheese and the children had a ball. We sat drinking wine and beer, the kids were happy, everyone had pizza and everyone left feeling so happy.”
Enjoying the inexpensive dining and entertainment experience, Rostant returned to TT and envisioned one here, as “there wasn’t a huge variety of options of what I would call wholesome family entertainment.”
After research, consultations and discussions with her sister (now business partner), Rostant acquired the rights for Chuck E Cheese in TT and opened the first local branch in Chaguanas in 2014, followed by a second in San Fernando in 2016.
“When we opened Chuck E Cheese in 2014, there was a line outside this door for about three weeks, and everyone who came through this door – to this day – is so happy with their time spent in Chuck E Cheese.
[caption id="attachment_942718" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Joanna Rostant inspects one of the gaming machines at Chuck E Cheese which reopened on February 25. - PHOTO BY MARVIN HAMILTON[/caption]
“No one ever leaves Chuck E Cheese crying, because we are extremely passionate about children being happy, because a happy child means a happy parent. As a parent you would know once your children is happy, you are happy.”
In the years that followed, Rostant believed Chuck E Cheese established itself
